We're all getting into the social networking thing these days. It's fun to use Facebook to reconnect with old friends. Twitter is allowing me to follow Lance Armstrong's attempt to reach the top of the cycling world once again. But can we use this hip new technology for something as mundane as performance reviews? Jena McGregor in this week's Business Week says it's being done.
According to McGregor, private firms, including Accenture, have developed a Facebook-like application which allows employees to post status updates and weekly goals. Managers can pose questions and comments related to employee performance. It's real-time feedback that today's employees crave and this technology provides the tools--supposedly. Accenture is hoping to sell its software to outside clients once its ready. They say the software is more about motivating employees than about evaluating them.
But could something like this work in the public sector? Most of the performance management systems I see are form-driven events that are more painful than developmental. Managers avoid giving feedback until they have to (if at all). Employees have learned that "no news is good news." Could a real-time review system using today's web-based tools be the answer to these long-standing problems with performance evaluations in the public sector?