Unexpected outcome? Thought so – its called a ‘prediction error’ where your brain incorrectly anticipated what was going to happen based on its stored knowledge of fairy tales.
For those of you reading this who work for an employer who undertakes some form of annual review process then a study by Gallup suggests that over half of you (53% to be precise) will be experiencing your own ‘prediction error’ when your line manager gives you your rating. Spoiler alert – it wont necessarily be a positive surprise!
So why after so many years of this type of process & in an age where transparency & fairness sit right up there on the list of employee needs, are we still prone to getting it so wrong?
Maybe our discomfort with giving regular feedback, the lack of clear objectives in the first place, not having enough time, the pain of forced distribution – who knows?
What we do know is the benefit of getting it right…3.6 times higher levels of engagement, 21% higher profitability between the top & bottom quartile along with an outperformance of up to 10% on customer satisfaction metrics – I could go on.
This stuff is not hard – but is easy to get wrong & imperfections tend to emerge in the delivery & not with the concept itself.
If you are interested in getting this ‘more right’ for your organisation then get in touch at rupert@strongerhumans.com . With over 1000 hrs of getting this both right & wrong under my belt along with delivering a programme for one forward thinking organisations 800 leaders currently underway, I am certain your curiosity will be rewarded.
…& if you want to learn more about ‘prediction errors’ or emotion science for that matter then Lisa Feldman Barrett’s ‘How Emotions are Made’ is the place to look.
