Answer:

One thing that could help reduce the fear--especially during the first few years with this new format--is to keep responses confidential. I don’t know how you have structured gathering the feedback, but here is one method:

The manager of an employee (we’ll call the employee “Pete”) asks Pete for the names of five or more associates Pete works with on a regular basis. Ideally, Pete will select a few of his co-workers, a few of his peers outside the department and one manager for whom he has done some project work. If Pete has selected his best buddies, his manager would work with Pete to broaden the list to include other people. Pete’s manager then selects a minimum of three people from Pete’s list to ask about Pete’s performance.

Rather than ask for general feedback, Pete’s manager will ask for specific feedback examples. The manager will follow up with these three people if there are examples he doesn’t understand or probe for more details if, for example, a comment was quite negative and the manager wants to understand more about why the person sees Pete’s performance as below par.

The manager would not reveal which people on the list he asked but would use their feedback to validate or expand on his own observations about Pete’s performance. If the managers don’t reveal who said what, there may be less fear about being honest.

The key is that all associates need to be given guidelines on how to fill out the forms, for example they should only comment on patterns of behavior and they need to be accountable for providing specific examples. Blasting someone without supporting evidence will only cause the manager to discount their input.

Don’t be surprised if people do tiptoe around the first year. Because they aren’t sure what to expect, there is often a tendency to be too generous in rating each other. However, my experience is that they tend to get more honest over time, especially if they see no retaliation has occurred and their confidence grows about the managers using the information wisely.

The best way to increase confidence in the process is to do next year’s reviews very well. If each employee has a good experience-- in other words, the feedback gathered on them is used wisely-- they will warm to the idea of being more honest. If managers use the feedback from others as a hammer or hide behind it and don’t share their own views, it will be perceived negatively.

As with any performance review process, no one wants to be surprised. So, informal input should be gathered on a regular basis and a mid-year check in is a good idea, so the employee has enough time to work on any problems that may be developing.

Finally, it would be a good idea to have a “calibration meeting” with all the managers in each department to discuss the reviews of their employees prior to delivering them. The purpose is to create more consistency between managers. Some managers tend to be easy raters and others are tough. A facilitated meeting where ratings are openly discussed and supporting evidence is articulated will be educational and help to establish more consistent standards by which people are measured.

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