Annual Reviews Shape Career Paths

Progressive reviews help employees plan their careers.

Jon Titus, Editorial Director -- Test & Measurement World, 3/1/1998

It’s time for your annual review. You don’t know whether to rejoice because it will be over soon or to sweat because the time of reckoning has arrived. For most of us, a review goes like this: The boss tries to give us his or her best recollections of how we did during the past year. The boss may not remember what we did during the first 10 months of the year, so we get a skimpy review that doesn’t reflect our overall performance at all. We sit through the review wondering, “When do I get hit with the bad stuff?” and “What kind of raise do I get?”

Two companies, Teradyne (Boston, MA) and Hewlett-Packard (Loveland, CO), take different approaches to reviews. At these companies, a review goes more like this: You schedule a time with your boss to talk about your long-term career objectives. You consult with your boss and assess your skills, evaluate your career plans, and set up an action plan for the next year. During this type of review, you lead the discussion and use your boss to help you develop a plan.

Hewlett-Packard’s Manufacturing Test Division has run career-development reviews for many years. At Teradyne, the process started two years ago. In addition to the consultative reviews, though, both companies have annual salary reviews; HP’s reviews include quantitative goals and results. According to people at both companies, employees generally like the formats.

Work with a Coach
The consultative review format centers on helping employees develop and achieve career goals that match the company’s mission. According to Joe Carbone, a division engineering manager at Teradyne, during a self-assessment review the manager acts like a coach. The employee shoulders the responsibility for examining his or her career and for realistically determining where he or she wants to go over the next few years.

Together they develop a plan that lists the additional skills, training, and experience the employee will need to achieve the goals. The plan also lists specific actions the employee will take. An employee and his or her manager must talk honestly. If a manager and the employee agree that the employee demonstrates inadequate skills, that manager must be sure the engineer understands that the weakness exists. Then they can incorporate an appropriate training program in the plan.

An engineer’s plan, for example, might include a seminar, in-house courses, and specific on-the-job training. The plan might also have the engineer “shadow” a senior engineer to get a better feel for what a manager does. Carbone notes that Teradyne keeps no record of the employee’s plan. The employee can take notes and write up his or her own plan, but the plan “belongs” to the employee.

You’re on Your Own
If the self-assessment plan sounds like a New Age approach to managing employees, keep in mind that employees must manage their own careers. Companies no longer place employees on well-defined career paths and automatically provide the training and experience that would lead to advancement. So when it comes time for an annual review, employees must arrive prepared to direct their careers.

Sue Blair, a human resources manager at Teradyne, notes that in addition to self-assessment reviews, employees still must get regular evaluations of their work from their supervisors or managers. Also, employees should always get immediate feedback when they experience a problem. Likewise, when employees excel at their jobs, they need immediate recognition. Good managers let employees know where they stand; they don’t save feedback or praise for an annual meeting.

Joe Carbone says that Teradyne’s managers review specific goals and accomplishments at the separate annual salary review. For a senior engineer, those goals might include delivering a product on time or getting new software running by a specific time. Although the salary review stresses what Carbone calls “hard” performance goals, it can include “softer” goals such as showing growth in an area or acquiring specific skills.

Review Performance Goals
Tom Heger, an R&D section manager in HP’s Measurement Systems Division, explains that HP’s process includes an annual individual review and a semiannual development review. The individual review looks much like a traditional review, and it includes specific goals and deadlines. At HP, the manager coordinates this part of the review and works with the employee to make sure that all the key points are covered.

HP’s development review works similar to the self-assessment review at Teradyne. Managers help employees evaluate their skills and plan their careers. When someone expresses an interest in a different type of job, his or her manager helps determine whether or not the employee has the potential—with proper training and preparation—to fill a different job. Just because someone has the skills, however, doesn’t mean that he or she automatically advances into a new position. That employee still competes with the other qualified applicants.

Heger notes that some employees may like the jobs they have and want to continue doing the same things. In such a case, the development plan centers on helping the person develop new skills so he or she remains up-to-date and continues to be an asset to HP.

HP’s and Teradyne’s review programs probably seem unusual. Many human resources people still think that because managers fill out review forms, they know what employees are doing and how well they are doing it. These same companies also expect their employees to fend for themselves when it comes time to plan their careers. Such an arrangement won’t work for long.

What Can You Do?
So, if your company doesn’t have development reviews, what can you do? Well, nothing prevents you from asking your boss for advice about career plans and career opportunities at your company. Nor does anything stop you from initiating a conversation during your review about your personal development. But just as you don’t want to get a surprise from your boss at your review, don’t surprise your boss, either. Instead, start talking with him or her before the review so you both can prepare and then continue your conversations during the actual review. And when you prepare, gather materials that clearly document what you did during the first 10 months of your one-year review period. T&MW