Children, Stepchildren and the challenge of average

In recent years we have witnessed a terrible distrust and a silent riot of growing distrust for performance assessment models in companies.

Daniel, aged 55, is the administrator of a multinational, in a dynamic and very competitive sector of activity, with a total team of around 2000 employees. Every month he is subject to demanding scrutiny regarding the presentation of his team's results, which imposes a frenetic work pace. They are recognized for: their predisposition towards innovative approaches and also their unexpected and untimely reactions. Daniel, with a keen eye for talent, with extremely refined intuition and sixth sense, has an extraordinary ability to read his team, globally and individually.

The hardest phase of the year for you is the annual performance reviews. He is concerned about the seriousness and compliance of the process in his unit. You want, on the one hand, to ensure the correct approach to each member of your team; and, on the other, guarantee the sustainability, equity and consistency of the total result.

Daniel's challenge is that of many leaders. In large or small companies, it is necessary to segment team talent to develop it properly. But it is precisely this “arrangement” of talent into categories (so often conditioned by the leader's idiosyncrasies) that leads to biases, which undermine the perception of justice and credibility of leaders. Caricatured, there are…

Children – In a team, they are those employees who are most similar to the leader: they mostly align with their opinions, repeat some of the behavior patterns (even tics and expressions) and seem, in the eyes of the rest of the team, to be the most protected.

Stepchildren – In a team, they are those who, living in the same house, are used to the defined rules, aligning themselves with most of the leader's guidelines, but look down on their children; and they present more differences in their behavior than them, with more contestation and, from time to time, a hint of “irreverence”.

The Non-Aligned – Often indifferent to the group's behavior, they are guided by their perceptions, are faithful to their opinions and skillfully manifest them in their way of being and behavior that deviates from the norm. They are not necessarily undisciplined in fulfilling their professional obligations, but they constantly challenge themselves to choose “their” path.

The Others – In a team, they are the group that constitutes the median, which supports the functioning of the entire structure. They often lack their voice and are hidden in the protagonism of others.

It's easy to caricature. It is difficult to escape the trap of bias.

How to do it?

Calibrating value judgment: Thinking Fast and Thinking Slowly

As Daniel Kahneman taught: intuitive thinking is highly influential in decisions and drives many of the choices and value judgments that are made daily. Now, the innate propensity that leaders have in classifying and evaluating people leads to overevaluations of what they understand (how teams behave) and underevaluations of context and chance (the moment and circumstance in which its members find themselves). Leaders are required to have constant discipline to rationally question this pattern of thinking quickly.

Embrace difference, with respect and humanity!

Emotionally intelligent leaders know how important it is for the prosperity of their team to know how to integrate differences. It is a demanding exercise that also requires discipline and confidence. It is important to constantly listen to differing opinions and be careful not to hide them; encouraging these moments within the team. A good leader must know how to receive feedback and, above all, create a climate of trust and humanity, where different profiles have space to express themselves in a climate of respect and reciprocity.

“I respect that we are different. How can we collaborate, to achieve and evolve?” This should be the mantra.

Diving into Mediania

Leaders must take the initiative, as regularly as possible, to be present to everyone (with visits to teams or other initiatives that personalize their leadership); to listen informally to those who normally have less opportunity to express themselves; and to formally consult the teams (through regular diagnoses). Employees' perceptions of management decisions and their motivation regulate the temperature and shape the company's culture.

Currently, the dilemmas of equity, the challenge of inclusion and the ambition of coherence in performance assessment are put to the test in a context of such diverse teams.

Balanced, emotionally intelligent and inclusive leadership requires: presence, attention and dedication.

May the difference gain space, may the average be expressed and may Daniel's conscience and dilemmas be those of all leaders... towards building more solid and prosperous organizational cultures.