RIP Performance Reviews: Session Recap from CHART 98

Session Recap: The Slow Extinction of Performance Reviews
Presented by: Serah Morrissey, Area Director of Human Resources, WB Hotel Partners

I am a HUGE proponent of evolution. I loathe processes that are stuck in the past and feel our industry can be slow to move. Some things are sacred: we need to serve good food, in clean restaurants with exceptional service, but how we motivate our people to execute to this end is ever changing.

After a quick survey of the attendees in Serah’s session – it’s unanimous: performance reviews are dead. But did you know 79% of executives want to do away with performance reviews?

The thought process is to progress to less formal ongoing check-ins, and move away from the once a year dump of information that tends to use the following methods (all are google-able):

1. Similar to Me Error
2. Halo Error
3. Central Tendency Error
4. Recency Error
5. Leniency Error

What does a more often and relevant approach look like? We should be having ongoing conversations with our managers and team members. The conversations should be just that – a conversation. We should be asking more questions instead of telling our teams what they are doing from a singular perspective. Asking things like:

“How are you?”

“What are you most proud of?”

“Let’s do a happiness check-in – what’s going good in your world?”

“What obstacles are you having and how can I help you or what support do you need?”

Perhaps you frame these questions around your company’s mission or core values.

The group aligned that monetary increases should be separated from performance reviews as we move to have more frequent conversations. That raises are annual or bi-annual, and the conversations are occurring more often.

Here are some ways to get you started:

• Get buy-in. Ask those who do the most performance reviews in your organization what they would like the conversation to look like, as well as the cadence.
  • Maybe the cadence is that Managers are monthly and team members are quarterly or both are monthly, depending on your team size.
  • Get rid of the one-size-fits-all performance review. Here’s where we are trending to and aiming for:
    • Employee well being will become part of the process
    • Flipping the script by training associates to ASK for feedback
    • Job personalization and customized training
    • Artificial Intelligence will arrive in performance management
    • Coaching, coaching, coaching…. ongoing through the year
    • Remember: coaching and correcting are not tied to disciplinary action
    • Make sure your Multi-units and GMs are prepared to lead the updated process. Many will need guidance on this methodology to execute as designed. Role playing is imperative in teaching managers how to move from annual reviews to ongoing conversations.

Similar to business models and how we serve guests are changing in this modern world, how we interact with and work with our teams must change as well. Now is the time to plan the funeral of performance reviews. Rest in peace.