考研英语时文阅读(31)How To Ace Your Performance Review

How To Ace Your Performance Review

怎样在绩效考评中拿高分

UCLA's Samuel Culbert wants to banish performance reviews, but they remain a fact of life at many companies. 塞缪尔教授想要取消绩效考评，但在很多公司，这可不是能轻易改变的东西。

Three years ago, Samuel Culbert, a UCLA professor and management consultant, published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal titled, “Get Rid of the Performance Review!” The piece got a huge response from readers, and he went on to write a book with the same title, which came out last year.

The performance review “destroys morale, kills teamwork and hurts the bottom line,” Culbert wrote in the Journal. “A one-side-accountable, boss-administered review is little more than a dysfunctional pretense.” A Ph. D. in clinical psychology, he hates performance reviews, if anything, even more today.

Given that the performance review is a fact of life for most workers at big companies, does Culbert have any suggestions for getting through the process with maximum gain and minimum pain? “You’ve got to be calculating,” he says. “Don’t get emotional.” Remember that subjective forces are at play.

Paul Falcone, vice president of human resources at Time Warner Cable in Los Angeles and author of 2600 Phrases for Effective Performance Reviews, has more concrete advice to offer. First, Falcone says, you must take the initiative. Do your own self-examination in advance, he advises. Some companies ask their employees to fill out self-review forms. If yours doesn’t, put yourself through the paces anyway. “Otherwise it’s like being a turkey on Thanksgiving,” Falcone says. “You put your head down on the block and wait for your boss to lower the ax.”

He recommends starting the process two months before your review. Write a memo detailing your achievements. What have you done to increase revenues, to decrease expenses, to save time, to reinvent your department in light of the company’s changing needs? Make sure you track the entire year since your last review. “Bosses don’t remember what you did 11 months ago,” Falcone points out.

Additionally, Falcone recommends you spell out what support you need from your boss. Also, detail your goals for the next year. What sort of measurable outcomes are you shooting for? This will help you in your review a year from now.

In your self-review, and in the performance review itself, speak plainly. “Talk English, for Pete’s sake,” Falcone says. Do not say anything like, “We leveraged strategic resources.” Speak in specifics, not generalities.

If you can, Falcone advises, frame the discussion yourself, casting your boss in the role of gentle coach and mentor rather than disciplinarian. “A lot of people go into the review asking, ‘How did I do, boss?’” he observes. “If you do it right, you’ve done the boss’ job for her, with respect and humility.”

What if the boss levels some unexpected criticism? Handle it calmly and openly, Falcone recommends. Apologize, but try not to take it personally. He suggests saying

something that includes the word perception, as in, “If your perc eption is that I’m not doing this as well as you expected, then I take responsibility for that, and I’m sorry.” He calls such a response “business maturity.”

Own up to mistakes when you make them, he advises. Then thank your boss for the feedback.

三年前，加州大学洛杉矶分校教授兼管理顾问塞缪尔·卡伯特（Samuel Cullbert）在《华尔街日报》发表专栏文章，题为《让绩效考评见鬼去！》的文章在读者中引起巨大反响。去年，塞缪尔教授出版了一本同名书籍。

他在《华尔街日报》上的文章中写道，绩效考评“降低工作士气，破坏团队合作，损害企业利润。由老板主持的单方面绩效考评，就跟一场扭曲而矫情的演出差不多。”作为一名临床心理学博士，塞缪尔教授现在对于绩效考评的愤愤之情甚至更加强烈了。

然而对多数大公司员工来说，绩效考评是无法逃避的。对此，塞缪尔教授有何建议可以帮助员工获得最好的绩效评分，同时承受较少的折磨呢？“那你得要深思熟虑，”他说，“可不能感情用事。”要记住，在绩效考评中，你的主观态度是决定因素。

洛杉矶时代华纳在线人力资源副总监保罗·法尔肯（Paul Falcone）是《绩效考评实用2,600句》一书的作者，对此他给出了更为具体的建议。首先，法尔肯说，你必须掌握主动。他建议员工事先做好自我考评。有些公司会要求员工填写自评表格。如果你的公司不要求，那么你就自觉去做。“不然的话你就好比一只待宰羔羊，”法尔肯说，“乖乖把头垫在砧板上等着老板来砍。”

法尔肯建议在正式考评前两个月开始进行自评。把你做出的成绩以备忘录的形式记录下来。比如你做了某某事，增加了公司的收入，减少了支出，节省了工时，根据公司不断变化的需求改组了你的部门等等。记得要把上次考核至今一整年来的成果都记下来。法尔肯指出：“老板可不记得你11个月前都干了什么。”

此外，法尔肯还建议员工具体说明自己希望从老板处获得什么支持。员工并应当详细制定来年目标，说明自己要达成何种可衡量的结果。这些都将帮助你在一年后的考评中获得好成绩。

无论在你的自评还是正式考评中，请用明确直白的语言表达。“拜托大家在考核时不要讲些让人听不懂的话。”法尔肯建议。比如别说什么“我们调配了各种战略资源”之类的话。要讲得具体，切忌泛泛而谈。

法尔肯表示，如果可能的话，可以把考核谈话自己排演一遍。把你的老板想象成一个慈祥的教练和导师，而不是一个纪检委员。他在观察中发现：“很多人在考核时都会问：‘老板，我这一年干得怎么样？’如果你本着谦恭的态度正确对待考核，那你就是替老板分了忧。”

假如老板对你提出一些出乎你意料的批评呢？法尔肯的意见是，你要平静而坦率地处理。你可以向老板道歉，但尽量不要把责任大包大揽。他建议在回应中使用“您认为”一词。比如“如果您认为我的表现没能达到您的预期，我会承担责任。我很抱歉。”他认为这种表述是“职业上成熟”的表现。

如果你确实存在老板反映的问题，那么就承认错误，感谢老板及时给你反馈。