“Did you know you don’t need facts to do a performance review?”

Companies run on everything except facts. For most employees it’s a stroke of luck that companies do not have all the facts. Leave it alone. We’re all human and with a video cam following us, gathering facts, none of us would pass the grade.

I’m not against fact but I don’t believe a review is limited to facts. Everything that is valuable to a company can not be measured. And, everything that can be measured is certainly not valuable. Where does that leave us?

So often managers are reviewing an employee who demands all the facts be known, - who five years earlier was hired on a whim! (No facts in sight.) Oh the irony.

Mintzberg showed us companies don’t run on facts, or plans. Managers are valued for their experience, knowledge and intuition and not their ability to assemble facts. Facts, like philosophy, research and religion can serve us no matter what side of any argument you wish to adopt.

To the employee insisting on facts, where are you going with this? Suppose you win this one, now what? Oh happy day on the job. Your manager hates you but you’re still here because of “your facts.” Facts are whatever we want them to be.

That doesn’t make reviews an entirely subjective idea. Every manager has to have integrity and reach inside himself to do justice for each employee. Fairness is always in play. Do right by every employee that works for you. We are in charge of people’s lives and dreams. Don’t take your power frivolously and to the degree that it is possible, equip yourself with enough honest information, and even facts. In the end, it’s your intuition, your gut, that will deliver the most value to your company. Use that, use it honestly.

Nov. 17th, filling very fast. Subject is; “The No More Money Seminar!” About Performance and salary reviews.

Facts, shmacts, see you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

Ask for my 22 page white paper on performance reviews entitled, “It’s not about you, it’s about what I need.” Learn why pay cheques are the yin to the yang of the review. Why the review meeting is a monologue. Why not to evaluate the person. Why hard work doesn’t count. The connection of pay raise to the review. Why reviews annoy only poor performers. Why reviews don’t have to motivate. Why teams don’t need to be reviewed. Why “busy” doesn’t exist. Why resources aren’t an issue. Why you don’t need facts. Why your job description will bite you. How to review managers. Why employees shouldn’t rate themselves. The goals of the review process. How reviews are a form of social control and that’s ok. Use reviews for career development and training needs not. Why employees don’t need to respond or challenge the review. How to review a friend.

You may not agree with everything I say but you won’t forget it either. Email me, I’ll send you a copy. Thank you.