The 90 Day Performance Appraisal Period

In a previous white paper, Are We Realizing the Value Promise of Performance Management, I covered best practices from highly successful companies.  These best practices included:

• Keeping the number of goals small
• Treating performance management as a process rather than an event and having frequent discussions
• Aligning individual efforts with broader organizational or department goals.

I was reminded of these practices again as I was reading a book by Gino Wickman called “Traction – Get a Grip on Your Business.” This book lays out a strategic planning and execution process that is very helpful. However, the component that really caught my attention was the concept of “rocks.” Rocks are 90 day goals for an individual that reflect the three things that are most important to achieve in that period. The goals tie in to the one year plan for the organization. Weekly meetings are held to discuss progress on the rocks and resolve key issues.

It struck me that this practice is totally consistent with the best practices of performance management. The number of goals are kept small, there is alignment with broader organizational goals, and discussions and problem solving are conducted frequently.

While interim reviews in traditional performance management systems are a good thing, this is a different concept because the goals or rock change every 90 days. This is likely to bring greater satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. There is nothing to prevent the 90 day goals from being aligned with a person’s yearly goals, and roll-ups could be made to generate yearly performance ratings. What I really like about the concept is the greater focus and clarity they provide individuals in terms of what matters in the near term.

There is also an element of “crowdsourcing performance discussions” in this process. The weekly discussions of progress on the “rocks” is a group discussion. The goals of individuals are transparent, and there is an opportunity for others to offer ideas and advice on how to achieve the goals.  There is also an element of empowerment. Each individual owns their “rocks” and monitors and reports on their own progress.

Automated performance management systems can easily accommodate 90 appraisal periods and bring additional documentation and reporting capabilities to the process. The 90 day appraisal period is certainly worth considering as an additional way to drive best practices in performance management.

If you are interested in learning how OMNIview can assist you in making better talent management decisions, please call us at 877.426.6222.