Performance Reviews - Defining Exemplary - Better Than Great
Editor's Note: Is your organization struggling with defining performance levels? Dan Walter brings some Classic advice and a terrific example of what performance that truly goes above and beyond really looks like.
Performance reviews and ratings are tough. When I work with companies that are new to the concept, I always start with a basic three-tiered scale. This scale is easy for anyone to understand, but admittedly a bit crude for fine-tuned performance management.
I ask people to define three acceptable performance levels. Good, Great and Good Enough. Good should be a stretch. We aim for that as the target. Almost everyone has a feel for this. Great sets the edge for reasonably expected performance by an excellent performer. This may require some discussion, but most people get it pretty quickly. Good Enough is just that. It represents acceptable, but not too impressive, performance. If someone isn’t performing good enough, they need help up or help out. These three levels provide a core for performance measurement.
A couple of weeks ago I was once again reminded why we have a level above Great. I recently moved and forgot to tell UPS. I receive a lot of packages including a bi-monthly perishable shipment (ok, it’s really good wine!) Since I forgot to provide any forwarding information I just assumed I would need to reach out to the winery and have the package reshipped once it had gone through the process of being returned by UPS. I was happily mistaken.
turns out UPS has some Exemplary employees. The driver went to the neighborhood café and asked if they knew where I had moved. Rather than leave a slip on the door, or send the package back to the sender, he went back to the office and told the manager at the distribution center. That same day the manager called me directly and asked if I wanted them to modify the shipment to my new address. When I told them I would be back in town in a few days, she offered to extend the hold and have the package waiting for me.
Now this isn't a little corner UPS shop. It is a major center in a large and bustling city. To single out any one person or shipment requires an attention to detail not often seen.
Good Enough would have been for the driver to try the allotted number of times then mark the shipment for return to sender.
Good would have seen the driver doing the same as Good Enough then informing his manager that a regular customer had moved and a perishable shipment was on his truck.
Great would have been making a concerted effort to expedite the return shipment to the sender to reduce the possibility of damage.
Exemplary is doing something that the customer would never expect. It is doing something that is almost certainly not documented in any formal process. It is doing the thing the owner of company would do in the same situation.
Define your core levels well and make sure that there is enough flexibility to allow extraordinary actions to be rewarded above the top. Too often we try and clearly define the very top when in fact it is perhaps not yet something we can imagine happening. How does your company differentiate between Great and Exemplary?
Note: UPS is not a client of Performensation, nor have they been in the past.
Dan Walter is a CECP, CEP, and Fellow of Global Equity (FGE). He works as Managing Consultant for FutureSense. He has three metaphors for every occasion and is a leading expert on incentive plan and equity compensation issues. He has written several industry resources including the only resource dedicated to Performance-Based Equity Compensation. He has co-authored ”Everything You Do In Compensation is Communication”, , “Equity Alternatives” and other books. Connect with Dan on LinkedIn. Or, follow him on Twitter at @DanFutureSense.