Forums
Attitude as a topic of performance reviews?
General Forum
Attitude as a topic of performance reviews?
Discuss workforce management, performance management, retention, communication, motivation, contributing to business results and other topics.
I am in the process of creating a new, improved performance review for our company. One of the headings we have on the review is attitude (in addition to things like: initiative, quality of work, prof
0
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId53
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId53Discussion:DiscussionId23310
Forums » Topic Forums » General Forum » Attitude as a topic of performance reviews?
|
Attitude as a topic of performance reviews?
posted at 10/28/2002 12:10 PM EDT
|
Posts: 72
First: 2/12/2001 Last: 7/2/2003 |
I am in the process of creating a new, improved performance review for our company. One of the headings we have on the review is attitude (in addition to things like: initiative, quality of work, professionalism, communications, pro-activity, leadership/vision, technical skills, productivity and teamwork.) I'm worried about using this heading.
The sub-items under attitude include: positive influence, easy to work with, helpful, customer concern, bears hardship, and ownership. The plan is that each of these sub-items would have rankings below them with defineable measurments attached. For example, the highest mark for ownership might be: Always takes ownership for errors and shares credit for successes with others when due. The lowest may be: Always places blame for errors on others and never shares credit for successes with others even when due. So, should I avoid having the heading "Attitude" on a performance review? I understand the manager's desire to have the heading there, as they feel that in our environment where a great deal of teamwork and customer contact are required, a poor, negative attitude can break a project team and essentially cause the company both failure and turnover. At the same time, I cringe at the use of the word attitude on a review, because it can have such a negative connotation. Am I being too cautious? Any advice would be welcome... |
|
|
Attitude as a topic of performance reviews?
posted at 10/29/2002 2:39 AM EDT
|
|
Posts: 1771
First: 10/24/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I understand your cringiness about this word - it's somewhat ambiguous and appears to be unmeasurable except very subjectively (at first glance anyway, and one glance is all your employees are gonna give it). Also, people tend to think their "attitudes" are very personal, private, and their own property - and in some ways this is true. I may have a very negative attitude towards my job and company, and that's my business - so long as this negativity doesn't affect my work (or my behaviour at work), it's really none of my boss' business, it it?
"Behaviour" is a key word here. I looked up the word "attitude" in my little thesaurus and discovered that two of its synonyms are "approach" and - you guessed it! - "behaviour." Since most/all of the performance definitions and measurements you're listing under the "attitude" heading are behaviour-oriented, why don't you call that section "Behaviour" instead? Or, "Work Approach/Behaviour" might be even clearer to employees. Just some suggestions - wait a bit and see what others might have to say on this subject. |
|
|
Attitude as a topic of performance reviews?
posted at 10/29/2002 4:40 AM EDT
|
|
Posts: 72
First: 2/12/2001 Last: 7/2/2003 |
Thanks guys! You're right, say the same thing another way and it sounds much less abrasive and much more measurable. Guess I just needed some other eyes and minds to bounce it off of. This board is a lifesaver!
|
Forums » Topic Forums » General Forum » Attitude as a topic of performance reviews?
