Dear Senior Managers,
This may seem out of the ordinary, but since you were kind enough to provide me with advice on my leadership at the beginning of the year, I am now going to provide you with some feedback as a group. Yes, this is a group performance appraisal. Unusual, yes; but needed and overdue.
I want to thank you for your dedication and commitment to this organization. Through your efforts this firm has grown in size and stature. This has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated, but I want to thank you again for what you have done on behalf of the organization.
Back in January you asked me to do something about the deadwood in the company and I am now ready to do what is required. I am starting with the management team.
I am putting a freeze on all raises and bonuses until each person in the company has been given a formal written performance appraisal. I will manage this process by sitting down with each of you and together, we will review the evaluation you have completed for each employee that reports to you or one of your subordinates.
Why are we doing this? It has come to my attention that some employees in this company have never been formally evaluated, despite being on the payroll for years. In some cases the total sum of the feedback that they have received has been along the lines of “You did a good job this year” and that they would be getting an increase in pay starting with their next paycheck. This is shameful and unacceptable.
Several of you regularly conduct written performance appraisals, but most of you do not. This means as a team we have a very mixed record of executing one of the most important management functions. Your responsibility to ensure that each employee knows what they are responsible for achieving, getting them the tools they need to get their job done, and providing feedback along the way has been ignored.
If we truly believe that our competitive advantage is our people and processes, then we must invest in our people and their ability to execute those things that will make a positive difference for our clients. At the foundation is regularly scheduled and conducted evaluations.
I know that one of the reasons why these evaluations have not been conducted is because you may be uncomfortable doing them. Please mark on your calendar now that you will be out of the office the last Friday and Saturday of this month because you will be in a two day workshop to learn how to conduct these evaluations. You will be out of the office on both Friday and Saturday. Your attendance is not requested, it is required and I will not accept any excuses for you being present.
Please mark on your calendar that all evaluations for every person in your department will be completed by the first Friday of next month. This means that the first week of next month you will be meeting with each employee, so schedule those sessions now.
On the Monday following I will sit down with each of you and we will discuss each employee and assess your evaluation of them.
If you do no complete this assignment by the deadline, you will be put on probation for one week to give you a final opportunity to complete this assignment. If you fail your probation, you will be asked to seek employment elsewhere. This will happen regardless of your tenure, title or position.
You can either embrace the required responsibilities to be a manager or you can accept a position somewhere else. The choice is 100% yours. This company can no longer afford the luxury of having managers on the payroll who are just collecting a paycheck while the people they are supposed to be providing feedback to are not getting it.
I have given a lot for you to think about. Please see me if you have any questions.
Written with respect and sincerity,
The Boss
