Don't Show Bias in Employee Reviews

I was reading a lead article titled, “Bias Found in Employee Appraisals” found online at www, hreonline.com. It was an article that elaborated on the fact that new research shows vast discrepancies in employee appraisals by workers who report to two bosses.

I am not being critical of the author, but in what work environment would that not present itself? Performance Appraisals have always shown bias from one manager to another. Many consulting firms recommend that companies not spend money on the training and development of their managers regarding the delivery of an employee appraisal by a manager. If we don’t train to develop consistency in delivery, then how can we ever have a Performance Appraisal System without bias?

I am a firm supporter of Performance Management and the availability of a sound Performance Appraisal Process that is conducted quarterly in terms of reviewing the progress of the individual’s development plan. It is time that managers realize that the Performance Appraisal Process is the best means to communicate workplace expectations with the employee and that employee engagement is the key to retention moving forward. Managers must utilize a system for monitoring performance on a day to day, month to month basis and not just wait for the annual performance appraisal process for the data to appear. A Performance Log or file must be maintained throughout the year to note successes, learning opportunities, behavioral tendencies, etc. The Performance Appraisal Process must be more objective than subjective and certainly results-oriented. It must be based on the job description or role assigned to the employee as the role is defined today, not five years ago. It must reflect technical skills as well as performance skills that demonstrate an above average performance in that position. Above average performance should be the workplace expectation of most managers. Clear expectations must be defined. Clarity and good communication are key management skills for this to succeed. We must communicate workplace expectations in a clear, decisive, and definitive manner with the creation of a development plan for the employee. All managers must be willing to coach and mentor the employee to high performance through the use of a solid Developmental Plan of Action. I have always believed that the formulation of a developmental plan for a high achiever is one of the most difficult tasks a manager can undertake. And it certainly shouldn't be….it should be the opposite.

Both bias and the dreaded “Performance Appraisal” mentality must be eliminated from the equation….discuss expectations, monitor performance daily, and make employee engagement a priority. If you do that, the bias and subjectivity will be removed.

Frustrated!

Frustrated by the fact that when the Stock Market or the Real Estate Market takes a turn for the worst, training and development along with marketing are the two things that immediately appear on the radar screen and are transferred to the “hit list” of most CEO’s. People development just seems to go out the window along with the things that hopefully will bring the customers in. I think the expression that my mother used was, “we tend to cut off our noses despite our face”.

It is well documented that we have the greatest number of employees leaving the workforce and we have the greatest number of future workers with the least experience ready to take their place. Due to current market conditions, we now can’t afford to train them so that our plan for the succession of the “baby boomers” goes right out the window. This transition will now become a transformation because it cannot possibly be as smooth and transparent as originally intended. We certainly enjoy being in the reactive mode and not the proactive mode.

I think we are viewing the re-structuring of our workforce very similarly to that of our highway system or mass transit system. We will worry about the problem of having companies with no trained workers only when it is time to be productive or close the doors. When are we going to realize the need for mass transit?...when there are too many cars on the highways so grid-lock is commonplace or it now takes twenty hours to go from Philadelphia to New York..

The exodus from the workforce is well under way so when are you going to feel an obligation to do something about it…..when you receive your first check from Social Security or now, when you can call it succession planning. I think as “boomers”, we are obligated to make sure that our companies have qualified people with the appropriate skills sets to make a difference in the future. Let’s not wait for our companies to be “bottle-necked” by lack of qualified personnel. Train, coach, and mentor now before it is too late and the “bottle-neck” is equivalent to “grid-lock”.

Take Personality out of Assessments

I read an article titled, “Assessing Personality” written by Peter Cappelli that appeared online at www.hreonline.com about the use of personality testing to assess the quality of job applicants and employees has been an on-again, off-again practice – with interest growing recently. But there was a reason the use declined once before.

First, I believe that my personality came from my mother and father. Second, I think the influence that others have had on my life including my mother, father, friends, neighbors, teachers, bosses, colleagues, and experiences have helped me formulate my behavioral style and this style is unfortunately rather predictable. This now enables me to walk down the street with several letters written on my forehead or just one card with the letter “D” taped to my baseball cap.

The assessment world should eliminate personality testing from their vocabulary. The uses of each of the assessments should be defined by its validity, reliability and definition and design for what it measures. The testing of aptitude coupled with behavioral traits might be appropriate in the hiring and selection process if the company is willing to profile the leaders of the organization to develop a profile. This could relate to people development as well. Personality testing might compliment the understanding of the differences in all of us that lead to conflict and communication barriers. So if we focus on team development, improving communication, or relationship building, then let’s look at Personality testing, but only if they are already hired. Orientation to certain competencies or skills may be helpful in determining the potential for liking or disliking a particular profession, job or skill set. Didn’t we take those in the sixth grade to solidify our lifelong career objectives? If you call most of the publishers relating to Personality Tests, they will tell you that their assessment instrument is not indicated for use in the hiring and selection process and certainly cannot predict successful leaders. So how then have we come to believe they are a valuable tool in areas they have no indication?

More importantly then, are there any good predictors for future job performance? The answer is definitely yes but it is a skill that most of us are not very good at. It is called behavioral interviewing. I happen to believe that interviewing skills are the most important competency for a manager that can be learned if they consider interviewing a process and not just an event. It takes planning, organization, a defined skill-set, vehicles to measure the skills needed for your “open” position, and a scorecard to rate the candidate on each of those skills, time, and energy. Don’t hesitate to use any of the tools validated for use in hiring and selection but make sure you incorporate them into a process that takes the “guesswork” out of selection and development. Just work at it and practice…practice…..practice.

What Do Workers Need?

We are starting to focus on the “bottom of the barrel”. In the majority of companies, we have not integrated our business strategies into the culture of our workforce and are not challenging people to learn the skills that will enable them to lead our company long after the disappearance of the baby boomers.

Globally, we are struggling to acquire the employees we need. The demand for workers in the emerging markets like China is outpacing the supply of talent in those areas. The exodus of the “boomers” in the US coupled with the downsizing that occurred in the last fifteen years has left us with a void in talent that is now needed to fill key management positions.

We have not developed the talent that will provide the skills that we will need to achieve our business goals. Linking talent to strategy is something that we must focus on now, not in the future. Companies must focus on their best employees and make sure we give them what they want. We can no longer afford to spend the majority of our time bringing up the “bottom of the barrel”. The top performers in most companies want opportunities for personal development, feedback and positive discipline, and the ability to work with a mentor/coach in a non-threatening environment.

We have to re-energize the “boomers” to become the best teachers of experience and get the younger workers to become the teachers of technology so that the end product will be a high achieving workforce. We have focus on changing behaviors and learn to measure the change…..isn’t that what Human Resources all about?

Changing the role of HR in the Business Development Process

At the most recent meeting of the Tri-State Human Resource Management Group, three well respected colleagues of mine spent over an hour discussing the why’s and how’s of making the HR department a more strategic partner of the overall business plan for the organization. It was still apparent to me that the majority of organizations still considered the HR function to be transactional in nature and not transformation in any way shape or form.

I found it interesting that the one of the speakers used the 3’C’s – Credibility, Competence, and Courage within their discussion on developing a strategic plan. For me, credibility is to make sure that your department is focused on the vision and mission of the company while understanding the strategy and projected outcomes with this strategy.

Competence relates to the leadership skills to focus each department on formulating a business plan for that provides outcomes that support the company’s forecasts and strategy.

Courage relates to the willingness to try but with the uncertainty of success. This definition is similar to another; responsibility. Responsibility to me is taking on a task or project with not knowing if it can be completed satisfactorily or not.

To be considered for the table, the HR department must be willing to be innovative in terms of goal-orientation, plan development, measuring the results, and be much more results-oriented. This is a new behavior for HR and it is not being readily accepted. It is time for HR to move forward. As one of the speaker stated, “your vision is how you get the full achievement of accomplishing your mission”. Another speaker emphasized the need for HR to provide alignment, integration, and fit to achieve strategic excellence. Isn’t it time that HR changes its attitude, focuses on the desired behavior, formulates the metrics that measure the behavioral change, and become results-oriented?

I always thought HR was where we were expected to change behavior. Maybe we should change ours by asking for help. Remember, in business, it always boils down to performance, performance. . .performance.

Can We Change the Environment?

It was noted in an article I recently read by Scott Flander titled, “When bosses go bad and get rewarded”, which appeared on www.hreonline.com that at a recent Management Meeting in Philadelphia, it was noted that in over 45% of the cases, employees noted that offensive bosses got promoted instead of “canned”. In over 19% of the cases, nothing happened to the incompetent boss. I chuckled hilariously when it was noted by John Hoover, author of How to Work for an Idiot: Survive and Thrive Without Killing Your Boss, that “the more incompetent someone is, the faster their career takes off”.

My theory is when we have a glutton of bad managers; we certainly have a great number of bad interviewers. In other words, we already have a glutton of bad managers who do not have the skills to change the culture. I honestly feel that companies need to focus on their interviewing process first, and then try to develop their management team second. I find that very few companies are using assessment tools in either the hiring and selection process or their people development process. I hear comments like, the boss does not like assessments, or we can’t open ourselves up to potential employee relations liability. I also find that they don’t have an interviewing process in place and most interviews for key positions are “winged”. I also hear that the company does not have a succession plan or even a pathway for employee development. No one, including anyone on the senior management team or in HR is focused on anything but the “bottom line”. Who cares about our people, are we profitable? No one is defining the metrics needed to improve the situation so what else can we expect but “bad managers”.

Suddenly a “red” light goes off and HR or Management now realizes that their managers really are not exhibiting the skills and competencies needed to take their company to the next level. The good people are leaving and the retention of talent is becoming a real concern……

So I ask, why are not we pulling out all the stops in talent acquisition and retention….or is it that we just want to wait until we get enough bad managers to warrant the need for training……

I think that if we look at talent acquisition and retention as a process and implement training from their orientation period, we might find ourselves focusing on the real leaders of the future.

Networking Strategies for Success

All businesses, small and large, need to explore every possible venue to grow. A venue that is extremely valuable, but underutilized, is networking. Networking, sometimes referred to relationship selling, includes the sharing of ideas, resources, and other information that can benefit all parties. Jessica Lipnack and Jeffery Stamps in the ‘Networking Book’ define networking as people connecting with people, linking ideas and resources. Ronald L. Krannich in ‘Network Your Way to a Job’ and ‘Career Success’ states that networking is a communication process – exchanging information and receiving advice and referrals. Networking relates to results, relationships, effectiveness, and efficiency, and involves promoting yourself and others, giving, receiving, contributing, accepting and supporting. These words reflect a mutually beneficial relationship.

Networking has often been compared to other means of generating business such as cold calling, advertising and public relationships, but networking usually comes out on top in terms of providing the greatest return on investment. People like to do business with people that they trust and where there is confidence in the quality of service provided. There are many benefits to networking: it has been shown to generate 80 percent more results than cold calling; referral business compared to business generated from advertising is easier to close and costs a lot less; and a referred customer has a higher sense of trust, has fewer objections and remains a client longer. Networking is typically far less expensive compared to an extensive public relations campaign.

Another aspect of networking today is the need for relationships. Every relationship is th one of give and take. Ivan Misner, founder of Business Networking International and author of numerous best sellers on networking, coined the phrase “givers gain.” Relationships are more important today than ever because our work environment is in constant change, the workplace has become technological in nature, our job descriptions and roles have become broader in nature, we experience more stress than ever before, and living without a strong reference group is a troubling phenomenon of modern times. People, who fail to realize that in the end that all business is conducted through personal relationships, will fail themselves.

The following are some opportunities for networking:
- Casual Contact: Any general business that allows membership to include many people from various overlapping professions. An example of such would be your local chamber of commerce.
- Strong Contact: Any group that allows only one member per profession or business that meets weekly for the express purpose of exchanging leads and referrals.
- Community Service: Any group that exists for the primary purpose of serving the community, such as Rotary, Kiwanis, or Lions.
- Professional Organizations and Associations: Any group of people in a single profession or business, whose primary purpose is to exchange information and ideas, such as a state medical equipment supplier or a local managed care group of nurses.
- Social and Business Groups: Any group with a dual purpose that combines pleasure with business with the emphasis on the social aspect. Examples of such are the Jaycees or a Gourmet Club.
- Women’s Business Organizations: The National Federation of Business and Professional Women.

Your best plan is to visit several networking opportunities within each group and select a well-rounded mix of organizations to join. Make sure that you visit each at least twice and talk to the members to get your questions answered.

Remember, sales are like hunting for new customers and networking is like farming because you are cultivating relationships. To be successful in networking, you must first participate, communicate, education, and then reciprocate. If you haven’t done any networking to date, then start now by sitting down and creating your networking referral marketing plan.

By Richard Hohmann