Reinventing Performance Management: How One Company is Rethinking Peer Feedback and the Annual Review, and Trying to Design a System to Fuel Improvement

Performance management that relies on assessment of past performance, cascading objectives, and/or annual reviews are increasingly seen to be less effective in driving future performance. Deloitte Services LP has adopted a new approach that separates decisions regarding compensation from daily performance management. Instead, per-project or quarterly performance "snapshots" provide better insight, while weekly manager check-ins ensure that performance remains on course. Components of the Deloitte plan include establishing criteria regarding teamwork, promotion, and performance; ratings by team leaders; test underlying theories/outcomes; selecting the frequency of snapshots; and maintaining transparency of results.