Comments on: When Performance Review Meets the Customer Experience

By: Coaching the Reluctant Retail Associate | The People Equation

Coaching the Reluctant Retail Associate | The People Equation — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:10:03 +0000

[...] I was out early this morning snapping up some bargains at one of my favorite mass-merchandise retailers. In what appears to be a developing theme with me, I overheard another conversation with Human Resources implications. (See my other HR eavesdropping observation here.) [...]

By: Taking a Break | The People Equation

Taking a Break | The People Equation — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:58:44 +0000

[...] I was out in the stores early this morning snapping up some after-Christmas sale items. In what appears to be a developing theme with me, I overheard another conversation with Human Resources implications in the store this morning. (Blog series, perhaps? See my other HR eavesdropping observation here.) [...]

By: Praising Mastery | Jennifer V. Miller

Praising Mastery | Jennifer V. Miller — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:02:55 +0000

[...] that highlight company performance, publishing of sales results broken out by salesperson, and employee performance reviews all have a comparative elements. Those of us in the performance consulting world like to call this [...]

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:32:12 +0000

Ah, the fundamental flaw in most performance appraisal systems….holding the feedback until the “official review.” If a culture of continuous feedback existed then everyone would know where they stand at any given moment, making that review meeting so much less stressful for the employee. However, easier said than done to create such an environment…

And it makes me cringe to hear no one gets a certain rating. Then why have that rating??? Simplify to ratings that are achievable!

By: K. Riggs

K. Riggs — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:31:05 +0000

Performance appraisals….(sigh). One of those ideas that mean well an have enormous unintended consequences.

As a manager at a Fortune 100 company, my brother led a group that set all kinds of sales/profitability records and received “5s” on his annual review. The next year they did even better – and he was told that “we never give 5s two years in a row.”

A short time later, he left the company. Nice.

By: novice-hr

novice-hr — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:15:01 +0000

ahh, i agree with Mike’s comment regarding the faults of their performance system. It’s absurd to not give out perfect mark “just because”. System like that makes no sense to me..

By: Jane Perdue

Jane Perdue — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:10:53 +0000

Oh my goodness — so many “rich with opportunity” topics in one encounter: culture, customer service, performance management, leadership!

The cashier’s response to your reassuring comment speaks volumes (to me) about her orientation to customer service. Customer contact employees must always be “ON.” (With a past employer did a “customer care experience initiative” and used Disney as a role model for this.)

Yikes! to the supervisor for making such a comment in front of a customer…shows no customer service or good employee relations competencies on her part.

And, performance management! That’s a system I would love to see scrapped and be replaced with a dialogue and process that yields worthwhile results.

Jennifer…that grocery stores needs you as more than just a grocery customer!

By: Michael VanDervort

Michael VanDervort — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:01:02 +0000

I work for a large retailer that is heavily performanced based. For many of our associtiates, this is their first exposure to performance appraisals.

I think the conversation actually betrays many of the faults with perf appraisal systems.

“Mo one gets 5′s” – Why not? What message does this send to associates?

“What if she says you’re fired” – Obviously, this is not what performance appraisals should be about, nor how they should be perceived, but the reality is they often are.

Why?

We need to fix these things.

By: Kristina

Kristina — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:33:20 +0000

I come across this type of situation frequently. I look at it from the perspective that they truly have no interest of awareness of what customers want to see and hear. I can understand that when the supervisor summons someone for their evaluation, it can make some people nervous. That being said, any feelings of trepidation should not be communicated within earshot or vision of the customer. Although you did say that they were coureous to you, your customer experience here was focused on them, not you. That’s the difference that makes the difference. And, like you said, it’s a performance review. Staff often forget that they literally are performing for their customers. Good points that you brought up in this post.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:59:51 +0000

Dee,

At the end of the transaction, I did lean in and say someting like, “I don’t think she’ll fire you; it’s a performance review. I’m an HR consultant.” The cashier looked at me like, “How DARE you listen in on my conversation?” so I just let it go.

Wish I had come up with something snappier, but my frozen goods were melting