Have you ever been paralyzed trying to actually do a credible performance appraisal because you and the form came from different planets? I have. And I know lots of people, good, well intentioned managers, who have also had that very same experience.

I have a radical thought. "Screw the form!"

Yes, that's what I said. Why is there not an option, let alone permission from HR, to just do your performance planning and appraisal on a clean, eight and a half by eleven piece of paper? We should try it. It is amazingly liberating. All of a sudden we become free to document what really matters. And "what might that be?" we ask.

Let's explore the potential things that matter.

Goals. Communication. Alignment. They might matter. And if we take the time to show how the individuals goals are aligned with the organization's goals, and that they are truly of consequence, they matter even more. In one item we have communicated company goals, and taken the first step toward alignment. Not bad.

Keeping score is important as well. Let's work with the individual to develop mutually agreed upon metrics that allow them to keep score themselves. There may be appraisal sessions that lack surprises, but that's a good thing, isn't it. Ah, one more thing that matters.

Investing in their success matters. How do we make certain they have the skills and information they need to be successful? It does not help us if our people fail. The manager should be the single most important resource to their employees' success. This is a good place to act like it.

Here the sports analogy fails me, because each sporting event has a final score. That is not always true with managing performance. Performance management is a series of cycles, it is a system, never ending. We set goals, keep score, train, develop and coach for improvement and success, assess performance, and do it all over again. 

And, can you believe it?! We did it all without a form.

What do you think? I've done it and I have seen it work. What about you?

 

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