Page 94 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

74 Building a High Morale Workplace

Don’t Let Numbers Create
Negative Feelings
If you must use numbers to evaluate performance, then use
them to show percentage growth in a specific skill area, such as writ-
ing or listening. But even then, percentages should be assigned by the
employee, not by the manager.You’d be surprised at how much harder
employees can be on themselves than their managers.

humiliated and demoralized? How does Marge explain to her
family that she’s only a three on a scale of five when it comes
to being capable of multi-tasking? The situation is grim.

Your Job Is to Lead, Not Judge

Do you think you’re the only manager or supervisor who dreads
conducting employee performance reviews? Hah! Most man-

agers and supervisors say they can do without the jockeying
required to prepare themselves for the upcoming, possibly
painful assessments and nerve-wracking anticipation of each
employee’s agonizing reaction!
One manager shares his story of performance reviews and
why he quit using them.

When I was coming up through the ranks at another firm,
during one of my six-month evaluations, my supervisor
ranked me satisfactory in one of my key performance
areas. As I recall, I was given a number three on some
inane scale from one to five. The review devastated me.

Not only did it squash my confidence, but it took the air
out of my sails and put the kibosh on my can-do attitude.
I eventually quit because of it.
Today, I’m a manager in an insurance company and I

never use performance appraisals of any kind. Instead, I’ve
come up with more creative ways to help build my employ-
ees’ talents and give them the necessary and helpful feed-
back they need to set goals and succeed here. Traditional
reviews isn’t one of them. I want to be a leader, not a judge.”

What can a manager do?