It is not surprising that no one regardless of their area of responsibility enjoys the task of personnel evaluation.  Most times the forms utilized are formal, ranking someone as a 1-2-3-4-5 is difficult, the conversations that circle around the process are typically uncomfortable and the relationships people have on a day-to-day basis standardly become challenged based on how good or bad the evaluation results are.

Next think about the priorities contained in the evaluation format.  Primarily the focus of any evaluation is on what you have accomplished…old news right?  And then for corrective action the discussion is how to improve the bad old news…right again?  Given the speed and complexity of change occurring in our business and public service worlds of work…is this design really the best use of one-on-one professional development time??

I believe we need to apply innovation strategies to the function of evaluation.  How about if we start by embracing the concept of:  Evaluating The “FUTURE YOU!”?  Remember employees are a company’s/organization’s greatest asset.  So, if you are strategizing for continuous improvement…wouldn’t an Evaluating The “FUTURE YOU!” format be most appropriate/necessary?

This format could consider each employee as a small business.  As a result the evaluation would require the employee to create their own skill, product, sales, performance, and creativity plans going forward.  The discussion would concentrate on what additional value they would bring to themselves and in so doing improve the company/organization.  Placing the main focus on the person and their development plan may feel odd at first…but consider the issue of computer upgrading.  Computers need to be tended to and upgraded periodically to be needed and more useful to the agency.  Maybe by using an Evaluating The “FUTURE YOU!” component for personnel reviews, you may find a new, unique full-growth organizational strategy for upgrading and adding value to your workers!