Measure To Purpose Must Be Right ... if you do not know why you are measuring what you are measuring, you will end up identifying & rewarding a wrong winner. Promoting, Rewarding & Recognizing by Visual Effects leads silently to organizational nemesis.
We have often experienced in organisations, the person who is seen working till vary late , the one who externally is seen as stomping the corridor floors and lobbies appearing ever so busy and in a hurry, the one who leaves the office only after the Boss has left however late, getting promoted or getting higher rewards and being role-modelled & featured as an ideal employee !!!
The critical question then is - so what is wrong ? Why should the 'Late Working - Floor Stomping-Boss Shadowing' colleague not get promoted ? I would say no harm at all provided the performance results & outcomes of the 'LW-FS-BS' Visual Effects Manager are better and higher than the others.
Unfortunately, most real life experiences show that results and performances are set aside and only LW-FS-BS behaviours are recalled & uppermost in the mind of the Manager whilst deciding promotions and rewards.
Divorcing actual performance results and instead rewarding isolatedly the 'LW-FS-BS' behaviours is like setting a cat amongst the pigeons ! It not only makes the other genuinely performing colleagues mad but also demolishes the Manager's credibility. It further festers wrong culture in the organisation ( the rewarded 'LW-FS-BS' behaviours will be reinforced and adopted), demolishes desire even of the genuine performers to give better/higher results and totally destroys the Corporate morale and Cultural Fabric. The corporate corridors then are full of echoes that say ... " this is how it happens here. Being preferred, repeat it ! "
This is my experience anchored belief. Whenever called upon by clients to help them out with mandates on poor performance results and non-chalant employee attitudes, I begin by :
a. checking design of the rewards and recognition system .. is the link to desired results, strong ?
b. analyzing organizational credibility of the KMPs ... are leaders right ?
c. understanding basis of the last 5 key promotions ... is Leadership selection process fair & encouraging ?
d. confidential interviews with a few attrited 'Regrettable Talent' losses
from the system... the actual inside stories
e. observable patterns in annual increments given in the last 2 compensation cycles. Are increments & performance strongly linked ?
A wise & objective leader can see through the 'LW-FS-BS' behaviours. If he is unable to see thru that ..... then it is time to change him, first.
Even if every individual in the organization recognises this, this org behaviour will always be driven by the leader who has the most power. At that level what drives leaders is insecurity and fear of losing power. Sycophancy will always be rewarded in organisations until and unless leaders who are very secure are driving the organization.