Annual performance management is a key component of employee development. An employee evaluation is the assessment and review of a worker’s job performance. Most companies have performance evaluation system wherein employees are evaluated on a regular basis (mostly once a year). Organizations have detailed policies and guidelines to ensure performance review is a fair and balanced assessment of an employee’s performance. And, most of them succeed in doing so.

1. You know the moves, but can you swim?
khalidraza9.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/you-know-the-moves-but-can-you-swim/
Performance evaluation without the culture of feedback is like learning to swim on your
bed. You may master the moves but it won’t help you swim. – Khalid Raza
Nobody is perfect, you, your manager, your employees, your spouse, kids, or your organization. Being
able to receive and utilize feedback can be the difference between greater level of success and deeper
personal satisfaction and/or mediocre performance and unhappy personal state.
Annual performance management is a key component of employee development. An employee
evaluation is the assessment and review of a worker’s job performance. Most companies have
performance evaluation system wherein employees are evaluated on a regular basis (mostly once a
year). Organizations have detailed policies and guidelines to ensure performance review is a fair and
balanced assessment of an employee’s performance. And, most of them succeed in doing so.
However, a critical and integral piece is always left to the heavens, by leaders and organizations – and
that is, ‘fostering a culture of feedback.’ Continuous, timely and relevant feedback is not something that
happens in December (Annual performance evaluations cycle closure) but is a part of daily
performance development. Do we wait to tell our kids not to play with anything that can hurt them or
could be detrimental to their health? Then, why do we wait till the end of the performance evaluation
cycle, to share feedback?
Maureen Monte, my friend and mentor, highlights this in her lovely blog, how others’ perspective on our
behavior can help us see what we don’t know about ourselves. Others’ perspective on our behavior is
the benchmark one should follow to see if we are effective. We may do a world of amazing things but if
that is not effective, we are missing the bus and people around us, can provide the best account of it,
and help us become better. Sometimes, all you just need is encouragement and a nudge to get up and
get going.
Recommended: Why do we fall (video)?

2. In their book, ‘Thanks for the Feedback’ – Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen share three kinds of
feedback – Appreciation, Coaching, and Evaluation.
Appreciation motivates us – it puts the spring in our step and gives us the energy to amplify our
efforts. When people complain that they don’t get enough feedback at work, they often mean
that they wonder whether anyone notices or cares how hard they’re working. They don’t want
advice. They want appreciation.
Coaching is aimed at helping us learn, grow, or change. The focus is on helping the person
improve, whether it involves a skill, an idea, knowledge, a particular practice, or that person’s
appearance or personality.
Evaluation tells us where we stand. It’s an assessment, ranking, or rating. The one we do all
the time at work and have become so successful at.
Each form of feedback – appreciation, coaching, and evaluation – satisfies a different set of human
needs.
We need evaluation to know where we stand, to set expectations, to feel reassured or secure. We
need coaching to accelerate learning, to focus our time and energy where it really matters, and to keep
our relationships healthy and functioning. We need appreciation to feel motivated, to regroup and
continue to do our best.
In IBM, we are building a new way of working that is agile, engaging, and increasingly more effective
for all IBMers. As HR leaders, we can have tremendous impact on the workforce by building and
nurturing a culture of feedback, wherein all IBMers are heard, enabled, and empowered. It is important
to note that we must be agile in our approach to receiving and giving feedback.
How can you contribute?
You hold the key to make your work place happy and create leaders around you and in the process
transform your journey. List down three people you think will benefit from your feedback and three
people whose feedback you should seek. Go out, set up up time with them and engage in a fruitful
discussion. Repeat this exercise every month and slowly make this a continual practice.
Recommended: You can make your workplace happy.
Share this blog with your network through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and most importantly, be a role
model for all in promoting the cultural transformation
So, next time someone wants to learn to swim, don’t buy them the manual, take them to the pool!
Edited by: Vanitha Poojary