What is a Performance Review?

Just had a fascinating discussion with an inspiring CEO in the hospitality industry and, even after a few hours of discussion, I'm not sure we understood each other's use of the words "performance review". We were exploring this topic because, from an earlier discussion, we seemed to be closely aligned in our philosophies about people, work and management, yet we expressed directly opposing views on the value of performance reviews. From my point of view, performance reviews are generally ineffective, damaging and counterproductive, contributing to low morale, poor teamwork and sub-optimal performance. From her vantage point, performance reviews are indispensible and useful, contributing to improved performance, good morale and effective communication.

The discussion kept returning to what, exactly, did we mean by "performance review". We also spent a good deal of time exploring what we meant by other commonly-used words like feedback, judgement, process, system, target, and goals. Time after time, we expressed sentiments that triggered reactions in the other, yet on further discussion we found we were pretty closely aligned, despite our different use of language.

How often in business do we think we're all talking about the same thing because we're using the same words? I'm asked to do "strategic planning" by many different companies, yet on further investigation they all have different expectations of what that means and how to do it.

Conversely, how often do we end up in conflict because of the specific words that were used? Somebody uses "efficiency" to describe working with employees to eliminate their frustrations and make their jobs more satisfying, pleasant and effective, and another person reacts because they think of "efficiency" in terms of brutal cost cutting and layoffs.

Certainly people will always have differences of opinions, based on their values, their experiences, and their philosophies. We're not always on the same page. But, when you can really dig down into how people understand the words they use, and what stories, connotations and implications they attach to those words, you'll often find that there's common ground where you didn't think there was.

Relentless communication - don't leave home without it.