Why is it that so many managers and employees find the traditional review process to be inadequate, incomplete, unfair, or even downright capricious? I think the reason is that six or twelve month reviews usually fail to accurately measure the employee's actual performance over the course of the time they purport to measure. Throughout the course of the year, managers rarely conduct an ongoing, explicit evaluation of each employee's concrete actions against clearly stated expectations. When prompted by HR or the boss' boss to write reviews or rank employees, most managers scramble to complete obtuse "measurements" and they do it because they are required to do it. How often do we hear about managers asking their employees to do a "first draft" of the review to give the manager something to work from, and fast, because the deadline is approaching? Usually, managers assemble evaluations, reviews, and rankings based on the scant records they have kept during the year.

In order to accurately evaluate an employee's performance, managers would need to look at the concrete actions that employee is taking every day to get his job done and then measure it against the expectations that were set for that employee in advance. On an ongoing basis, managers need to ask three questions:
1. Did the employee meet every goal that was set? Did he do all the tasks that were required?
2. Did he complete the tasks according to the guidelines and specifications provided? That is, did he follow the standard operating procedures?
3. Did he meet the deadlines or other time frames set in advance?

If you have been monitoring, measuring, and documenting the concrete actions of your employees on a day to day basis, then answering these questions should simply require a cumulative summary of your regular tracking. This is the data that you need to have if you're going to have an accurate review of any employee's true performance.

BONUS MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICE
This week, in every one-on-one management conversation with every direct report, ask the following three questions. And keep track of the answers in writing. This is the most important data you will ever have about an employee's true performance.
1. Did the employee meet every goal that was set? Did he do all the tasks that he was required to do?
2. Did he complete his tasks according to the guidelines and specifications provided? Did he follow standard operating procedures?
3. Did he meet the deadlines set in advance?