MEGA SESSION: Kill Your Performance Ratings

Evidence is mounting that conventional approaches to strategic human capital management are broken. This is particularly true for performance management (PM) systems. A 2013 survey by SHRM asked HR professionals about the quality of their own PM systems and only 23 percent said their company was above average in the way it conducted them. According to neuroscience research, most PM practices turn out to damage the performance they are intended to improve. That’s because they are based on a fundamental misunderstanding of human responses. This results in many employees avoiding the kind of effort that leads to learning and professional growth. If you want a high-performance organization, you have to reverse the destructive effects of conventional performance management. You need to find ways to evaluate people that recognize the unique role each person has played in moving the organization forward. This session draws heavily on research around “growth mindset” and will demonstrate that ratings do more harm than good. You will learn what many smart companies are doing differently and how you can apply these learnings in your organization.