‘Tis the season for appraisals and assessments. It’s a magical time of year when all of the company’s elves are formally evaluated for their performance over the past year (or past few months – depending on the frequency of evaluations) and the jingle jangle of SMART goal setting can be heard for miles.

It is the perfect time of year for employees on the ‘Nice’ list to be rewarded for their talent and contribution to company success. It is also a time for corrective action to be taken to address any ‘Naughty’ elves who have fallen short of performance expectations. But as the elves busy to engage in a fair and consistent review process – what about the managers, the “Santas”, who are completing your assessments and reviews? What do they get to find in their stockings? And how are they graded, not just as employees, but as bosses?

It is no Holiday fable that a strong management team is the backbone of any company. “Nice” managers (the ones who are effective, productive, trustworthy, and diplomatic) should know how they’re coming off as coaches and leaders. And they should be rewarded and acknowledged for the skill sets that only their employees have a daily opportunity to see. Some of the most vital talents a manager can bring to a company aren’t always visible from the top down. Likewise, in a purely top-down review process, managerial shortcomings are often overlooked, leaving abused, confused or otherwise unsatisfied underlings with their voices unheard and these shortcomings uncorrected.

Don’t let bad Santas place a drain on year-round company productivity. This year, consider a 360 review process that Read More