From WeAreTheCity’s Future Leaders blog

 

There are a lot of discussions going on at the moment regarding annual appraisals and whether they should be performed at all.

Sadly appraisals are often ineffective and something people dread, both the person appraising and the one being appraised!

Now the idea behind the review is of course to look at how it’s going for each person at work, (and we do all need feedback!), plan for the future and assess development opportunities – and to make sure that this happens for everyone and at a regular interval.

“Make feedback normal. Not a performance review.”
Ed Batista

Looking towards the future though, as we like to do in this blog, we believe the process for development will change.

Let’s think about it.

As a leader it’s your job to enable others to do a great job. It’s about leading in such a way that people can perform their jobs well. If we start with that in mind, then any feedback conversations need to happen regularly, in real time, not just once or twice a year. If someone is struggling at work for example, that needs to be picked up and dealt with a.s.a.p.

“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.”
Elon Musk

It’s of course better to have an annual performance review than to have nothing at all, but we are also seeing that more and more organisations, like GE, Accenture and Netflix, recognise that performance leadership and management can be done in better ways.

 
“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.”
Harvey S. Firestone

Yes, it’s part of a leader’s job to help people grow and develop, for the benefit of the people themselves and for the organisation. In order to do this, organisations and leaders of the future must continue to build better relationships with their employees; listen more, talk more, engage more, have creative, meaningful conversations about work. Not only is it a great way to connect with people, but it also delivers results. People want transparency and clarity, and to feel that they are involved in their own future. This happens best in a workplace where there’s a real sense of working together, which those regular conversations help create. And this is something you can make a reality, as a leader.

 

 

 

About the authors

Mandy Flint & Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, award-winning authors of ”The Team Formula”.

Their latest book, multi-award-winning ”Leading Teams – 10 Challenges: 10 Solutions”, published by Financial Times International is a practical tool for building winning teams. You can download a free chapter of the book at www.leadingteamsbook.com

Praise for ”Leading Teams: ”Leadership is about effective conversations. This book is a very useful ready reckoner for leaders everywhere seeking the words and methods needed each day at work. Sanjay Gupta, CEO English Helper Inc, India