My client is looking for performance evaluation software for their design firm.
They are looking for it to aid them in the following ways…
Facilitate company wide performance review process
Record and store employee feedback, employee info and compensation data
Have login capabilities that allow employees provide feedback for one another throughout the year rather than one time of year
Incorporates some sort of customizable appraisal system (rating scales, competencies, comment forms, etc)
Set goals and track them
I am clueless in this area and have been tasked with finding software possibilities.
The only one that has been brought to my attention is a product called “Taleo Performance”.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance…
Automate and remove the need to use your brain when evaluating employees.
Instill constant fear of risk taking due to possibility of failure.
Destroy all chance of improving systems and processes in place.
Install a vicious cycle of backstabbing and credit stealing.
Ok I’m done being cynical.
CG, how does it actually stack up against the baloney I’ve just typed up? Does this type of real-time tracking actually help or hinder you firms evaluation of it’s employees? Do you have problems with fear of what pops up in the system? I can imagine a problem of people speaking up where there is a problem more often than when there is a positive, as is the case in most-mortem reviews of development cycles. How does the system account for teams, and assists in the big score?
I’ve always believed that if you can’t trust the employees you hire, you shouldn’t be in management. An employee failing is a reflection of failure on the person hiring.
Many times you inherit people that you did not hire. Very rare is the opportunity to build a team from nothing.
You don’t go to war with the army you want, you go with the army you have. At best these systems can be a helpful tool to guide evaluation discussion, but of course they never replace real time coaching and mentorship. I use the official tool, but I also do something a little less novel (or more novel depending on your point of view). I keep a word document on each of my reports that I add to all year round, just little notes and bullet points, they did great with this, need help with that. By the end of the year I have a collection of notes I can use to gather patterns from. Then I have one on one coffees with 5-10 people that worked directly or indirectly with the report during the year. This helps me to see if my assessment of their patterns was correct. Then I just have an open conversation about it with the person… pretty normal stuff, but I feel that people respond really well to feedback, even if it is tough to hear, if they know you have done the homework and really spent time to think about it and then spend more time to work with them to tailor a few possible solutions. I think the system is called “Being a good boss 1.0”.
I want to say that I agree with your earlier post though, that hiring managers need to be responsible for the people they bring in. Accountability is key. That is why it can take me a year to fill a position at times! I would rather do extra work personally for an extended period to cover the gap than bring in the wrong person. The wrong person might be an extra set of hands you can use for a couple of months in a crunch, but chances are you will be stuck with them for 3-5 years, spending more time trying to get them to operate at a level that is just not a fit for them… or pass them on to your replacement who is then stuck with them. I’ve had to let go several people over the years and it is not an easy thing to do, but as the group’s leader, you have to make the tough calls for the betterment of the entire team. I am proud to say that every permanent hire I have made to date has gone on to do great things within those organizations after I have left… might just be luck so far, not sure, time will tell…
I would have given my right arm to have a boss like you when I first started out… although you’d have had to put up with me coming in with terrible hangovers from time to time.
I hope your sub-ordinates appreciate who they have mentoring them right now… they’ll be set for life in the design industry.
I’m reading a book called “Making Ideas Happen” by Scott Belsky. It is a pretty good read and has some good, if not obvious, insites into management of the creative process.
One of the interesting things mentioned was the idea that focus on what people do wrong is far more detrimental in the long run than focus on the good. The example give was a designer places a concept on the table. In the critique, people are only allowed to say what they like about the design. Patterns quickly arise.
I took it to be based on the premise that we are all our own worst critic. We already know what sucks and what is good about ourselves/work. If people tell you only what they LIKE about you/your work, it will reinforce what you already know what is bad without the demoralizing effect of criticism.
