As promised this posting will be about our Annual Review Process or APR as we like to call it. I am proud of our APR, several of us worked on it very, very hard and I believe it is the first one I have ever worked with that adds real deep down and dirty value to everyone involved in the process.
“The first one I have ever worked with…” that may sound flipped, but let me explain. I have personally worked with APRs for the last 15 years, some of those being my own creations. In all that time I have seen many bad ones and a few that were just OK. Let’s consider why this is… In most APRs two people are suppose to crunch 365 days of performance and insight into a 50 minute conversation, then set goals for the next 365 days in the last 10 minutes. Oh and don’t forget to throw in a salary change (or not) in the last 2 minutes of overrun time. When you think about it in this light, it’s a wonder how any of them add value.
So in creating our APR we looked to break the equation above, we really focused on value (to everyone involved) over some rack and stack, rating or labeling system and here are some of the highlights.
Time for Team Member (TM) to show off
First off is to set the expectations with all members. This is not all about finding the TM weaknesses or trying to mitigate them. It’s a time to find their strengths and gain a deep insight of how things are relating to the TM.
First off is to set the expectations with all members. This is not all about finding the TM weaknesses or trying to mitigate them. It’s a time to find their strengths and gain a deep insight of how things are relating to the TM.
Reviews are personal
We say that things are personal at our company… in the review we ask everyone in the room a personal question. How’s your health? How’s your family’s health? Share something recent and personal. Vent something. By making things personal we start the APR on the right foot and start with the thing that is most important… the people.
We say that things are personal at our company… in the review we ask everyone in the room a personal question. How’s your health? How’s your family’s health? Share something recent and personal. Vent something. By making things personal we start the APR on the right foot and start with the thing that is most important… the people.
Not a goal setting process
I touched on this above, but we have decided to separate the review and goal setting process. The reviews are in November as the year is winding down. While goal setting is in January as a new year is starting and hopefully in alignment with personal New Year resolutions.
I touched on this above, but we have decided to separate the review and goal setting process. The reviews are in November as the year is winding down. While goal setting is in January as a new year is starting and hopefully in alignment with personal New Year resolutions.
Fair… Multiple parties get reviewed
Unlike most APRs where the only person being review is the team member… we added sections where the TM rates their project, their team mates, their lead(s) and even the company. I especially like this one and see it as huge Triple Win. How often is it not the team member’s performance, but a lack of support or engagement? This one will be scary for many companies, but it reveals the truth… if you want that.
Unlike most APRs where the only person being review is the team member… we added sections where the TM rates their project, their team mates, their lead(s) and even the company. I especially like this one and see it as huge Triple Win. How often is it not the team member’s performance, but a lack of support or engagement? This one will be scary for many companies, but it reveals the truth… if you want that.
Triad focused (not one-on-one)
We have a neat concept where most team members report to two people (like a set of parents) over a one-to-many reporting mechanism. This has served us well, (I’ll do an entire post on this in the future), very well and it leads to a much deeper and insightful discussion. We have also set the expectation that even if you do report to just one person (some do) that a third person… someone that has worked with the TM closely should attend. If information becomes sensitive or inappropriate (like salary) for the others they will be asked politely to step out.
We have a neat concept where most team members report to two people (like a set of parents) over a one-to-many reporting mechanism. This has served us well, (I’ll do an entire post on this in the future), very well and it leads to a much deeper and insightful discussion. We have also set the expectation that even if you do report to just one person (some do) that a third person… someone that has worked with the TM closely should attend. If information becomes sensitive or inappropriate (like salary) for the others they will be asked politely to step out.
Relationship building time
One thing that came up during the journey of coming up with the APR was, were we being too soft? We don’t do a rack and stack process, we don’t add a label of meets, beats, and kills it to the person… we simply ask for a summary paragraph (of the TMs year) at the end. There is some fear we’re not getting enough value for the company here because we can’t load the result into Excel and sort by a column to find our best performer. But I really dislike that concept anyway. Can you really sum up a person’s performance… and the best way to use them in the future with some number or label? I am sure the real answer is no.
One thing that came up during the journey of coming up with the APR was, were we being too soft? We don’t do a rack and stack process, we don’t add a label of meets, beats, and kills it to the person… we simply ask for a summary paragraph (of the TMs year) at the end. There is some fear we’re not getting enough value for the company here because we can’t load the result into Excel and sort by a column to find our best performer. But I really dislike that concept anyway. Can you really sum up a person’s performance… and the best way to use them in the future with some number or label? I am sure the real answer is no.
No surprises
One of the things I am particularly proud of is our Check-In process. We ask all Leads to perform a check-in with all their TM’s on a monthly basis. Based on an employee survey (Here!) done at Google one-on-one meetings with bosses was the top benefit. Check-Ins are guided in a way that lead to a better understanding of the TM and Lead… while a task list is not discussed it seems almost always the most important things are discussed. You can see our Check-In (Here!). With the monthly Check-In process in place there should be no surprises during the APR. One of the questions on the review form is “How many Check-Ins have you had since your last APR?”
One of the things I am particularly proud of is our Check-In process. We ask all Leads to perform a check-in with all their TM’s on a monthly basis. Based on an employee survey (Here!) done at Google one-on-one meetings with bosses was the top benefit. Check-Ins are guided in a way that lead to a better understanding of the TM and Lead… while a task list is not discussed it seems almost always the most important things are discussed. You can see our Check-In (Here!). With the monthly Check-In process in place there should be no surprises during the APR. One of the questions on the review form is “How many Check-Ins have you had since your last APR?”
Aligns Team Member, Leads and Company
Of course there is a lot more that happens in the APR… these are just some of the highlights of things that are different from what most APRs are. Ultimately the focus of the APR is alignment where two people (or more) come together, but three actually win.
Of course there is a lot more that happens in the APR… these are just some of the highlights of things that are different from what most APRs are. Ultimately the focus of the APR is alignment where two people (or more) come together, but three actually win.
…Shots encouraged!
We did actually put this down at the bottom of the APR training… thinking it was just a way to ease the intensity of the whole process. …be careful what you put down, we had to do shots of Grey Goose at 10am with one TM!! :D
We did actually put this down at the bottom of the APR training… thinking it was just a way to ease the intensity of the whole process. …be careful what you put down, we had to do shots of Grey Goose at 10am with one TM!! :D
No matter how hard you try being able to summarize 365 days into just a couple of hours is really, really hard. By focusing on adding value to all parties involved and understand efforts it can lead to a great experience enabling all parties to grow… And with a little effort and some luck generate some energy as well!
So I ask... with your APR are you just labeling and telling? Or are you adding value to all parties plus something more?
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