Employee reviews
done right.

Triaging the priorities

A variety of stakeholders are involved in a typical review -- the human resources business team, line managers and business leaders, the legal department, and last but not least, the individual contributor employees. Each group hopes to get something out of the process. Consequently, the quid pro quo is some time and effort on their part.

Problems arise when the payback and efforts are outlandishly out of balance!

Cloud, Automation - Yes!
Irrelevance, Tedium - No!

Yes, the process is largely paperless and executed in some cloud based system. But is it relevant to the today's workforce? Or has it automated everything from the clipboard system from years gone by?

Are you seeing question that include verbage like if applicable, leave blank if this does not apply? Are there

What is looking out for what you don't know?

Sure the consultants and experts have done their rounds. Walls are plastered with posters and motivational quotes. Your bookshelf is filled with best practices manuals complete with KPIs and Dashboards.

Is there danger lurking behind But what about that one of a kind "thing" that is going to morph into a serious issue in a few months? Are there any needles in the haystack needles in the haystack? And more importantly, are you looking for them?

What's in it for me?

It is not at all selfish to ask this question. In fact you should try to answer this question from the other person's perspective.

If you are telling a manager to complete her direct report's reviews by next Tuesday, can you itemize her payback for completing the herculean task? How similar or different would be their answer from the one that you came up with?