As part of our annual performance review process, individuals are asked to describe their achievements and how they relate to their goals/job performance requirements. This input is then used by their manager (in conjunction with the manager's own data) in developing their written annual performance review and numerical ratings that go with the verbiage.
Based on recommendations in your Performance Review podcast series, we are considering going a little further and have the individual also rate themselves in the 5 areas that we quantitatively rate people. However, in discussing this internally there is a concern it could become an exercise in trying to determine what your supervisor is expecting to see, a calculation between not wanting to make numbers too low (for fear it might negatively affect the ratings you actually receive) nor too high (it would be embarrassing to have significantly higher numbers than your supervisor.) Because of this fear, there is a concern that having individuals rate themselves would result in no meaningful information being exchanged.
Would you be able to comment on this concern from your experiences? Thank you!
Individual self ranking in performance reviews
One of my favorite all time studies was done at Cornell in the 90's. Titled "Unskilled and Unaware of It," the researchers found an [i][b]inverse[/b][/i] relationship between skill level and self-assessment!
The researchers concluded basically that the best set very high standards for themselves, and see themselves falling short. Mediocre folks have mediocre standards, and therefore see themselves as top acheivers.
You can read the study at: http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf
I like self assessments - just don't take them at face value. And I have found that the research above holds true for technical professionals.
John
Individual self ranking in performance reviews
Helen: your post gets at the core of what I think is the weakness in having self-disclosure as part of assesment systems:
[quote]a calculation between not wanting to make numbers too low (for fear it might negatively affect the ratings you actually receive) nor too high (it would be embarrassing to have significantly higher numbers than your supervisor.) [/quote]
I think this is a close-to-fatal flaw when trying to use it for most jobs and most organizations.
Self-assessments can be great tools, but when they're [i]disclosed[/i] self-assessments, that's when you run into trouble with people gaming them.
One alternative approach with the employee: take the self-assessment, keep the results to yourself. But tell me what the [i]implications[/i] of the assesment are, and what you might do about it as a result. In other words, use the self-assessment as a tool to point out areas of strength and weakness for the purpose of improving performance.
After all, the performance discussion is best when it focuses on future behaviors that will improve effectiveness.
-Hugh