What Counts – or What’s Counted?

In the context of individual capability and performance, which is better?

Performance appraisals are one of those things that everyone loves to hate. From ‘recency effect’ to ‘personal bias’ to the most painful and ubiquitous of them all – the ‘bell curve’, there are many reasons for this intense dislike of this process among employees.
There are very few organisations, however, that have dismantled them. Most, driven by the maxim “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” believe that it is essential to measure every individual’s performance – and these measures drive many other things like compensation, promotions and so on. This is what is counted, and it’s important.
In both anecdotal and cited research globally, however, employees will highlight that what they want is useful feedback delivered frequently, and focused on future development rather than past judgment. That’s what counts for them.
So – the question: Should a leader focus on what’s counted (the performance metrics), or what counts (facilitation of future development)?

It is Both – And (not Either – Or)

For sure we need what’s counted, we need measurement, evaluation: to tell us where we are, how far we’ve moved, to motivate us to move further ahead, to benchmark/ calibrate ourselves and our performance with others’, and so on.

We also, however, need to prioritise and focus on things that count beyond what’s typically counted: our aspirations, development paths towards the best version of ourselves, our superpower, our potential, growth areas, improvement priorities, and so on.
Unfortunately, it appears that the balance is now strongly skewed towards what is counted, rather than what counts. It is critical, however, that we do not get so enamoured with metrics to the extent that we ignore human growth and potential.

There are four important ways in which they are different (what is counted, and what counts). Along with each difference, I have shared some ideas on what you can do differently to pay attention to what counts – as a Leader, and as an Individual.

1.Future <=> Past

Measurement is all about the Past. What happened in the past, how someone performed in the past. Growth, however, is all about the Future. How will the person grow and develop into the future?
The truth is that we cannot change the past, but the future is unwritten and laden with possibilities. And yet, we get so obsessed with measuring things from the past.

Employees, who are interested in the future, would prefer supportive, facilitative discussions, but a focus on metrics of the past lead to evaluative and judgemental outcomes.

• Leader: When you do appraisals for your team members, ensure you spend separate, quality time on the future … don’t stop once you evaluate the past performance. Encourage people to talk about what counts for them. Ask questions like “What are your aspirations for the future?”, “Where would you like to be 1 year from now?”, “How can I help you reach there?” and so on.
• Individual: What are your goals? What do you thirst for? What counts for you? Think through your future – have conversations with your “Personal Board of Directors” and identify your desired destination and path forward. Specifically during appraisals, initiate discussions around the future with your manager … book time and share your aspirations and development priorities – and ask for inputs, observations, suggestions, support and help. Remember, nobody will be as invested in your future as yourself!

2.Personal <=> Structured within a framework

Sir Ken Robinson tells the story of the very successful choreographer (Gillian Lynne) who did very poorly in school because she was a natural at dance, which was not part of any curriculum.
Performance metrics are typically rooted in some framework, with specific outcomes and/ or behaviours being evaluated. But an individual’s growth and potential are very unique and personal things and cannot easily be boxed into a framework.

Leader: Take the time and effort to understand each of your team members as individuals – beyond the frameworks and structures of organisation performance models. Some managers I know keep a “little black book” with a page/ section for each team member … with information such as

• their background, context, family, growing up, culture
• their personalities, likes/ dislikes, what makes them unique
• their strengths, their ‘superpower’, their qualities and characteristics
• their aspirations, their dreams, their goals

This will help you support each team member with what counts for them. (and think about it, what will this do to their motivation and commitment, and consequent performance metrics?)

Individual: As the good book says, “Know Thyself”. Spend time and effort to introspect, understand yourself. Build your self-awareness. Invest time in practices like journalling and mindfulness/ meditation. Work on external self-awareness – ask someone you know well and trust to share their perceptions about you … and then have conversations around that to dive deeper.

Focus on similar areas as listed earlier – but introspect for yourself about:

• your background, context, family, growing up, culture
• your personality, likes/ dislikes, what makes you unique
• your strengths, your ‘superpower’, your qualities and characteristics
• your aspirations, dreams, goals

3.Subjective <=> Objective

Trying to count what counts can be problematic. For example, 360º feedback surveys are often used to ostensibly increase external self-awareness, but they tend to be skewed towards “counting” (evaluating) rather than helping with “what counts” (unveiling insights and perceptions).

On ‘Delegates work’, a fresher team member may give a very low score on this (say 2 on 5), while a senior and experienced team member may give a high score on this. (say 4 on 5). This is averaged to 3 on 5. This number is meaningless, tells a false story (“the person is an ‘average’ delegator”).

With “what counts”, qualitatives can tell richer stories than numbers. For the same person, one comment could be “This person is a great delegator – hands jobs over to others and does not micro-manage”, while another one could be “This person should have a finger on the pulse – oversight on what’s happening – rather than leaving things entirely to them”. Every strength has a potential problem contained within. A single scale, leading to a single score on the behaviour of ‘delegation’ does not tell the full story for this person, not the way the comments do.

Leader & Individual: Limit your belief in the numbers from such feedback surveys. Insist on well-designed feedback surveys, that capture insights and aspirations and understanding – rather than relying on ones that only evaluate with meaningless scores.

Consider setting up your own feedback survey that is more qualitative-rich, more ‘development’ focused rather than ‘evaluative’ in nature.

4.Work-In-Process <=> Final outcome

Carol Dweck talks about a school with a grade of ‘Not yet’, rather than static, fixed numbers or letters – emphasising that learning is a continuous process. Metrics invariably have date tags, but growth and development are always WIP.

What gets counted has “limited validity” – but often the metrics define the person and their abilities for time to come. People who get high scores are often seen as successful people, while people with low scores are seen as failures, losers and so on.

Leader: Avoid labelling individuals based on their scores/ performance metrics with generalised tags. Since individual development is a journey, help team members reflect on their growth curve and identify ways by which they can move faster and further on that curve towards realising their potential, becoming the best version of themselves.

Individual: Stay focused on learning and growing, moving forward. Convert experiences – good ones and more importantly bad ones – into learning opportunities. If you get a “low” score, ask What can I do differently going forward? rather than tell yourself I am a failure.

In summary – many corporate citizens tend towards the belief that ‘numbers don’t lie’. It is important to understand, however, that numbers may not tell the whole truth – especially in the context of individual development, capability, performance and growth.

As a leader and as an individual, it is imperative that you spend time on what counts – although it may not be counted (or even, in many cases, countable).
Remember

Not everything that can be counted, counts
And not everything that counts can be counted