Within the early days of Assist Scout, our CEO and co-founder, Nick Francis, was impressed to construct not solely an incredible product for our prospects however an incredible firm for our teammates to do their greatest work. We knew we didn’t wish to copy and paste a conventional (and meaningless) efficiency assessment course of, so we bucked the pattern and created our personal Assist Scout-y model.
Alongside the way in which, Nick coined the time period for the “Participant Street Map,” which turned the grounding artifact in our twice-a-year street map check-in course of. Whereas it served us within the early years of Assist Scout, it turned clear it wouldn’t swimsuit us for the lengthy haul. At present, our course of appears to be like a lot completely different — and we’re excited to share the place we’ve landed.
What we used to do
Twice a yr, everybody at Assist Scout would put aside a while to finish a self-assessment that included prompts about beforehand set targets and whether or not they have been achieved, what work was shipped that they have been pleased with, any challenges confronted, and what they wished to work on within the subsequent six months. Then, the teammate and supervisor would meet to debate the self-assessment and co-create new targets for the following six months.
We thought we had created a light-weight however significant course of — nevertheless it quickly broke for a number of causes.
Why it broke
The street map course of we created couldn’t scale with the expansion of our staff. One of many largest ache factors that emerged was that we weren’t utilizing a software to correctly facilitate it. As a substitute, everybody wrote their street maps in varied Google or Paper Docs after which archived them in our inner Wiki software, Slab. 12 months over yr, it turned laborious to maintain monitor of individuals’s street maps and whether or not the conversations have been occurring. There was no solution to monitor progress over time, and there was definitely no solution to achieve any type of high-level perception into what was occurring throughout the corporate.
Along with missing instruments and consistency, we realized we weren’t specializing in the fitting issues. Our street map check-ins have been turning into nebulous conversations about targets that weren’t rooted in precise efficiency and outcomes that impacted the enterprise. It was clear we wanted an overhaul.
4 steps to create a performance-driven tradition
Whereas each staff and firm is exclusive, there are just a few methods we shifted to a extra performance-driven tradition at Assist Scout. Right here’s what we propose:
1. Outline what efficiency means in your firm
If we wished to maneuver to a performance-driven tradition, we wanted to take a beat and spend time defining and documenting what efficiency meant to Assist Scout particularly. We needed to clearly articulate why we have been shifting to a twice-per-year efficiency assessment cycle, join it to our firm values, and clarify why this might be a greater consequence for our teammates in addition to for the enterprise.
A snippet from our “Efficiency at Assist Scout” doc:
The nice Dolly Parton stated, ‘Discover out who you’re and do it on objective.’ We’re all right here to help you on that journey, and as a way to do this, we’d like a possibility for everybody to supply particular observations and actionable suggestions about what we do nicely and the way we will enhance.
We additionally determined that it was time to introduce efficiency assessments. We imagine that efficiency is the worth of a teammate’s contributions to the group over time, and that worth must be assessed as a way to assist make selections about compensation and promotions. Utilizing a shared framework like a efficiency evaluation helps everybody know the place they stand and helps managers know who wants additional steerage and who is able to transfer to the following degree.
We additionally really feel strongly that utilizing efficiency assessments truly results in extra equity and fairness — everybody understands how and why they’re being assessed, and that data is shared transparently. Utilizing efficiency assessments additionally permits for a hen’s-eye view of worker efficiency to assist us perceive how we’re doing holistically throughout the group.
At Assist Scout, we use a 1-4 evaluation rating system:
1: Not assembly expectations | Efficiency is falling constantly under the expectations of the function. This consists of managers of groups whose performances have constantly fallen under expectations. |
2: Partially assembly expectations | Efficiency has been inconsistent within the interval main as much as the assessment. This particular person could also be assembly some targets or demonstrating some behaviors anticipated of the function whereas not assembly others. Somebody additionally could obtain a 2 if they’re new to the function or took on new duties and are making progress towards assembly expectations by the following assessment cycle. |
3: Assembly expectations | You’re superior! Efficiency and behaviors are constantly robust and in keeping with expectations for the function. |
4: Exceeding expectations | Efficiency is constantly exceeding expectations for the function and degree. The individual reveals an distinctive degree of feat and a capability to ship outcomes that considerably influence the enterprise. |
We additionally moved to connecting compensation to our efficiency cycle. Beforehand, it hadn’t been completely clear the right way to get a elevate or promotion at Assist Scout, so connecting our compensation to efficiency felt like the fitting iteration. As an organization that wishes to reward robust efficiency, it made sense! Now, following every efficiency cycle, there’s a possibility for managers to submit their teammates for raises or promotions the place applicable and based mostly concretely on their prior efficiency. We additionally felt this was in keeping with our values round DEI to make sure we have been analyzing everybody for raises, not simply the loudest voices.
2. Lay out the method
We determined that our efficiency opinions would come with three elements:
Self-assessment — A abstract on contributions, accomplishments, and areas of growth during the last six months in addition to your individual evaluation (1-4) of the way you’ve met efficiency expectations in your function.
Supervisor’s assessment — The supervisor writes their very own model of the prompts above and selects an evaluation quantity between 1-4.
Upward assessment — Everybody has a possibility to submit transient suggestions for his or her supervisor.
3. Choose the fitting software
As soon as we have been clear on our course of, we needed to decide the fitting software to make all of it work effectively. After evaluating just a few merchandise, we landed on Lattice and have been very proud of our alternative. It looks like night time and day between our outdated course of, and now, due to Lattice, we will simply monitor completion charges, see progress over time, and report on analytics throughout the corporate.
4. Set everybody up for achievement
Transferring to a model new efficiency administration course of required a lot of communication with our staff and plenty of documenting our work! We additionally had a number of Zoom conferences with managers to stroll them by means of the brand new course of, guarantee alignment on the evaluation classes, and make area for Q&A.
It was additionally important to verify each staff had a profession framework loaded into Lattice in order that teammates knew how they have been being assessed. It’s not a good course of in case your staff doesn’t perceive what nice efficiency even appears to be like like, so be sure you’ve carried out that work upfront.
What we’ve discovered
We’re within the midst of our second cycle utilizing our new course of, and we have already got plenty of learnings to report! After our first cycle, we heard suggestions that it will assist managers to have even clearer steerage on what actions ought to occur relying on what evaluation class somebody lands in. We additionally included peer suggestions within the first cycle, however we heard again that that course of added plenty of further work, so we’ve shifted to a tradition of steady peer suggestions as a substitute of saving all of it up for assessment cycles.
Lattice has an incredible “suggestions” characteristic the place anybody can submit suggestions to another person at any time, so we’ve created “Suggestions Focus weeks” outdoors of assessment weeks to encourage utilization and to remind individuals to get into the behavior of commonly giving suggestions.
What’s subsequent?
Following this cycle, we’re excited to dive into Lattice’s “Develop” characteristic, which is an area to plan and seize progress in your profession growth. One in all our Individuals staff targets for the primary half of the yr is to make sure that 100% of our firm has a Develop plan so that everybody is crystal clear on what they need to be centered on and the way their progress shall be assessed. If we would like our efficiency administration course of to be honest and significant, then we now have to make sure expectations are clear.
After opinions are written, we’re going to have our first full calibration. Our Individuals enterprise companions will facilitate a sequence of conferences with managers, administrators, VPs, and C-suite to calibrate everybody throughout the corporate to make sure consistency and equity. It’s essential to assist leaders perceive what efficiency appears to be like like on their very own groups in addition to the way it compares throughout the group and to verify everyone seems to be evaluating by means of a shared lens.
Efficiency opinions don’t should suck
Efficiency opinions understandably have a horrible fame. Typically, firms slap collectively inconsiderate processes, then managers undergo the motions, and groups are pressured into sure curves and outcomes to maintain executives completely happy. To be clear, that’s not what we’re constructing at Assist Scout or encouraging.
Each workers and corporations can profit from a course of that’s considerate and intentional. When carried out proper, everybody at your organization can have a whole understanding of their efficiency, progress edges, and alternatives for profession development. The enterprise will then have clear perception into how the group is performing, who to reward pretty, and who wants extra help.
