Appraisals and such

It is that time of the year when companies are engaged in the process of employee appraisals or have just concluded it or are gearing up for it. Whether you are a manager preparing to evaluating your subordinates or dreading meeting your own manager, I can almost bet that what you are feeling is not a pleasant feeling of anticipation. Reminds you of the frantic beating of your heart before you see your marks after a grueling exam or the empty feeling in your gut before a viva, doesn’t it? While these milestones in school and college were predetermined and the amount of information you were supposed to digest was defined in advance, the annual appraisal is a beast that slumbers all year but wakes up annually to attack you.

Last year, I was fortunate to meet an experienced American scientist who after being laid off, had decided to use his vast experience to help clients in the role of an independent consultant. He seemed pretty content doing this for the last few years. I wanted to find out if he ever had the urge to grow his company by adding staff and expanding the offerings. I personally was struggling with defining strategy for the second year of my independent career. He said “I have not done performance appraisals in the last four years. That makes me a very happy man.” I thought the statement was totally hilarious. But it was interesting to note how people who had spent their entire work lives in companies, having long successful careers were just going through the motions without buying into these torturous modes of measuring the worth of individuals.

I guess the current system is not perfect and I don’t have any suggestions for an alternative method of evaluation. However, I echo the same words of relief. I am on my own, responsible for my work, get to take complete credit for a job well done but also know when to look critically at my own performance. I consider myself the one true judge of my abilities. I am best suited to make whatever course corrections I need to do. I have never had any trouble with my appraisals with my bosses in the past and I doubt whether the ones who reported to me were particularly unhappy. But I am glad that I do not have to undergo these subjective evaluations and judgments anymore.

Whenever I am confused over what I do next to evolve my company, I think about performance appraisals and put the expansion plans on hold for a little longer.