Do we rate people’s performance on how good-looking they are?
July 19th, 2010 | Published in 360 Degree Feedback, 360 appraisal, Coaching, Feedback, Giving 360 Degree Feedback, Inspect what you expect, Management skills, Measuring Performance, Overcoming bias with 360 Degree Feedback, Self awareness, Strengths based 360, Team Performance, appraisal
In this poll, reported in the US, 68%Â of managers believe that looks have an impact on the way managers rate job perforamance.
If this survey is to be believed, Attractiveness comes only below Experience and Confidence in recruitment situations, and trumps Education and a sense of Humour - apparently known as the ‘Hottie’ effect! The author advises those of us who are non-Hotties not to despair but to make the best of whatever assets we have…..
On a more serious note though, how can we overcome these biases which appear to be inbuilt in most of us and can make a big difference in how employees’ performance is judged?
The first answer is Awareness: once we’re aware of our biases, our assumptions and things like the Halo and Horns Effect, we can start to adjust our opinions of that person and inject some objectivity into our appraisal of their performance  (for more on Halo/Horns, go to 360 Degree Feedback and download our paper entitled What Not To Do When Giving Great Feedback ).
Second is judging people on what they have actually done, so setting SMART objectives is critical (Specific, Measurable, Action-based, Relevant and Timely).
Third is making sure that your own judgement is not the only one that counts….tools like 360 Degree Feedback are very important in ensuring that a number of different people have input into the appraisal, and that there is consistency in assessing performance, especially in hard to measure areas like management, leadership and team working.
