The seeds of an interesting conversation are planting themselves here with this post called "So that’s why my peformance reviews sound like they were written by a robot" and here at systematicHR (especially in the notes by our good friend regina.)

The topic, in regina’s words: "technology can be an enabler of creating an engaged culture but for me it is doubtful that when a mgr. can pick phrases about perf from a database that this will create engagement. This kind of stuff keeps managers and employees detached vs. engaged."

Since this discussion was spurred by a CFO magazine article that is talking about our client Kimberly-Clark, I thought I’d get out in front here and try to give a little background on this. So I spoke with Randy Reynolds, our senior director of product management to try to get some of our thinking about the nature of pre-defined phrases (aka robot reviews). Here’s what Randy had to say:

Using our pre-written review text or coaching text is in many cases the best feedback some employees have ever received from a manager.  Certainly, all employees would like to receive well-thought out specific feedback written only for them by their managers.  The reality is that managers often don’t take the time to do this.  In the absence of automated tools, they resort to meaningless phrases like “Max did a great job on the ACME project”; or “keep up the good work”; or “writing skills could use improvement”.  In some cases automated text that has been selected by a manager – not a robot, is better than no feedback at all. 

From a best-practice standpoint, we recommend using the automated text as a thought starter, not necessarily as the verbatim feedback that should be given to an employee.  People often find that editing a written document is easier than starting from scratch.  That is how we recommend using our writing tools.  Start with a pre-written sentence that roughly conveys the feedback you want to provide.  Add specific examples of positive or negative behavior that supports the pre-written text.  This shows the employee that you have taken the time to provide specific feedback while gaining a short-cut through the use of the automated text.

Bottom line, every bit of feedback is important and valuable to employees and not every manager has the skills to construct meaningful feedback.  Automated writing tools help bridge this gap.

In this way, these tools do truly support engagement by helping to provide feedback in places it would not ordinarily be found. Some well-chosen feedback, even if pre-defined, is most certainly better than poorly constructed feedback or no feedback at all.

Over the weekend, Newsday – a NY newspaper – published an article called "Hey, boss, improve those performance reviews" that quoted some of the stories that have been submitted to our Worst Review contest. The article is about some of the reasons reviews are often so poorly given and poorly received and talks about some ways we can make the whole experience a little better.

Some tips from the article: 

Nothing in the review should be a surprise. That means bosses have to give more frequent feedback and hop on problems as they happen. Hard to do with so many other obligations? Of course, but remember what Stephen Covey says in his legendary book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People": You’re far better off making time for issues that are important but not urgent – so they don’t go on to become urgent.

As for those whiny, self-aggrandizing, argumentative employees – the ones supervisors want to avoid – you might consider what Paul Baard, a professor of communications and media management in the graduate business school of Fordham University, has to say: Draining as it may seem, your regular feedback can actually wear down those challenging types – he calls it "systematic desensitization."

Learn language that elicits constructive responses. As Baard says, "People don’t like to be ’should’ upon." You could tell someone he really annoys his colleagues – or, you could say: "Bill, you’re tremendous in sales. And I want to help you be that strong in interpersonal relations."

Loosen up when appropriate. With today’s pressures, you may have misread a person’s contribution – and if she comes up with examples proving you wrong, "you should not be too proud to admit having made a judgment error," Baard says.

Also, remember that it’s not just about the employee’s compliance. Sometimes see where you might bend a little. Boyle says that if an employee is consistently late, she looks to adjust the person’s start time. "I tend to be flexible."