The future of work and the rise of team-to-team feedback

We interview Dr. Anna Tavis on cutting-edge trends shaping the future of the performance appraisal. Anna is a clinical associate professor of human capital management at New York University and the Perspectives editor at People + Strategy, a journal for HR executives.

How has the change in workplace, particularly towards a team-based structure, altered the way we do appraisals?

When discussing Performance Management (PM) it is important to get the fundamentals right. Any lasting and effective changes to the performance management process must come from the changes in the nature of work itself, as well as from the changes in the expected outcomes, the resulting products and services.  

The performance management transformation of the last two decades has more to do with the digital transformation of the workplace at large than with the ever-changing HR trends. It is also important to remember that the initial impetus for change came from the rise of software development.  With software and digital becoming the dominant technologies of today, the agile teams and flat organizational structures have, for the most part, replaced traditional manufacturing-based linear production processes – those built in the image of the conveyor lines of the industrial revolution of the early 20^th century. Each production worker had their own part to play, autonomously and independently of others.  The emergence and growth of agile working means greater team-based, outcome measured performance process. The annual end of year performance appraisal became inadequate in the light of the rapidly changing production cycle and the need to rely on the diverse set of skills among team members.

HR needed to catch up to the speed of change, replacing the linear annual review process with the frequent check ins, coaching focused conversations and team-based evaluation systems. The collaborative nature of work required a measurement or evaluation system that reflected the way work was achieved. The transition to the new appraisal system required not only rethinking of HR processes and tools, but also the change in how work was being measured and rewarded.

Are there any merits to the traditional performance appraisals in this new environment?

The traditional performance appraisal system has had its purpose and its value in the past. It is better to have an appraisal system than none. Additionally, a too hastily executed transition to the ratings-less or agile, team-based performance process could also backfire.  Any such change should be approached with the right data: gathering and analysis of ideas from stakeholders, engaged employee, finetuning the culture and change management leadership.

Companies, such as IBM, started their transformation of performance management process with the global design thinking sessions, the creation of a set of stakeholder personas, and crowdsourcing ideas on what the new process might like and what it would be called. By the time the old process was replaced and the new one introduced, the organization was ready. The important lesson is that replacing traditional performance appraisals should not be a top-down exercise, designed in the specialist lab and “rolled out” to the organization at large. It needs to be inclusive, team-based, coaching focused. In other words, it needs to live up to its name.

How has the tech world innovated feedback, particularly for real-time feedback?

The tech world has been ahead of HR in creating the tools that can facilitate team-based feedback process. The top global players, the leading HRIS systems, from Workday to Success Factors, built feedback features into their Performance Management Modules.

Early on, a generation of startup companies emerged to capture the adaptive and agile next generation performance management process. To mention just a few among smart performance management-focused companies: Reflektive, Lattice, BetterWorks, Centrical, Workhuman.

In particular, start-up companies offer creative, employee-centric solutions that are focused on positive employee experience, ease of use and speed of feedback to support both managers and employees.

Another group of companies, including BetterUp, Bravely, Ezra and Imperative, offer coaching, advising and mentoring services via their online matching platforms.  Companies are making coaching and mentoring services available to employees at the click of the mouse making these services available when employees need them and regardless of the managers’ willingness or availability to coach.

Team performance appraisals have been embraced by companies such as Cisco. Given its success, would there be advantages to extending the team approach to appraisals, with team-to-team feedback both internally and externally? 

There is no question that the nature of work is becoming more collaborative. Additionally, we now have the tools to make team-based performance management easier to implement in global organizations. Thirdly, companies such as Cisco are paving the way by serving as models and by being there first showing what it takes to make team-based approach work at the enterprise level. Cisco HR worked with the leadership of Cisco to reimagine, redesign, iterate and finally scale team approach to performance management.

While feedback may be getting most attention, it needs to be put in the context of Cisco’s systemic overhaul of the performance management in its entirety. The performance process had to be redesigned for any one part of it to work. First, team goals needed to be set and agreed upon, sprints and check-ins institutionalized, team roles defined, metrics introduced, and team protocols established. In other words, feedback is not a stand-alone feature, it must be designed into the performance itself for the whole system to work.

If so, what opportunities can team-to-team appraisals offer companies? 

We come full circle to reiterate that the future of work is collaborative, team-based and will require rethinking and transitioning the performance management processes, regardless of where a company finds itself today.  The benefits of transitioning to the team-based approach are hard to overestimate. Collaboration-based cultures are more resilient, trust-based and innovative. Collaboration-based cultures provide the foundation for a successful digital transformation and become magnets for the most creative, highly skilled talent.  The clear challenge is in planning and successfully executing a successful transition from the traditional appraisal to the team-based one. The help for planning such a transition is here for the asking.  Assess where your organization is, where you want it to be and get on the journey.