Yes, the time has come again. The last quarter of the year has started and therefore it is time for the appraisals. I can already see all the postings on LinkedIn. Did you demonstrate the desired behaviour? Will you get that salary increase now?

The manager assesses

When I was a line manager I also experienced all this, the appraisals with first the panning interview and the performance interview. Three official interviews that jointly form the P-cycle.

But that was a hell of a job. Not because of the interviews or the preparation or the time they took, but because of the fact that I do not think that this is right. Why should I as manager assess the people in my team? As if I am more and better and therefore able to assesses others. What a nonsense!
I am really no more or better. I am just like all others, just an ordinary person. With all my strengths but definitely also with all my weaknesses.
Why would I do an assessment. A subjective something that says more about my standards, values and beliefs than about the behaviour of another person in relation to the values of the company.
As you can see, I therefore also strongly oppose the traditional assessment method.

Subjective

As a manager I already started to take different roads than what people were used to. I did not do the assessment alone. But together with my righthand colleague. We did the entire process together, the preparation, collecting input from other colleagues, the interview and the completion.
So things became slightly less subjective and also better and more accepted by the person who was “assessed”.
But I was still not in favour. It was still a subjective something. Admittedly, a subjective something of two people who shared the same thoughts, but still. Two individuals who assess another person. And subsequently linking a salary increase or not to this assessment. In my view this is just not right!

“Something” from the team

Since June I have now been an entrepreneur and therefore I have the intention to radically change things for my future colleagues.
I am sure that I will not be the first person to change things. There are probably already pioneer in this field. However, I have not met them yet.

How it will look exactly, I have not got a clue. I do have some ideas but then I will determine how things will look like and that is not what I want.
I would really like it if something was thought of and decided by the team. That it is a self-organising something, where not everyone is showing the socially desired behaviour but where everyone can just be himself.
That “something” is then from the team and they fully support it. “Something” that is as objective as possible.
It would also be great if a salary increase is disconnected from this. I believe that a salary increase can always be discussed. But not with me, as owner of the company, but with the direct colleagues.
Are they also of the opinion that a certain colleague deserves a salary increase?
This creates transparency!

As you can see, I know exactly what I do not want! But how it should be done, that is still not completely clear to me.
Do you have any ideas?