CHAPTER 6

Year-End Reviews

It was the time of the year that Ben hated. He knew that year-end reviews (YERs) were a necessary evil. However, they took up a great deal of time to collect, assimilate, and prepare information about each member of his direct team. Furthermore, he had to read and sign off on each subordinate employee who worked for his line managers. One of the most challenging aspects of YERs was organizing and executing individual meetings with each member of his team. This became a far more complex task, given the geographical locations of each team member.

Ben was a traditionalist when it came to working with people. He knew the importance of performance reviews, and he knew the impact they could have, both positively and negatively, in the overall motivation and satisfaction of an employee’s career. He also knew how difficult negative YER discussions could be. He had experienced everything from emotional outbreaks to confrontational behavior with past employees during negative YERs. Those encounters were face-to-face in an office environment. Now he would be meeting people through a screen and discussing their future based on his subjective perspective. Ben had a relatively high level of emotional intelligence and he prided himself on his ability to read people and help them solve issues that they might not have been aware they had. In the past, these conversations were face-to-face, so he could easily see their nonverbal response as he spoke his words. Now, he wondered if he would be able to pick up on the same cues when speaking with someone through a screen half a world away. He also wondered if his team would be as open with him through technology. These were questions that troubled him and even cost him a few hours of sleep.

As Ben started to make his plans, he took comfort in the fact that most of his YERs this year would be positive. Given that this was his first year in the company, this gave him some comfort. To date, his team had done well and integrated with each other and him as their new manager quite well. However, he did have a few problems to iron out. Primarily, his Dutch employee Thomas had developed an attitude since Ben had to force him to send his project out during dinner time. Thomas had expressed to him that he didn’t like to work after-hours. When Ben explained that he only called because he was already past the deadline, Thomas became indignant. As part of his YER, Ben would be covering Thomas’s attitude toward the team and work. It was serious enough that he considered flying to the Netherlands to have the discussion face-to-face, but unfortunately, he couldn’t fit it into his schedule without causing a long delay.

Aside from Thomas’s major issue, Ben had to deal with some other small problems with teamwork, deadlines, and internal communication with different employees. Ben’s first call was with a young woman named Mary. Mary was an EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) employee based in Paris, who had an exceptional track record with the company. She was bright, hardworking, and eager to work with her team, and she would be getting a considerable raise. Ben felt that the conversation would go quite smoothly. Overall, his assumption was correct, until the end of their discussion. Mary told Ben that her previous manager had promised her new opportunities in career growth. She had especially been eying the position of Brand Manager for one of their newer products. Ben knew she was qualified for the job, but he didn’t know exactly when the position would be opening. After reviewing her career history, Ben was confident enough to tell her that she would definitely be his top candidate for the job, whenever it finally opened up. She verbally agreed and seemed satisfied for the moment.

A few days later, Ben looked out his window, sighed, and dialed Thomas’s number with FaceTime. Thomas answered with a chipper voice and smiled. The two exchanged pleasantries and then got down to business. Ben commenced by telling Thomas some of the positive aspects of his performance, such as managing his numbers well. He hoped this would soften the blow before he delved into all the issues related to Thomas’s performance.

“Thomas,” Ben said, “Your team peer reviews were quite low. Many people said you were delaying their projects by not sending in work on time.”

“Ha! That’s ridiculous!” he replied defiantly. “They just know that my work is better than theirs, so they’re probably jealous. Besides, I turn my work in on time, mostly.”

“Well, you may recall that I had to ring you during dinner because I hadn’t gotten your file, which I needed to complete my numbers.”

“Yeah, I remember. You don’t need to remind me. I apologized. Look, I made a promise that I would improve in that area. I’ve never been late before. It won’t happen again.”

Thomas was less defensive for the rest of the conversation. He did express his desire to move up in the organization. He said he felt that his previous manager was holding him back from promotion. This surprised Ben as Thomas’s service record previously was quite good. Ben promised Thomas that if he demonstrated significant positive development in the areas discussed, he would get him the promotion he had been waiting for. The two men finished their conversation amicably and Ben disconnected feeling quite content that he had accomplished his objectives. He expected to see improvement in Thomas’s attitude, but only time would tell.

After a very long week filled with many calls throughout the day, Ben finished his YER meetings. He felt very confident that his team was extremely motivated and ready to start a successful year. What Ben didn’t know, however, was that he had made a single critical mistake. It was impossible to see from Ben’s perspective at that point in time, but his words could have possibly cost him his most valuable and trusted employee.