Do It Yourself

Preview:  A meeting of the minds between boss and subordinate where they jointly layout a joint business plan for the month, quarter and year with periodic scheduled “check-ups” along the way not so much to gauge progress as much as discuss difficulties, as well as, successes in meeting the plan’s goals.  This will result in modifying the plan along the way as circumstance dictates.  Everyone under the Boss clearly understands the Company’s goals, the team’s goals and how each team member will contribute to it.

Dr Culbert’s opinion behind the Performance Preview makes a lot of sense. Here’s how it does:

1. Boss’s role is to “…guide, coach, tutor, provide oversight and generally do whatever is required to assist a subordinate to perform successfully.”  I like this system because it is the boss’s job to ensure subordinate success, which contributes significantly to the company’s Business Plan goals. 
2. Eradicates self-serving boss behavior and 360 Degree finger pointing, hold-a-grudge fellow employee tactics.
3. It is a Pro-Active Process, not reactive.  Keeps the focus on the future and the subordinate is viewed as partner who contributes significantly to the Company’s success.
4. Replace the one-size fits all Evaluation Check-off List with custom-constructed Inquiries tailored for each employee the boss oversees.  Once the boss has exhausted all his questions about how a subordinate thinks he or she can better and best perform work, the boss should ask the subordinate what else the boss needs to know.  The boss needs to know how the employee will achieve performance goals, and what help the employee requires from the boss.  An individual and team business plan is built so all team members know their roles, the boss’s expectations and company performance goals.  The Business Plan becomes a pro-active tool for the Boss to manage and assist his or her team.

Dr. Culbert argues when the Performance Review is taken away and replaced by the Performance Pre-View, “…people will find more direct ways of accomplishing tasks.  Accountability comes from team work; what the boss-subordinate team accomplish together.”  While job betterment comes from the individual worker, an environment characterised by  “…a trusting relationship where they subordinates can ask for feedback and help when they see the need and feel sufficiently valued to take it.” 

As a Small Business Consultant, Business Owner and Entrepreneur with over 20 years experience working with different corporate cultures, I completely agree with Dr. Culbert’s Performance Preview strategy as it contributes to the company’s Strategic Plan and bottom-line profits, while the Performance Review framework detracts from company goal achievement and inhibits profitability.  In the end, shouldn’t Performance Systems be about a Company’s Profitability and individual’s growth?  Of course it should be.  Bravo Dr. Culbert.   Performance Pre-Views should replace Performance Reviews in a Company’s Compensation Structure to achieve better subordinate-manager relationships and common-goal-teamwork toward achieving a Company’s Strategic Goals.

About The Article Author

Frank Goley is a business consultant, business turnaround consultant, business plan expert, business coach, small business consultant, business planner, marketing consultant, online marketing seo consultant, and business plan consultant for ABC Business Consulting. Frank is considered an expert in writing, developing and implementing business plans, business turnaround plans, funding business plans, marketing plans, strategic plans and web marketing plans. Frank offers comprehensive business consulting, business coaching, business turnaround consulting, along with web seo, web development and web marketing consulting, to small and medium size companies. Frank is the author of a business plan book, The Comprehensive Business Plan Workbook – A Step by Step Guide to Effective Business