Just a few weeks ago, we watched with dropped jaws the news of the Carnival cruise ship, Triumph, as it was being towed to safety after a fire occurred in an engine room.  The tow back to shore lasted longer than the cruise itself.  Passengers shared their horror stories with the media about the bathroom facilities not working properly causing a stench onboard, having to spend time on the deck in sweltering heat, the scarcity of food and fresh water, and boredom.  Well, it has happened again, and again, and again!  Just last week three more ships in Carnival’s fleet – Elation, Dream, and now, Legend – have found themselves in less than entertaining, and certainly not name-worthy situations.  Though these three recent incidents were not as colossal as Triumph’s problems, it still comes down to the fact that their passengers were greatly inconvenienced.

According to CNN.com Carnival announced they would be conducting “a comprehensive review” of all their ships after the crippling Triumph incident.  While this is a positive step in the right direction, they will have to do much more to restore confidence and build loyalty in current

and prospective passengers.

What I found interesting was that some passengers said their chief complaint was the lack of communication on the ship.  They reported the captain shared only limited information with them.  This made me think about how important strong communication is within an organization.   Clear, straight-forward communication would have benefited the passengers on the ship the same way it does with the employees of an organization.

Think about how your employees would react if you didn’t share your organizational mission and goals with them.  What if you didn’t have essential conversations with them or give them regular feedback through performance appraisals?  Most likely they would lack direction, become complacent and unproductive, and finally morale could become intolerable.  Senior management has a responsibility to make sure each employee can see with clarity the big picture.  Only then will each employee be able to appropriately identify the action steps they must take to contribute to the central organizational objective.  By encouraging individual managers and supervisors to promote transparency through good communication in the organization, they will help build employees’ confidence in their ability to lead them in a structured and efficient manner.  Remember, employees of today are potentially your company’s leaders of tomorrow.

There are at least three reasons performance evaluations are so important.

1. They are an employee’s report card – how well is he/she doing?
2. They present an opportunity to praise a good employee and manage a not-so-good one.
3. Finally, if done right, they can be helpful evidence for an employer in legal disputes with employees or former employees.

The problem we are seeing trend most recently regarding performance reviews . . .

• Are you evaluating your top managers (e.g. CEO, CFO, CHRO) and your highest compensated employees?

Here are some tips for doing good performance reviews:

1. Evaluate ALL your employees (including top management)
2. Be honest and take time to do a good job
3. Evaluate for the whole period (e.g. one year) – don’t short-time someone
4. Evaluate only job-related matters
5. Don’t “soft pedal” or “slam” due
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   to personal feelings of like or dislike

6. Don’t evaluate when angry.

HRN Performance Solutions are employee performance experts. We offer a range of solutions and services to address improving both organizational and employee performance through proven and effective performance management methodologies. These solutions range from consulting, to forms, to Performance Pro, our online, automated employee performance management system. Check it out.

2013 is off to a great start! The Performance Pro 3.1.2 release is now live.

Items included in this release:

• Granular Goal vs Factor Weights (set by AU)
• Forced Routing of Forms and/or Appraisals
• Routing completion notifications for Forms and/or Appraisals
• The overall Factor/Goal description will be set apart from level descriptions with our standard blue color
• AU Acceptance of Terms of Service Agreement. Note: All AU’s will need to accept this on first login to PP3.
• Hiding Overall Weight as an option with Hide Weights
• Completion Past Due Appraisal Designation

Clients requiring additional information about any of these enhancements can

contact HRN client support during our regular business hours to speak to a Performance Pro specialist by calling 1-800-940-7522. We would love to hear from you!