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Let's look at a case
study, and in particular,
let's look at Adobe's
"Check-in" process.
Now this has been
written about quite
extensively and it's
useful to look at
this particular
instance because it
tends to suggest
the way in which
performance management
can be done more
effectively in a wider
range of organizations.
In 2012, Adobe decided
to abolish its
performance reviews for a
number of different reasons.
Firstly, it felt the process
itself was overly complex,
bureaucratic and
paperwork heavy,
and was eating up thousands
of hours of management time.
Rather than delivering
benefits, as such,
the commitment of
time and effort
wasn't being matched by the
outcomes of the process.
But it also created barriers to
teamwork and in innovation since
the experience of being rated
and what they call
"stack-ranked",
ranking employees in terms of
their performance for the
benefit of allocating them
compensation or pay or bonuses,
left many employees feeling
undervalued and uninspired.
Essentially, it was having
a detrimental effect both on
employee morale but also on
the ability of managers to
do their particular job
because so much effort was being
put into performance reviews.
So Adobe introduced
"Check-in", which
they felt was a more informal,
ongoing dialogue
between managers and
their direct reports that has
employees feeding more
engaged and empowered.
The point I made earlier about
this continuous process of
coaching employees through
performance improvements
and through
individual learning, becomes
central then to the way that
Adobe conducts its
performance management now.
In particular,
"Check-in" was designed
to involve forward-looking
conversations
that make employees feel
valued and supported, and that
encourages real teamwork
and improved productivity.
At the heart of "Check-in" was
a self-directed approach
to employee development.
This became a central focus of
all the dialogue between
employees and managers
with an explicit
focus on balancing
the aspirations of
employees and the needs
of the organizations.
