Bye-bye to the bell curve

“Bye-bye to the bell curve” – These words will sound like music to employees and managers who have long been ‘victimized’ by the unfavorable wrath of the %s defined for the appraisal bell curve. Lately, all of us have heard in the news about major organizations including Infosys, Accenture, Cisco, Microsoft, Adobe, Kelly, and the likes having axed the bell curve out of their performance management process.

However, in conjunction, there have been muted questions on how the new system will work? How will we differentiate between performers and non-performers? Will there be any sort of documentation of facts / evidence on which the performance appraisal was based?

I had written on the need for bringing in leniency in the percentages defined for the bell curve based on organizational performance a few years back “Is the bell really tolling”. However, what we are witnessing today is the complete junking of the annual appraisal process and renewed focus towards quarterly discussions and the hope that these will be more productive and lead to greater employee motivation as well as developmental input. While some organizations (like Infosys) will still retain the ratings (eliminating the strict %s for the bell curve), others like Microsoft have chosen to follow a completely new system for evaluation of employees.

While this is a fresh new perspective on the way of looking at performance management, it does rely heavily on the maturity of the managers conducting these discussions. The role of HR here becomes even more important here as the onus of maintaining a system which is perceived to be unbiased falls completely on them. Evaluating managers will have to be constantly goaded and trained on the sensitivity of the discussions and a need to showcase unbiased performance orientation in all their decisions (whether it is of promoting someone, or deciding the pay for others). However, this is easier said than done. And hence the need for HR to be present in all performance discussions till the time this process stabilizes and gets institutionalized. We need to get answers to two basic questions from the assessing managers, albeit, in a sensitive manner:

·         Would you want the employee in question as part of your team going forward?

·         Is he / she ready for the next step towards greater job responsibility?

The answers to these will give us valuable data which can then be used to take other employee decisions in the performance management process.

This is a fresh change and we are hoping that this gives us what we have been vying for all these years through the use of the bell curve – employee performance orientation and clear differentiation. 

Gen Y – The Mindset Challenge!

The definition of Gen Y varies from source to source but let’s take the more generic one – the ones born in the late 80s and after. Essentially which form a large proportion of junior and middle management in most organizations.

The problem starts when we have the Baby Boomers and Gen X being part of the top management and expecting Gen Y to behave and act the same way as they did when they were in their 20s. So how do we go about resolving this imbroglio?

While there is no concrete answer as people strategies differ from culture to culture and organization to organiation, it would be best for both sides to understand that they can co-exist in a productive manner.

Some things have evolved…

- Slicker and faster presentation – Modes of presentation as well as confidence to use those modes has come a long way. So while you have Gen Y carrying presentations on their phones and making last minute changes, it’s a far cry from the printouts carried by the seniors.

- Always-on communication – with Whatsapp and Facebook messenger topping the communication list of Gen Y, information is beginning to travel to far-off places real time. So we might find a teen who is relaying what is being said in a discussion to a remote location reducing the time lag considerably.

- Reduced need for job security – The post-liberalization phase has got various types of opportunities for the new generation. After all, who would have heard of a social media marketer till a few years back.

- Need for faster gratification – Gone are the days when you could tell your team members that things would be taken care of in the next appraisal cycle. Gen Y is looking for instant gratification for their efforts and have no qualms in moving ahead if they feel that they have been shortchanged. That is why we see a large number of employees leaving without a job and not being overly concerned about finding another.

- Greater self-confidence – With more exposure and information at their fingertips, Gen Y is forever confident about themselves. They are ready to take on the most difficult of challenges at the earliest in life and are not scared of anything.

While some others have not…

- Need for recognition and differentiation – Gen Y needs to be recognized and appreciated for the work they do. And this is no different from our seniors. There has to be a clear line of sight of what they are expected to deliver and the underlying rewards.

- See value in what you do – Gen Y is very conscious of what they do and their need to bring in value to what they do is very similar to what the senior management is looking for.

- Responsibility and Ownership of work – While Gen Y maybe perceived as being obnoxious and aggressive, they are as responsible and like to maintain ownership of what they do as their predecessors.

- Need to make an impact – Gen Y wants to make an early impact in whatever they do. While the timeframe might be different, the ideology is similar to what the senior management thinks and desires.

So there are some areas where Gen Y is different, but the basic ideology is still very similar to what is desired at the top. Our management needs to understand that things/ideas/modes have evolved and channelize these energies to make the best us of them.