I don’t know this guy. I do know that on April 1, 2009, (that IS April Fools Day) Tom Roche wrote what would have been a scathing review of my book, Perfect Phrases For Performance Reviews, if only he had actually read the book. I have to admit dismay and amusement at people who can’t even be bothered to read something they are reviewing., but truth is, that is the ONLY objection I have to Tom’s comments.
He’s right. The people who comment are correct. The title of his critique (with link)
It Ain’t a Performance Review If You Have to Memorize Phrases
That about says it all. If managers and HR are picking phrases out a phrase book (this one or any other one), what in heck are the thinking? How can this possibly improve performance, or serve any other meaningful purpose in the organization? It can’t. It doesn’t.
So, what does it mean that phrase books of this type, with respect to performance appraisal, have sold (I’m estimating based on figured I know about) in excess of one MILLION copies?
I’ll leave that to you to address in the comments to this piece.
And, how dare Tom pan my book and similar million copy sellers? The answer is easy. He’s right. Mostly. Mind you if he’d have read the book, he might have a better idea of how the material could be used effectively. Maybe.
And one more thing: What does it say when a group of people will “review” a book they haven’t read? Is it any different — is the cause any different than the managers who want to use a cookie cutter approach to reviewing performance? No. The root cause is the same: superficiality and wanting meaningless sound byte lives. Phht. to both the reviews who review without reading, and the managers who review without thinking.
Frank.
The name is Frank Roche.
I have to admit dismay and amusement at people who can’t even be bothered to read something they are reviewing. [Same said about names.
]
Tom, Frank, Dick, Harry, what the heck, the lot of you sound the same
Seriously, Frank, some great stuff on your site.
Me, I’d put a “How to Use this Book” section right up front. The information is there, but not under its own heading.
Milan, we’re doing a second edition of it, so your comment is extremely welcome. Frankly (or Tomly) I haven’t looked at since it was published, but if you have other suggestions PLEASE pass them on.
Ok. For those of you who don’t know my sense of humor I was really joking about Frank/Tom not reading the book before reviewing it.
His comments are straight forward and clear, and in fact his argument is about the concept, the idea of performance appraisal using pre-cooked phrases. The concept is ludicrous as any reader of my other performance management books will know.
I was just kidding with the title.