Every time you evaluate something, you’re comparing it to something else, Fast Company reports, so if you’re in the position of having to evaluate other people, it’s worth thinking about what kinds of comparisons you want to make.
The best approach is to compare someone to their past self as well as to other people. Comparing a person’s performance now to what they have done before can give you a sense of their trajectory. However, you also want to know what is possible for someone in a given position, and the best way to see that is to compare people with similar roles.
When you sit down with someone you’re evaluating, it’s almost always best to provide feedback based on a comparison of a person with their past self.
People feel good about improvement, and it minimizes the sense of competition within the workplace. While a little competitive spirit can sometimes be helpful, if people feel like their job success is dependent largely on performing better than their peers, then people start engaging in behaviors like withholding information from colleagues to get a competitive advantage.
The main place where comparative feedback is appreciated is when it helps set the context for the evaluation. In other words, it is useful for people to know that you as a manager have recognized an overall trend and are assessing performance relative to that trend. Read the full story.
