How can performance reviews work if they don’t take into account many of the intangibles that are often not even recognized, let alone monitored?  Let’s say for example you have a team working on a project and one personality on that team has an endless supply of optimism.  Are you aware of it if you do not interact with the team all day?  Can you place a value on that?  Depending on how challenging the project is and the personality of the other team members, this could very well be the instrumental ability required to get the project completed on time and under budget – a positive mindset and  a never give up attitude. 

There are employees whose strengths drive the entire team dynamics but are these personality traits taken into consideration at review time?  Aren’t these just as important as many of the tangible skills required to create a functional and productive team?

A performance review is designed to motivate and engage employees.  Many times they have the opposite effect.  A negative review will lower morale but a positive review has virtually no effect.  Imagine you are working productively and you receive a good review.  Is this news to you?  Do you feel more motivated or do you feel as if you are a professional doing your job and wow, someone recognized that?  Don’t most people believe they do good work? (And many don’t do good work, so haven’t you just increased the odds that most everyone will be disappointed by their review?)

Are reviews motivating to your employees? Can an employee be motivated by a review that discounts many of their strengths?

Does your company have a review process?  Have you been trained to give feedback?  If you don’t think they are effective, what do you do instead to evaluate your employees and their value to the company?