Month: August 2013

Opinion, Performance, Strategy

Performance Ratings Make My Brain Hurt

by Jeff Neal

This is the second of a series of posts on performance ratings. In the first, I explained how performance rating processes typically begin with the assumption that mid-tier ratings should be the norm – in a five-level system, most of the ratings should be threes. That assumption runs headlong into the perception of most people that they are above average. So – whether we admit it or not, most of today’s performance rating processes are designed to tell people they are not as good as they think they are. Today’s subject is the effect that approach has on employees – more specifically, why the way our brains work may mean traditional performance rating processes are unproductive at best, and most likely destructive.

Research in neuroscience has been going on for decades. As we learn more about our brains and how they operate, we learn how little we really know about its complexities and how little awareness we have of what is happening inside our heads. The brain is constantly making decisions about threats, needs, rewards and how to react, and even things as simple as what we see. If you aren’t convinced our brains do things we are not aware of, check out this little exercise from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (it will open a new browser window) to see what I mean.

For those of you who didn’t click the link – what it shows is a simple exercise in motion-induced blindness. While looking at 4 dots on a moving background, your brain turns off three of the dots. They never really disappear, but your brain turns them off so you don’t see them. Our brains make decisions like that all day long. In addition to those types of decisions, our brains also make constant assessments and cause us to react based on our perception of threats, rewards and other factors. There is so much data flowing into our brains that we cannot possibly deal with all of it consciously. The brain’s unconscious networks wield enormous control over our daily lives, even without our knowledge. It is far more than simple instinct – our brains are constantly processing inputs and making decisions. While we may think self-interest drives a lot of those decisions, one piece I read recently pointed out something I found fascinating. Recent research by neuroscientists may show that humans are not necessarily the selfish creatures many think we are.

“Fairness simultaneously stands out among humans’ most notable and most puzzling behaviors. Although prosociality often can be explained as a response to external pressures such as threats of punishment or to reputation, it cannot always be dismissed in this way. Many behaviors (e.g., anonymous helping) suggest the workings of a deeper, more intrinsic source of prosociality, one aimed at maximizing social—not personal—outcomes. Here, we document such an instance by demonstrating that, in some cases, fairness can be its own reward.” Jamil Zaki and Jason P. Mitchell

Biological Sciences – Neuroscience – Social Sciences – Psychological and Cognitive Sciences: Jamil Zaki and Jason P. Mitchell
Equitable decision making is associated with neural markers of intrinsic value PNAS 2011 108 (49) 19761-19766; published ahead of print November 21, 2011, doi:10.1073/pnas.1112324108

 

That is good news, but – our tendency toward prosocial behavior (benefitting others or society in general) may also be related to another tendency most of us have seen repeatedly – a distinct aversion to inequity. We do not like inequity and we react negatively to it in many ways. In fact, our desire for equity can overcome our interest in efficiency. Research by Ming Hsu (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2008, May 10). Justice In The Brain: Equity And Efficiency Are Encoded Differently. ScienceDaily) showed subjects were so interested in treating others equitably that they made decisions that were inefficient and could have dire consequences.

In the workplace, countless employee surveys reveal how employees respond to perceptions of inequity. The most recent OPM Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey asked several questions that relate to equity. The findings were dismaying:

Promotions in my work unit are based on merit – 35.4% Agree or Strongly Agree

In my work unit, steps are taken to deal with a poor performer who cannot or will not improve – 30.5% Agree or Strongly Agree

In my work unit, differences in performance are recognized in a meaningful way – 34.9% Agree or Strongly Agree

Awards in my work unit depend on how well employees perform their jobs – 42.9% Agree or Strongly Agree

Just over a third of employees perceive equity in performance rating and selection decisions. Imagine the level of engagement of the 2/3 who believe performance differences are not recognized, promotions are not based on merit, and poor performers are given a free ride. Their sense of inequity has to have profound impact. What does that do to rational thought? The parts of our brains that are active when we receive a reward are also active when we see similarly situated people we perceive as lesser performers getting less. It seems schadenfreude is a motivator. The parts of the brain that are active when we are threatened are also active when we perceive those same people being treated better than us. Knowing how many buttons we push with performance appraisals, and how unrealistic self-perceptions are the norm, is there any way to handle performance evaluations that might work? Does the process push so many buttons, seen and unseen, that it cannot be made useful?

I think the answer is that a well-designed appraisal process is possible, but it will require throwing out most assumptions about why we do them and what form they take. The next post in this series will address why knowing where we are going is a prerequisite for getting there.

Opinion, Strategy

Performance Management – Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged?

by Jeff Neal2 Comments on Performance Management – Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged?

This is first of a series of posts on the issue of individual performance management.

I have to start with a confession. I am an HR person and I intensely dislike most performance review processes I’ve seen in the past 35 years. Almost without exception, they add little value and, in many instances, do great damage. The lack of clarity regarding why the ratings are being done and the disconnect between the organization’s rhetoric regarding itself and how it views people are enough to make any review process risky. Add to that the canyon that lies between our perceptions of ourselves and how others view us, and we have a formula for a destructive exercise that not only fails to add value, but actually does demonstable harm.

My mother taught me from the time I was a small child that I should not judge other people. She quoted the biblical admonition (Matthew 7:1) to “Judge not, lest ye be judged” and said people who judge others are judged by those same people. If religion isn’t your thing, just plain old good manners tell us we shouldn’t go around judging people. So how do we make that a reality in the HR world? We set out to not only judge people, but to build entire systems around judging others. We consume countless hours writing standards, asking people to rate themselves, and rating them. We make decisions about employment (do I keep my job), pay raises, bonuses, and job assignments. Every HR person I know tells me we do it because we have to. In fact, the Federal government is required by law to do it.

Sec. 4302. Establishment of performance appraisal systems

-STATUTE-
(a) Each agency shall develop one or more performance appraisal
systems which –
(1) provide for periodic appraisals of job performance of
employees;
(2) encourage employee participation in establishing
performance standards; and
(3) use the results of performance appraisals as a basis for
training, rewarding, reassigning, promoting, reducing in grade,
retaining, and removing employees.

If the government and most employers are going to require performance evaluations, we need to do it in a way that makes sense. For any rating process to make sense, it has to take into account one simple, yet very profound fact: Most people are above average. Well, not really, but they are in their own perception of themselves. There has been extensive research on self-perception that finds there is a surprisingly common type of cognitive bias called illusory superiority. That’s a fancy way of saying we think our strengths are greater than they really are and our weaknesses are less than they really are. Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion includes the news from Lake Wobegon, “Where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.” The description of Lake Wobegon is funny, but it also describes a very real phenomenon concerning how most people view themselves. What makes it worse is the fact that many of the least capable have the highest opinions of themselves. At the Defense Logistics Agency, we did extensive data anlysis on our employee surveys and multi-source feedback done on supervisors. We found the bottom 25% of supervisors rated themselves at about the same level as the top 25%. The direct reports, peers and bosses of these “delusional supervisors” gave them very low ratings. The top 25% of supervisors tended to rate themselves lower than their peers, direct reports and bosses rated them.

Imagine the response when you give one of the bottom performers a low rating. They believe they are outstanding. You believe they are anything but. Everyone around them shares your view. That reality drives home the benefit and the peril of performance ratings. Any rating process that assumes people are aware of their shortcomings is likely to fail. Any rating process that assumes everyone is fine with being rated as average or acceptable, or satisfactory, or any other middle-of-the-road descriptor, is destined to fail.

Why did I title this post “Judge Not Lest Ye be Judged?” One of the big concerns many in government and the private sector have is how leaders are perceived by rank-and-file employees. We design rating processes that tell people their view of themselves is dead wrong. And we are surprised when they don’t praise the process or us??

The next few posts in this series will address how to start the process of designing an evaluation system, how to design one that avoids the problems with the Lake Wobegon Effect, how to implement it, and what to do once you have it in place. I look forward to sharing them, and to your comments.