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Facing an uncertain economy, many tech companies – including Big Tech – are reducing their headcount. But how can they be certain they're not losing their best and brightest?
Facebook, for instance, is reportedly encouraging managers to choose the bottom 15% of their teams and mark them for potential layoffs. Employees, well aware of this, are likely already managing up to make sure they aren't on that list. Staying focused on keeping one manager happy does probably not always align with keeping teammates happy or focusing on company goals such as keeping customers happy. So, the company may be damaged even before layoffs begin.
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This is a common dynamic within companies that still use traditional, hierarchical performance reviews. People who are good at managing up, or skillful at promoting their own work, tend to be the ones who get to stay, and those people aren't necessarily your best performers. Instead, complementing performance reviews with Organizational Network Analysis can help control for the 'managing up' phenomenon and identify valuable employees that you can't afford to lose.
Instead of only identifying your worst-performing team members, identifying your true top-performing ones is equally critical, and then invest in retaining them. The problem is, traditional performance reviews don't tell you who your true "10x-ers" are.
Research has shown that more than 60% of a typical performance rating can be attributed to the idiosyncrasies of the manager.
Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) is a technique for mapping employees' flow of work, relationships, and patterns. By asking employees a few specific questions, and then applying ONA techniques, companies can quickly surface which team members are making the most impact on the company, and which are not. Collecting more performance data from employees' networks (not just peer 360s) gives evaluators greater visibility into performance and helps diminish the impact of any biases.
Example ONA questions include:
- Based on the past performance period, who do you consider to be a "Gold Star" contributor at the company?
- Based on the past performance period, who do you believe needs additional support or attention?
- Who at the company do you go to for help and advice?
ONA helps companies identify their "10x-ers" – the people they absolutely need to retain – including whether they are a flight risk. It also identifies under performers who may need assistance or may eventually be managed out. Importantly, ONA provides quantitative data based on a larger sample size, not just one person's opinion – and that gives every person a fair shot at being recognized for the difference they're making at work.
As the economy faces uncertainty over the next year and businesses need to carefully plan who to retain and who they may need to part ways with, basing those decisions on real data is the best way to ensure they make optimal decisions on their most precious resource – their people.
Joshua Merrill, CEO and Co-Founder of Confirm
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