When Best Practices Aren't Good Enough—Putting the Performance Review on Review

Atlassian's radical openness not only reflects a spirit of generosity, but also an intrepid practicality. When Luijke says, "Let us be your guinea pig!"—he's acknowledging that when it comes to tackling the most entrenched and dysfunctional aspects of organizational life, no single company or practitioner can solve the problem alone. (And those who share the most are bound to learn the most.)


In just six months, that exuberant approach to experimentation has yielded a compelling blueprint for a lightweight performance review model built on continuous coaching with a strong basis in the science of motivation and engagement—and some signature idiosyncratic flourishes.


"Nothing to Copy"

That's a major leap forward in less than a year. As Luijke recounts, despite the best intentions (and best practices), Atlassian's original approach to performance reviews resulted in less than glowing reviews:
"Twice a year the model did exactly the opposite to what we wanted to accomplish," he says. "Instead of an inspiring discussion about how to enhance people's performance, the reviews caused disruption, anxiety, and de-motivated team members and managers. Also, even though our model was extremely lean and simple, the time investment was significant."

Transforming the performance review would take something better than "best practice." Luijke observed, "We found nothing out there to copy." So he and his team set apart inventing an approach that would energize and engage—rather than deplete and demoralize—Atlassian's people. Some key elements:


*Rip apart the traditional performance review (replace it with a series of monthly one-on-one meetings with a rotating agenda of "check-ins" and scrap ratings and the distribution curve)

*Replace individual performance bonuses with top-market salaries, an organizational bonus, and stock options

*Re-design the review into "bite-sized chunks" of guided coaching conversations (focus on strengths)

*Honest feedback without ratings—evaluate exceptional performance on a continuum of "never to always" and ask the question "how often have you stretched yourself"

*Peer feedback and rewards


People want to work with you—not for you

Luijke and his team will continue to test and design new mechanisms for reviewing performance, but they may have turned the crucial corner already. By recasting the performance review as an ongoing conversation set inside regular working relationships, the Atlassian folks have reinforced one of their core values: "We want all Atlassians to feel like they work with Atlassian, not for Atlassian." That's a distinction that makes a world of difference in organizations where too many people feel subject to rules, acted upon by "superiors," and victims of the system.


Every leader is under pressure today to awaken and deliver the full initiative, imagination and passion of every person in his or her organization (and even beyond the walls of the organization). And there's no more compelling call to talented people than a cause they can believe in. When you really mean it, "Join us" is a powerfully effective invitation to engaged performance. Yet, so many of the practices and processes that rule our daily working experience reinforce divisions (labor/management, creative/operations, executive class/front line) rather than invite solidarity.


Performance reviews represent just one skirmish in the war against the unhealthy and artificial power dynamic that is a legacy of the industrial era. For its part, Atlassian is constantly inventing and refining practices to unite and ignite its people (such as the quarterly "Fedex Days," during which employees get 24 hours to work—and deliver—on a passion project, chronicled by Dan Pink in his essential book, Drive). But more than better practices, Luijke and his colleagues understand that the real key to building organizations that are fit for human beings is to start with a better question: How do we design systems and support work that enlist people as drivers of their own destiny?