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Demystifying Performance Ratings

The clearer the path to excellence, the more folks will get themselves there. But when the view is both new and a bit uncharted, the path can be unclear. So District 3 Trainer Lori Fox decided to play a role in helping to eliminate (or at least minimize) the mystery.

"There was a lack of understanding and buy in from employees of the new behavior-based performance ratings and what they meant," Fox explained. "There were inconsistencies between divisions, working groups, and even differences among supervisors in the same discipline."

Fox partnered with D3 Human Resources to devise an exercise to iron out some of those differences. They start by giving an introduction to performance ratings, then give each table 15 minutes to come up with four performances they think would belong in each of the four categories of performance (shown in main picture at top of page) and place them in a bag with that performance rating. They go through the bags, discuss each one in detail, make sure it's on the correct performance-rating flipchart, and/or ask for more clarification when warranted.

"Then we take the flipcharts, compile them in a Word document, and send them to crews as a guideline," Fox said. "This helps set the expectations for each crew member, helps keep them accountable to themselves and each other, gives them a clear expectation of areas to work on for improving their perfomance, and clearly defines the rating or expectation so that they know where they are at."

So far they have completed this excercise with all supervisors, and with the maintenance foremen and their crews in New Meadows/Council, Cascade/Banks/Emmett, Caldwell and Marsing/Murphy/Riddle/Bruneau. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.

"There has always been some mystery and misunderstanding about the performance reviews, but this seemed to help clear things up for folks," said Fox.

"It's great for crew participation and gives them ownership because it's their ideas on paper. It also helps them to understand the rating system and what they need to do for achieving each level. The opportunity can be so valuable to crews that need to establish a baseline of understanding in order to measure performance."