I loathe annual performance reviews. I have been on both sides of the desk, and I don’t enjoy them from either perspective. They remind me of statewide standardized tests: yes, it’s important that we have a benchmark for performance, but there could very well be a better way to go about it.

I don’t like having to rank myself (or my staff) on a scale, because I don’t think the whole year can always neatly be summarized on a scale of 1-5. We all “need improvement,” even if we’ve had a “good” year with “exceptional” moments.

Thankfully, my boss is pretty communicative, and I think that if there were any glaring concerns, then I would already know about them, and the annual review wouldn’t be a surprise. Unfortunately, I know a lot of folks who don’t have great bosses, and they dread review time even more than I do.

My office suite is very cozy, so it’s a good thing the four of us get along well. As a supervisor, I try to address potential problems as they arise and not wait for it to hit the fan. I’m not a perfect boss (or employee), but I think that I have a very good relationship with my team, and we have pretty open communication with each other. (It’s hard not to have open communication when you are within paperwad-throwing distance from one another.)

I don’t have a better solution to offer for annual performance reviews at the moment; I just needed to vent. Now, I must get some sleep so that I’ll be ready for mine at 8:30am. Ugh.

P.S. I just read this draft aloud to my hubby in Iraq via Skype, and he said, “The Army would say that you can’t complain about a system until you are prepared to offer an alternative for improvement.” lol. Tell the Army that this is my blog, and I’ll say whatever I want to. So there.