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Summer 2007
Performance Management Guidelines
Professional Development Plans
How Full Is Your Bucket?: Book Review
A Survival Guide to Managing Employees from Hell: Book Review
The Carrot Principle: Book Review
"We have been taught to believe that negative equals realistic and positive unrealistic."
~Susan Jeffers
800.987.5582
According to management guru Curt Coffman, organizations that use a "competency-based" approach are missing the boat. In the competency approach, employee strengths are taken for granted and managers try to "fix" weaknesses. It's based on three flawed assumptions: those who excel in the same role all display the same behaviors, each of those behaviors can be learned, and each of these behaviors should be learned because improving weaknesses leads to success.
Training is focused on identifying which abilities employees are lacking and then trying to fill in these unfortunate gaps.
So much time is spent concentrating on what a person doesn't bring to the job that frustration on behalf of managers and employees results.
The Power of Positivity
One approach that many organizations are adopting that will make performance evaluations more pleasant, if not more effective, is to shift the focus from "what is wrong" to "what is working." This concept has its roots in Appreciative Inquiry.
Appreciative Inquiry is a process in which individuals or teams ask questions and envision a future that supports and generates positive relationships, building on the basic goodness in a person, a situation, or an organization.
Appreciative Inquiry utilizes a 4-stage process focusing on:
DISCOVER: The identification of what is working well. Teams share stories of successes that capture best practices and inspire.
DREAM: The envisioning of a future in which best case scenarios exist. During this brainstorming process, participants must avoid thinking or saying "that would never work."
DESIGN: Planning and prioritizing processes that will actualize the dream. Teams at this point must create action plans that will bring them closer to the vision they've created for the future.
DESTINY (or DELIVER): The execution of the plan.
The basic idea is to build organizations around what works, rather than trying to fix what doesn't. The approach acknowledges the contribution of individuals, in order to increase trust and organizational alignment.
Now imagine applying this process to individual performance evaluations.
DISCOVER: The employee and the manager share stories of success with each other during the review. "I was really happy with the way Project A turned out and how we all collaborated to develop a solution that worked for everyone."
DREAM: All of our projects will be as smooth and successful as Project A. We'll have a debrief on each project soon after completion that will add to our knowledge and further improve the quality of our work.
By remaining positive, solution-oriented and forward-thinking, the evaluation process becomes a generative experience. Good feelings, good insights and a sense of confidence and optimism are just a few of the outcomes.
Download a detailed instruction guide, manager guide or employee guide by visiting the AI Commons (an Appreciative Inquiry forum).
© 2007 Adventure Associates, Inc.