绩效评估缘何沦为走过场
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总是无法准时完成工作，对上级的要求或指示充耳不闻，开会的时候总爱出风头。任何一名管理者手下肯定都有这样一些人、他们的总体表现还不错，但总有一些需要改进的方面。作为上司，你可能一遍遍提醒过他们的缺点，但却始终没有看到想要的改变。 约瑟夫•格里尼与《改变一切：个人成功的新科学》（Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success）一书的其他几位作者进行了一项调查。他们发现：“约三分之二的员工表示，他们的绩效评估中收到过负面反馈。”调查称：“管理者每年都会给员工类似的负面反馈，但这对员工绩效的效果微乎其微。”在被要求改进的员工中，仅有约三分之一表现出显著的进步。 原因何在？格里尼说：“我们关于如何激励员工的想法已经过时。大多数绩效评估中的基本假设是，只要指出员工的问题所在，他们就会充分认识到问题的严重性，同时采取改正措施。问题是，经过四五十年的研究，我们发现这样的绩效评估根本没用。” 当然，这里并不是要否定激励人们改变工作方式的作用。但仅靠激励似乎不够。格里尼的研究发现，员工通常“缺乏将绩效反馈变成实际行动的能力。”在收到负面评价的员工中，竟然有87%的人表示，他们离开上司办公室之后，根本没有改正问题的具体计划，而这也是为何绩效评估成为摆设的原因。借用尤吉•贝拉的一句名言：“如果不知道自己的方向……你不可能实现目标。” 格里尼认为，管理者的职责就是帮助员工制定一个改进计划。他建议管理者按以下四个步骤进行： 1. 解释改变的必要性。格里尼说：“说明为什么你需要员工改变自己的行为，包括这种改变对公司内其他人的影响。”对于大多数人来说，单纯告诉他们“不要（或者开始）这么做”，意义远远比不上告诉他们改变的重要性。 2. 进行对话。格里尼注意到：“通常情况下，员工只能掌控问题的个别方面，而对于其他方面却无能为力。所以需要进行交流，以解决问题为主题。而且这种交流必须是真正的对话。”格里尼认为所谓真正的对话，就是管理者提出问题，然后仔细倾听员工的回答。 格里尼问道：“员工是否在某些方面能力不足，无法做到你期望他做的事情？是否缺乏资源？是否存在影响改变的不利因素，而你却不知道？除非你追根究底，搞清楚员工到底发生了什么事，否则根本不可能让他改变。” 作为上司，你是否觉得自己有时过于自以为是呢？你或许会问，自己是否成员工自我提高的绊脚石。他补充道：“我们调查的员工中，约有一半表示，上司的某些行为妨碍了他们提高绩效，比如不给出明确的指示，或者提出各种不切实际的要求等。” |
Trouble meeting deadlines, ignoring requests or instructions, hogging the limelight in staff meetings -- anyone who manages other people probably has at least a few underlings whose work, while okay (or even excellent) overall, could stand to improve in some particular way. As a boss, you may even have told them so repeatedly. Yet nothing changes. "Nearly two out of three employees say they've received negative feedback" in performance appraisals, says a new study by Joseph Grenny and other co-authors of a book called Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success. The research found "managers giving employees the same negative feedback year after year with little effect on performance." Only about one-third of those who have been asked to shape up have shown any noticeable improvement. What gives? "Our whole idea of how to motivate people is outdated," says Grenny. "The underlying assumption in most performance reviews is that, if you just tell people what's wrong with them, they'll feel badly enough to go and do something about it. The trouble is, we now have 40 or 50 years of research showing that it doesn't work." That's not to say that motivating people to change their ways doesn't help. It does. But it seems motivation alone isn't enough. Grenny's study found that employees often "lack the ability to put their performance feedback into action." Among those who had received negative comments in a review, a whopping 87% said they left their bosses' office without a specific plan for fixing what was wrong, and that's why nothing happens. In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, "If you don't know where you're going ... you might not get there." Grenny says part of a manager's job is to help employees make a road map for improvement. He suggests doing it in these four steps: 1.Explain why change is needed."Describe ... why you need the behavior to change, including its effect on other people in the organization," says Grenny. Just saying, "Stop [or start] doing this" is far less meaningful to most people than conveying a clear picture of exactly why it matters. 2.Start a dialogue."Usually, employees control some aspects of whatever the problem is, but not others," Grenny notes. "So you need to have a problem-solving talk. It needs to be a real conversation," defined as one where you ask questions and listen carefully to the answers. Feeling brave? You might also ask whether you are perceived as standing in the way, he adds: "About half the employees we surveyed said their bosses were actually preventing them from performing better by, for example, not giving them clear direction, or by piling on unrealistic demands." "Does the person lack the skills to do what you expect him to do? Is there a lack of resources? Are there disincentives to change that you might not know about?" asks Grenny. "Unless you get to the bottom of what is really happening with this employee, there will probably be no change." | ||
