Performance Review advice

Rohan,

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking for, but I'll try to give a few helpful answers

1.) You may not have the ability to effect change for the entire organization, but if you do, you may want to look into software specifically for human resource functions: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2492792,00.asp

2.) For a pragmatic approach, and if you have a small team, you may want to do a mid-year practice review with your team members. This will do two things: (1) it will ensure they fill out their reviews properly and (2) it will make sure they know how they will be judged before it's time for the formal review.

3.) If you have a large team, I would schedule a meeting where you show team members the correct way to fill out the spreadsheet. And then schedule an hour on their calendars for alone time at their desk to properly fill out the reviews.

I've reviewed a lot of people and been subjected to a lot reviews, including stack ranking at some pretty big companies. Mostly I thought they were not only unproductive but also could send the wrong signals and hurt morale.

I can also offer a few suggestions:

1) Don't stack rank, it doesn't help anything.

2) Make self assessment forms short, like one page if you have to do them. Some companies just schedule checkpoints with minimal paperwork.

3) Read what you can from Joel's companies (stackoverflow), he's always had a knack for creating productive and healthy environments. One post is here: https://www.stackoverflowbusiness.com/blog/3-ways-to-rethink...

Is the process horrible because it uses Excel or the content in the Excel spreadsheet?

If you are looking for a product recommendation, impraise is decent.