Recognition Programs and Annual Performance Reviews

What took them so long? Companies like GE, Adobe, Accenture, Deloitte and Netflix have eliminated their Annual Performance Review.  Many HR professionals believe this is only the beginning.  Managers who have worked for hours and hours of individual meeting and completion of appraisal forms know just how much a waste of time the majority of these appraisals came to be.

According to research conducted by CBE Global: 

• 95% of managers are dissatisfied with their annual performance reviews/management systems
• 59% of employees feel performance reviews are not worth the time invested
• 56% of employees do not receive feedback on what to improve
• 66% of annual reviews misidentify high performers regardless of stacked rankings
• 88% of HR managers say the annual appraisal process doesn’t yield accurate information 

A recent survey by SHRM found that 72% of companies conduct formal appraisals once a year but only 2% of the employees gave their employer an “A” grade for their performance management.

Hay solutions have stated several reasons why formal (annual?) appraisals are important:  

1. They make your people feel valued
2. They allow you to set new qoals
3. They can resolve grievances
4. They help to strengthen relationships within the team
5. They allow for refocusing on your team
6. They help provide oversight for current projects
7. They can help assess training needs. 

While these are certainly valid reasons, they don’t necessarily need to be done either annually or formally.  They are all excellent practices that can be easily included in the format and structure of your recognition program.

For years, the recognition industry has recommended that companies provide timely, honest performance feedback on ongoing basis and then recognizing employee performance when appropriate.  This type of consistent appraisal can have huge impact on how satisfied, motivated and productive their employees are.

Is it time for companies to consider a broader approach to recognition that includes the principles and budgets previously used in annual appraisals?  How much more effective would your recognition programs become?  

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

Feedback: The Key to Employee Motivation

As mentioned in recent posts, a culture that is based on a strong purpose and values from the beginning helps to institutionalize the right kinds of employee behaviors.

 One common thread to the most successful employee recognition programs that we have researched over the years is honest and timely feedback.  Conversely, a common mistake that will negatively affect any recognition program is not having the type of feedback that lets employees know how they are doing.  

All too often, employees go through their workday amid the “corporate noise” that managers use as their main source of feedback.  And you don’t know until it’s too late that an employee is quitting their job because of the lack of respect and recognition that can only come from genuine feedback.

If you want employees to go above and beyond, give 110% or whatever other cliché you’d like to use… then you have to tell them what exceptional performance looks like, and then recognize them for that performance. They can’t do it if they don’t know.  And the more consistently you are at letting them know, the sooner their positive performance will become a habit.

Behaviorists for decades have been informing companies about the importance of feedback.  Feedback is the glue that binds the “what” you want them to do with the “what’s in it for them”, the positive consequences for them making the change in the first place.
Not having feedback is like bowling with a curtain in front of the pins.  You do a great job of lining up, approaching the lane with a good motion, rolling the ball down the center and

hearing the pins dropping, but you don’t know how many went down.  You can’t have a good recognition program without letting everyone know how they are doing!

Your company's purpose should connect your employees' work to how it impacts your customers' daily lives, creating an emotional, rather than financial, incentive to the job. When you let them know how well they are doing, the entire behavior model moves into a continuous loop of positive reinforcement.

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

Southwest Airlines: A Study in Employee Recognition

Over the years there have been many articles written about the success of Southwest Airlines.  Many in our industry would point to how well they reward and recognize their employees as a key reason for their success.  While we are sure that is a part of their success formula, it certainly isn’t the only reason. 

Based on our recent post on Culture Driving Employee Motivation, researchers McGregor

and Doshi have concluded that there are three main reasons why companies excel in their industries.  Of these, “Play” is the first.  Employees are motivated by the work itself because they enjoy it.  Anyone who has ever flown Southwest Airlines would have to attest that it is without a doubt the most playful in the skies, and their employees obviously enjoy working there. 

Southwest is regarded as one of the best cultures for employee recognition in the country.  It began with three planes in 1971.  Today it flies 100 million passengers a year on a fleet of 680 planes and employs 45,000 people. Despite Southwest's size and success, its employees still give the impression that they are part of a small, aspirational effort -- something that very few companies, let alone airlines, have managed to do. 

Herb Kelleher, the founder and first CEO of Southwest, has been credited with building the culture that started the growth of Southwest. To simplify his philosophy, he built everything from his employees on up. When asked about his success he simply said …”

“Don’t ever doubt, in the customer service business, the importance of people and their attitudes.”

“We will hire someone with less experience, less education, and less expertise, than someone who has more of those things and has a rotten attitude. Because we can train people. We can teach people how to lead. We can teach people how to provide customer service. But we can’t change their DNA.”

From inception, Southwest has used employee recognition to build their culture of customer

service.  Long before it was fashionable, they innately understood that “a playful attitude” was something that drove performance.  And that motivating the “why” their employees came to work, was just as important as motivating the “how.” 

Researching the recognition programs that Southwest has implemented, you will find they have executed just about every type of program used today.  And they never stop redesigning new ones.  But the one consistent piece they always seem to include are structures that reinforce play and positive attitudes.

If your recognition programs are structured to reinforce your company’s mission, vision and values, you may want to consider including play and attitude as a driving piece to the equation.

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

Company Culture Can Drive Employee Motivation

In the 1980’s Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, psychologists from the University of Rochester, distinguished the six main reasons why people work: play, purpose, potential, emotional pressure, economic pressure, and inertia.

In a recent book authors Lindsay McGregor and Neel Doshi, after surveying thousands of employees around the world, have built on this research with some interesting conclusions, the most interesting being that...

“Why we work determines how well we work, and only a few “whys” drive great performance.”

Of the six reasons for working, many researchers have found that the first three motives tend to increase performance, while the latter three hurt it.  And further that the companies that have a high performing culture in the first three reasons excel in their industries. 

The Three Reasons That Increase Performance:

1.     Play…employees are motivated by the work itself because they enjoy it.

2.     Purpose…when the direct outcome of the work fits your identity, you work because you value the impact

3.     Potential…when the outcome benefits your identity, and enhances your potential for advancement.

In researching for the, “Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures through the Science of Total Motivation,” they found that a high-performing culture maximizes the play, purpose, and potential felt by its people, and minimizes the emotional pressure, economic pressure, and inertia. They termed this as creating total motivation (ToMo). 

The book shows formulas for how to measure total motivation, how total motivation drives customer satisfaction, what organizational processes affect culture and how employee motivation is effected by these processes.  In summary, they point out that cultures that inspired more play, purpose, and potential, and less emotional pressure, economic pressure, and inertia, produced better customer outcomes.

There is no “silver bullet” when building a culture that effects employee motivation, and they are not easy to build.  But it is why high performing cultures are such a powerful competitive advantage. Considering the success of these companies that ranked the highest in their industries based on ToMo, it would be hard to argue against the premise and we might want to focus more on the  “why” we work instead of the processes that drive it.  

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net