Our regular columnist Natalie Barker, Head of Transformation at Southern

Cross Health Insurance, shares her insights into the role of the performance
review.When Dickens wrote, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of
times”, I think he might have been referring to the annual performance
review. On the one hand, a conversation all about you, how you’re
doing, what you’re finding challenging and how you might improve, rich
in feedback and care, is the ultimate moment that matters as an
employee. But, often as not, we come away from our performance
review feeling just a little bit judged and disappointed to hear how our
performance has been rated. I’m not an HR expert, I’m not an HR
professional at all, I’m just someone who, as a leader and a team
member, has experienced performance management done both well and
poorly. I believe workplace policies, including those related to
performance, should serve two purposes: to protect employees and to
ensure they’re treated fairly and equitably. But, like many things, they’re
most valuable when they go hand-in-hand with great leadership. It’s
been heartening over recent years to see organisations move away from
traditional performance reviews to more flexible frameworks that focus
on outcomes and behaviours and encourage frequent performance
conversations between leaders and their teams. At Southern Cross
Health Insurance, I think we have a pretty great performance framework.
It lays out clear expectations around capabilities, skills and knowledge,
outcome goals and personal development. These are reinforced by
regular performance and development check-ins with leaders throughout
the year. In my team – and many others across our business – we
frequently talk about performance, career development and personal
wellbeing goals. We talk in our team meetings and one-to-ones about
how we’re tracking and what’s in our way. We encourage each other to
seek feedback and use retrospectives to identify areas to improve. We
run experiments to try new approaches and share our successes and
failures with each other. We’re becoming more courageous with each
other, following the belief that it’s kinder to give someone feedback than
to let them continue working below their potential. If someone is
underperforming, the rest of the team is right there supporting them to
improve. This makes me wonder whether the days of annual
performance ratings are nearing an end? Does it serve our people to be
given a label at the end of the year, summing up all aspects of their
performance? In my experience, people who are consistently meeting
the performance expectations of their role, feel demotivated being told
they’re “on target”. In reality, they’ll have had good months and bad, wins
and disappointments, feedback that’s buoyed them and feedback that’s
been hard to hear. In some ways, being given a rating at the end of the
year undermines 12 months of valuable and fulfilling performance
conversations. As a leader, my role is to help my team perform at their
best, whether that means helping lift them up from underperforming or
helping them sustain an exceptional performance. It’s my role to set out
clear expectations and provide support so that they can achieve their
personal goals and team outcomes. I lean on the performance
framework to ensure how we reward people is fair and equitable. I take
into account all aspects of their performance, their craft and their
contribution to the organisation. Without bringing leadership to the
experience, performance management is just a policy, not an opportunity
for my team to be at their best. Natalie Barker is Head of Transformation
at Southern Cross Health Insurance. She has been leading people for 15
years and believes that leveraging people’s strengths and passions is
the best way to drive engagement and get stuff done.