Why Annual Performance Reviews Only Are a Problem

Angela Cathey, M.A. & Todd A. Ward, PhD, BCBA-D

bSci21Media, LLC

Brett DiNovi, M.A., BCBA

Brett DiNovi & Associates

For most of us, annual performance reviews have been a part of our employment for our entire careers. This common practice in organizations, though well intentioned, tends to be a poor motivator of effective behavior for both employees and supervisors. Feedback that is delivered once per year is rarely responsive to the actual employee behavior of concern to improve or reward it. Additionally, performance reviews in their most current form tend to be aversive for managers and provide little feedback for the manager to improve their own performance.

In a recent video by Brett DiNovi & Associates, Brett and his leadership staff discuss some of the measures they have taken to drive a feedback driven culture that supports better performance every day. At Brett DiNovi & Associates they strive to drive better performance at all levels by creating organizational goals based on careful monitoring of their Key Performance Indicators (KPI). KPI’s are different for every organization based on their mission and those behaviors that drive overall organizational success. Monitoring of KPI is key to making sure that the organization is spending its time and resources effectively so that it grows over time. Many organizations do take the first step to attempt to monitor these KPI but then fail to monitor the appropriate KPI or fail to communicate what drives organizational performance to their employees.

Brett and his leadership team discuss how they use cascaded organizational KPI to drive behavior through their organization that now exceeds 450 employees. Essentially, cascading organizational KPI means that the organization not only monitors their KPI and revisits the effectiveness of their behavior at driving KPI regularly but that these goals are translated down to each organizational level. Without this key step, of communicating the organization level goals down to individual level behavioral goals, employees may be unknowingly working against the larger organizations progress.

At Brett DiNovi & Associates employees are kept aware of their individual goals and are able to communicate their experience of their individual and organizational success back to their employer on a regular basis. This is accomplished by both informal and formal feedback channels between employees and various levels of leadership. Employees fill out weekly surveys regarding their experience and satisfaction with their work which are reviewed weekly by the executive leadership team. Further each employee starts their employment with a mentor who supports their growth and keeps them on track and aware of how their individual behavioral goals support the organization. These types of measures support an open dialogue between layers of management and good matching of employee behavior to organizational goals and progress.

Be sure to check out the full video, and to subscribe to Brett DiNovi’s YouTube channel and let him know what you would like to see in future videos.  Also, be sure to subscribe to bSci21 via email to receive the latest articles directly to your inbox!

bSci21Media, LLC, owns the top behavior analytic media outlet in the world, bSci21.org.  bSci21Media aims to disseminate behavior analysis to the world and to support ABA companies around the globe through the Behavioral Science in the 21st Century blog and its subsidiaries, bSciEntrepreneurial, bSciWebDesign, bSciWriting, and the ABA Outside the Box CEU series.

Brett DiNovi, M.A., BCBA has the unique and distinguished experience of studying the principles of applied behavior analysis under the rigorous scrutiny of both Dr. Julie S. Vargas (formerly Skinner) and Dr. E.A. Vargas at West Virginia University’s internationally recognized program. For the past 26 years, Brett has used behavior analytic principles to create large scale change across school districts, Fortune 500 companies using principles of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM), and across individual learners. Brett has been a OBM consultant in Morgantown WV, an instructor at West Virginia University, a guest lecturer at numerous universities, a speaker on multiple Comcast Newsmakers TV programs, an expert witness in due process hearings, has publications in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, and has been in in executive leadership positions across schools and residential programs nationwide. In addition to an award from South Jersey Biz Magazine for “Best Places to Work,” an award for “Best of Families” in Suburban Magazine, and the distinguished “Top Ranked U.S. Executives” award, Brett’s proudest accomplishment is being a role model and father for his daughter and two stepchildren (one of which has autism). Brett can be reached at [email protected]

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