Later this year McGraw-Hill will be publishing the second edition of Perfect Phrases For Performance Reviews. It’s a bit of a departure from the first edition and the other books that we compete with, so I felt it was a good time to share the preface to the new book. I’d be interested in comments, since the book is not complete yet.
The Most Important Preface You Will Ever Read
Second Edition 2010
When McGraw-Hill approached us to do a second edition of this book, I had mixed feelings. The first edition was a commercial success, even having landed on the BusinessWeek Best Seller list. On the other hand I was truly perplexed. How could we make this book more useful to managers, supervisors and HR personnel. After all, there is only so much you can do with short phrases describing employee performance.
To do “more of the same” seemed pointless and to a writer, it’s not only frustrating, but it is pretty dull stuff.
I also had some concerns that books of phrases and their MISUSE was inconsistent with my approach to performance management as a cooperative process that goes on during the entire year, and is characterized by effective goal setting, ongoing communication, and removing barriers to performance so that everybody gains.
The Task: How To Make It Better AND Unique
After looking at other books containing performance review phrases it struck me that they all suffer from the same malady – a significant illness that has been pointed out by others. Performance reviews look at the past, and not the present and the future, so as someone once said, “Performance reviews are like driving while looking only in the rear view mirror”. Describing past behavior is simply not good enough, if that’s as far as things go. And, yes, if you are wondering, the first edition of this book shared that fault.
What if we could modify the book to get across the idea that performance reviews are for the purpose of improving performance and removing barriers to performance, and NOT hammering on employee faults in the often forgotten past.
Once we shifted OUR perspective, the pieces fell into place. Why not include phrases to use during reviews that focus on the future AND encourage employee self-evaluation. The latter came out in conversations with managers about the kind of employees they valued. Managers want employees who can self-modify their behavior and evaluate how they are doing. When employees learn to do this, the gains in productivity, and the managerial time saved are simply huge.
What Did We Change?
Virtually every page in this book has been edited, improved and modified. We’ve learned over the years and have been able to write different kinds of performance descriptors ranging from the general to the much more specific and quantitative. That’s reflected in this edition.
We also added and “modernized” things to reflect changes in the workplace that have taken place in the last ten years.
The major and most profound changes have to do with two new sections for each set of performance phrases.
First we added questions and statements to use to promote employee self-evaluation. This puts the evaluatory ball at least partly in the court of each employee, and that is as it should be. You don’t want to be doing something to the employee. You want to work WITH the employee.
Second, we added a section, for each set of statements, called Looking Forward, which includes phrases and questions about how to improve future performance, again pushing the employee to take responsibility for his or her performance improvement.
What you hold in your hand can still be used to describe past behavior, and yes, it is a better improved tool for that. The real leap, though, lies in looking forward, which is what is required to make performance reviews a powerful management tool.
These changes make this book special and unique.
So Why Is This The Most Important Preface You Will Ever Read?
If you are a manager who cannot see the point of doing performance reviews because they never seem to improve performance, it’s time to take a look at alternatives. By using the new additions to this book you can start “driving” your organization by looking in front of you, not behind you.
If you are a manager looking to shortcut the review process by picking semi-relevant phrases from some book written by two fellows you have never met, it’s time to re-evaluate. If that’s all you want, it’s here, but I promise you, you are simply wasting valuable time, shortchanging yourself and your employees.
Pay attention to this. Most of us have never seen an effective performance management/review system so it is not surprising that we have limited expectations or even wear our appraisal cynicism on our sleeves. Now is the time to change.
You have the opportunity to be a better manager, improve productivity and morale, involve and engage staff and remove the discomforts of performance reviews.
Look forward, not backwards
Don’t expect canned phrases to solve your problems or improve performance
Work with your employees to help them learn what you want, and how to self-evaluate their own progress.
Be involved WITH your staff, and stop doing things to them
If you make these simple changes you’ll be amazed at how much easier the function of management becomes.
Let’s face it. We are coming through a period of difficult economic times, and we need our companies, organizations and employees firing on all cylinders. Poor half hearted attempts at performance reviews are a luxury we cannot afford.
We think this book will help.
Of course only our readers can evaluate how well we have accomplished our goals. To this end, feel free to drop me a line via email at ceo@work911.com to let us know how we’ve done.
Who knows. Maybe in a few years there will be a third edition of this book, and we’d like to incorporate your suggestions and ideas in it.
Good luck.
Robert Bacal, April, 2010
