While few of us enjoy being judged, we generally accept the performance review as a component of our job. The problem is most performance reviews are nowhere near as effective as they could be, for the simple reason there is no agreed upon grading standard prior to the performance.
The performance reviews that I am personally familiar with have the five standard ratings: excellent, above-average, average, below average, and poor. The problem with that is that those categories are not defined. In other words, what does excellent performance look like?
Enter the United States Marine Corps Fitness Report, unquestionably the best performance evaluation report I’ve ever encountered, because each characteristic that is being evaluated is defined. While it is obviously designed to evaluate Marines, many of the characteristics are also applicable to civilian life. For example, what organization wouldn’t benefit from employees that exhibit a high degree of initiative?
But what does initiative look like? Well the fitness report defines it: “Action in the absence of specific direction. Seeing what needs to be done and acting without prompting. The instinct to begin a task and follow through energetically on one’s own accord. Transforming opportunity into action.”
It then goes on to describe the characteristics of three different levels of initiative, with the highest one being “Highly motivated and proactive. Displays exceptional awareness of surroundings and environment. Uncanny ability to anticipate mission requirements and quickly originate original, far-reaching solutions. Always takes decisive, effective action.”
As I’m sure you appreciate, that does not describe the average worker. Probably less than 5% of any organization’s workforce falls into that top category, including Marines. But if the individual being evaluated receives the middle score (which is still very good) and thinks he/she should have received the top score, it would be up to him or her to specifically point to times when he/she “displayed exceptional awareness” and “uncanny ability” and developed “original, far-reaching solutions.”
Page 5 of 5 of the report graphically depicts the expected distribution of the individuals being evaluated. At the bottom is the “qualified Marine.” I would imagine that this individual would be discharged at the end of his/her current enlistment. By far, most fall into the category of “One of the many highly qualified professionals who form the majority of this grade.” What organization wouldn’t want “many highly qualified professionals?”
I believe that any organization that implemented this type of performance review would soon distinguish itself from its peers. People generally respond better when they know what’s expected of them and this lets them know, prior to evaluation, what they must do to be ranked n each category. Accordingly, there are probably few projects that an organization’s leadership can engage in that would have as great of impact on the growth of the organization than to adapt the USMC Fitness Report to their organization.
***********
As we celebrate Independence Day on Thursday, it
will do us well to remember the words of George Bernard Shaw: ” Liberty means
responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”
Happy 4th, and thanks for reading.