Bet on “Better Than Average” in Your Staff

The results of an admittedly nonscientific poll published by the New York Times in June 2016 were that 16% of respondents had replied, “I’m Average,” 1% with, “I’m Below Average,” and a robust 83% with “I’m Above Average.” A succession of scientific polls over the years substantiates that about 80% of us do think we’re above average compared to others in our reference group.
     There have been exceptions. A survey of college professors found that 94% thought they were above average in carrying out the responsibilities of being a college professor. In a 2015 survey of high school students, about 70% said they were above the average level for math skills in high school students. I’m thinking maybe that last one is about 70% instead of about 80% because loads of high school students are bad at both percentages and estimating.
     A June 2020 survey report from Texas Christian University and UCLA documents this “Better Than Average” effect in a different way: Responding to questions about nine trait and skill areas by a set of 84 U.S. adults ages 20 to 25, the highest average ratings were about 7 on a 10-point scale for “Honesty” and “Capacity for hard work.” None of the nine self-ratings was below 5. The prompt was, “How would you say your [trait or skill strength] compares with other people your age?”
     Now at this point, please pause to realize how what these people have been and are saying presents a mathematical impossibility. Reality precludes more than 50% of people being above average in a trait or skill among their reference group. My purpose in pointing this out to you is this: When you meet with a staff member you supervise in order to deliver an objective appraisal of their job performance, odds are that they will think they’re doing better than you think they are.
     In performance appraisal, minimize surprises for yourself and for the person receiving your critique. Here are two tips I give to participants in the “Performance Management” course I’ve been teaching at University of Nevada-Reno for more than two decades:

• Make performance feedback a process rather than an event. Give it regularly, not only at annual reviews. 
• Prior to each performance appraisal meeting, ask the employee to write you how they’d rate themselves on the skill areas. This alerts you to where you’ll want to have extra examples to give. 

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