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Employee
evaluations
arecritical
to thesuccess
butemployers
mustasktherightquestions
By Marjanne Pearson,Paul Nakazawaand NancyEgan
esign firm leadersmay enioy citing
management guruTomPetersin Pursurl about, money, promotions and related arises from the review process. Possible
of WowquotingHalRosenbluth, CEOof issues.Possiblecause:No venueexists [o cause:The reviewprocessis not designedto
travel service RosenbluthInternational.who
declared, "The Customer Comes Second.
Employeescome first." But would they
believeit?
An informal survey of
designfirm staff would prob-
ably tell a less inspidng tale.
Namely,that the most talent-
ed and loyal employeesoften
feel more like second-class
citizens than the empowered
change-masters touted in the
businesspress. Although the
last, recessionallowed many
firms to keep top performers
on the payroll despite their
employers'poor managemen[
skills, today's improvedbusi-
nessclimatehas designfirms
grapplingto retain the talent
that has kept, clients happy
and proiectsprofitable,while
using that same talenl to
enter new markets.
In fact, reviews normally
aimed at improving perfor-
mance and morale fail both
the design firm and the
employee.It is easy [o enu-
merate the complaintsabout
performancereviews as they
are currently conducted.
There are basically four
issuesat stake.
.lssue: Many managers
think reviews divert, effort,
from billable work, take too
long and are rarely conve-
nient. Possible cause:
Management,doesn't value
reviewsas a strategicopportunityfor align-
ing company,staff and customerswith goals,
obiectivesand expectations.
.lssue: Employeesdo not,value the eval-
uator's opinion. Possiblecause:The review
processis no[ structuredto incorporatecom-
pelling information with tangible conse-
quencesfor employeeand employer.
z0 c0ilrnmlHtill
llfoinU?
of design
firmsandtheirstaff-
to makeevaluations
work
.lssue: Supervisorsfear confrontations .lssue:No clearpurposeor consequence
discussthesetypesof issuesin the normal establishspecificgoals and expectations,so
course of business, and/or both parties the parties cannotadequatelyeffect change.
have inadequatelyattemptedto communi-
cate their concerns. lmprovedperformance andgreaterrewards:A two-
waystreet?
Talent Inlhe Design Profusslon: How can the evaluation
processbetter suit the needs
A SixPointed Star of design firms and their
employees?Performancere-
views shouldnot be a look in
the rear-view mirror or a
once-a-yearsessionto iustify
a salary or promotion.A per-
formance evaluation should
be a time to breathe,re-cali-
braleand re-aligna firm's vi-
sion and commitments,which
are built on individualtalent.
skill and experience.
Obviously,communication
between the firm and its
employee is necessary to
build a successfulmodel for
performance evaluation and
ensuingrewards.Becausethe
achievementsof the flrm and
the employeebecome inter-
twined, in essence,both par-
ties are being evaluated.It's
an important,consideration.
To measuresuccess,man-
agement, must, understand
and articulatethe factorsthat
constitute success for the
frrm so that, employeescan
work within the accepted
framework to obtain a mea-
sure of individual success.
O PearsonEganNakazawa,1996.All rights reserved.
The will of design profes-
sionals to succeedinevitablv
Howdoyoudefine a successful
designeP Sunounding a leads them [o serve clients better if their
coreofhlenthbove)isa complex clusteroftaih. To actions are basedon commonlyunderstood
properly
evaluatesuccess,
management mustunderstandprinciplesofvalue.It's in the bestinterestof
he factors
ftat constiUte
succesfurfte firm-sofrat the firm, therefore, to inspire designersto
employeescanwolkwithintheaccepted ftamewo* to activelypursue their goals. Failingthat, the
oblain
a measun ofindMdualsuccess.Pedomance firm will simply confuse employees and
rcviewsletemployer andemployeejoindyestablish
a waste their time in figuring out, what gets
fufurecource
ofaction. rewardedand what,doesnt.
A U G U S TI 9 9 6
 Performancereviews provide the oppor-
tunity for both employerand employeeto co,l-
laboratively establish a future course of
action.Designfirm managerswho havelong
"What's
asked in it for me?" are quicklyreal-
izingthat the best answerlies in a ioint effort
of the employeeand employer [o create a
performanceplan for the employee.
Such a program allows the professional
to be selfslr in pursuingpersonalcareersat-
isfactionand thus, indirectlyselllessin meet-
ing the goals of the firm. As a result, the
processbrings the evaluationagendainto a
broader sphere.The employeerealizesthat
helshe is part of the communityand his/her
successesare relative to those of the
employerand the client.
Definingsucces:Howdoyoucalibrate
thetapemea-
surefor pelfurmance?
What constitutes success?In the new
model, success is the ability to create
value-the measurablebenefitsto all parties
involved. In effect. architects and interior
designers are in business for themselves,
working within the organization.Managers
and designprofessionalscan jointly develop
"personal"
businessplans based on under-
stood value in the followingways:
.Create an agenda that describes the
focusand overallexpectationsfor an employ-
ee'sspecificrole.
.Delineate a scope of work or activities
to develop a schematic outline of the
"boundaries"
employee's so the employee
can take action in a designatedarea while
enhancing his,/her level of empowerment
and influence.
.Develop an action or work plan for the
individualto achievethe items on the agen-
da, with benchmarksto defineprogress.
.Schedule"check-ins"with the employer/
supervisorto stay on track.
As a pre-requisiteto the developmentof
this program, the employermusl articulate,
and the employee must understand and
internalizevariousaspectsof the employer's
managementphilosophy:
.The goal of the organization.
.The businessobiectivesof the organiza-
tion, includingthe employee'sbusinessunit.
.The organizationsmarketsand clients.
.The employee'srole in the organization.
.The supervisor'srole within the organi-
zation, including the supervisor's agenda,
scopeof activitiesand work plan.
.The politics-internal and external-
that,affect the employee'siob.
Working together, the employee and
employeralign and calibrate their expecta-
tions, so that both the employer and the
employeecan collaboratein successand fail-
ure. Performancemeasurementis no longer
the design professionalasking, "How did I
do?" Rather, it is managementand talent
"How
chorusing, did we do?"
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Personal success in publicmatters:
Whatdoeseach short-sightedand ultimately disappointing.
of usreallywant? On the other hand, promotionsthat,address
earnedrecognitioncan contributepositively
Design professionals dissatisfied with to the indMdual'spersonalgrowthand sense
firms that, have less than optimal perfor- of accomplishmentin his/her own work.
mance evaluation programs, might find it As design firms begin to develop more
usetulto take the first step in re-establishing effectiveperformanceevaluationprograms,
meaningful criteria. A self-evaluationthat indushy leadersare finding innovativeways
demonsmatesan alignmentof personaland to develop future leaders for their firms.
firm goalsas a continuingvalue-addedeffort One of the most promising evaluation
leaveslittle room [o questionindMdual per- strategiesprovides for professionalgrowth
formance-and could open the door for a on two parallel planes. The individual
broader discussion within the firm. employee is evaluated on proiect-related
IndMduals can measuretheir own success achievementsby his/her supervisor,and on
by comparingtheir careerswith their iobs. professionalgrcwth issuessuch as continu-
.What is it that I do within the context,of ing educationor leadershipskills by his/her
my firm? What is my mission and what firm "mentor."
resourcesdo I needto accomplishit? A comprehensiveevaluation program
.What, have I actually done? Have I allowsthe firm and the individual[o sort out
accomplishedmy work plan,includingspecif- theseissuesand nametheir own motivators.
ic proiects? As a result, the firm is able to nurture and
.Who amongmy "clients"will conftrmmy retain its most important resources.At, [he
efforts, citing benefitsreceived? sametime, the designprofessionalcan focus
.Are my skills state of the art? What do I his/her talent on performing the work at
needto learn? hand-not on findingthe next,job.
.How can I provide more measurable
value[o the firm next year? Ihe periodiccheck-in:
Keepit simpleandregular
.What,possible"rewards"would be rea-
sonable based on my conmibution?Which Like any high performancevehicle,a tal-
"rewards"
are mos[ important to me? ented professionalrequires regular,period-
ic check-ins and tune-ups. Keeping the
Motivating employees: Bewardsdon'talwayscomewith process simple improves the odds that,the
dollar signs evaluationwill be conductedregularly.How
often is it appropriate to evaluateemploy-
In an environmentwhere successis often ees?For youngeremployeeswho are devel-
measured in flnancial terms, it is easy to oping quickly and working on a variety of
envision the worst case scenario: The assignments in abbreviated time frames
employersetsthe "goals"in [erms of net rev- under the direction of multiple supervisors,
enues,backlog,percentageof profit, sched- a six-month evaluationwill help them grow
ules and budgets. The employeedoes the in the right direction.
work for a fixed salary and the employer With more senior prolect leaders with
enioysthe profits of the effort. Little wonder clearlydefinedpositions,whoseprolectsare
that sucha situationyields high lurnover. of longer duration and who are responsible
While individualshave different views on for team and processmanagement,a yearly
job security,compensationand rewards,tal- evaluationwill keepgoalsaligned.As part of
ented professionalsthat are the lrue assets their annual evaluation, firm principals
of any designfirm are interestedin far more shouldmeasuretheir successin leadingand
than dollars. Highly creative designersare managing people, a critical part of their
likely to be entrepreneurialrisk takers.They scopeof activities.
want to chart their own courses-for them, At the cusp of the millennium,the design
moneymay be less important than freedom professionhas the opportunity[o transform
to pursuetheir creativity. itself. Neither the ego-led atelier nor the
Numerous studies have confirmed four mega-firm staffed by nameless draftsmen
basic motivationalfactors for worker satisfac- can compercin the new global marketplace.
tion: 1) interest in the work itselt 2) earned Progressive firms that create realistic,
recognition,3) opponunityfor growth and 4) achievablesl,rategiesto improve. measure
senseof accomplishment. Traditionally,evalu- and reward talent will enjoy a true competi-
ation results have translatedinto raises and tive advantage. t-'>'-'
promotions. When an employeefeels that,
compensationis nol commensurate with per-
formance, a salary can actually become a Marjanne Pearson, Paul Nakazawa and
demotivatormther than a motivaton Nancy Egan are nationally recognizedman-
But the acquisitionof moneyis only a short- agementadvisors who have created a pro-
range goal. The true, long-term goal should fessional alliance. With offtces in San Fran-
be creation of value, which will benefit the cisco, New York City and Boston, they spe-
organizationand r"heindividual.Evaluations cialize in development and realization
that focus only on financial rewards are strutegies for talent-driven organizations.
A U G U S TI 9 9 6