Doing the Wrong Things faster Still Makes Them Wrong

I don’t believe in the value of the typical performance appraisals. They often damage trust and they ignore real root causes of problems by looking to the individual to fix problems that are actually in the system. People often ask me if I subscribe to performance appraisal software that enables managers to more quickly process performance appraisals and track individual performance. The purpose of this software is to accelerate the tracking of individual performance to make higher quality promotional and compensation decisions. Unfortunately accelerating decisions using the wrong tool is still wrong.

I help organize and coordinate a fund raising program for local Rotary Club called the Program Book. I t is for the largest annual fund raising event. Members place ads in the ad book and it is distributed to all members for the purpose of raising money and promoting businesses who support Rotary.

A Doctor provided me a hand written ad for the book. The participants in the ad book are supposed to give original artwork in order to insure quality and accuracy. Instead the Dr. gave me a hand written note! Have you ever seen a Dr.’s handwriting? I couldn’t read it. Furthermore, I did not have the ability to request a correction because I had to go out of town. I ran out of time to contact her. The ad was, unfortunately, printed incorrectly.

When the Doctor saw the ad she complained to her Rotary friends. She and others in Rotary blamed me for the quality of the ad. Her hand-off to me was very poor yet I was reprimanded. Perhaps I should have taken extra steps to avoid the mistake yet the suggested process for providing the original artwork was not followed.

The real root cause of the problem was the inability or unwillingness of the Doctor to follow instructions. Yet, I was the one reprimanded for the error. Is the typical performance appraisal any different? More often than not, employees do their best to avoid errors. The errors are almost never intentional and almost always involve factors outside the control of the employee. Is evaluating the individual really the best way to optimize learning or improvement? Let’s look at my situation.

Was I supposed to do something special for the Doctor? Why does the Doctor require special attention when others are able to follow instructions? Should I have instead stood firm and insisted the Doctor provide original artwork or should I have refused the ad?

A more useful approach would be to agree on a process for accepting or rejecting the artwork submissions. Continuously improving that process is more important than attempting to evaluate individual behavior in the face of a dysfunctional system.

Performance appraisals don’t effectively address system issues that directly impact individual performance. Why not focus on the improvement of the process instead of focusing on improving the individual? Evaluating the individual faster using software is still the wrong thing to do.