THE WORDS "PERFORMANCE RANKING" RANKLES ME!!

Oh how I hate this topic. So Deloitte has radically reinvented Performance Rankings!  Did you read this in the April HBR? I did. Yawn and yawn and yawn.

I think it's the concepts behind most talent management that drives me nuts.
Deloitte really did improve --how to do an antiquated system better.

What bugs me?

--Ranking people against one another rather than against each person's 
collaboratively decided upon contribution.  What if there was room for all the talent to contribute according to individual capacity. (Hiring would be what it should be--the holy grail for performance)

--Tying performance to individual goals rather than to the company's overall performance. What if their were no individual goals. I know, I know. (Back to hiring well) 

--What if promotion was not the best way to make more money?  What if money stayed constant but a change in position was for learning and development only?

--What if everyone self-evaluated and you believed him or her?

--What if you gave up the idea of the bell curve that hovers over all ratings?  What if you led well enough that most would be very big contributors? As the top dog, your pay would dip if most did not perform above and beyond.

-- What if compensation was as idiosyncratic as  a person's contribution for each year? What if there were a base salary established for each role and then lots of room to enhance compensation based on extraordinary contribution?

--What if each person decided on the amount of "stretch" they wanted to reach for each year?

--What if compensation was fair to each person and but not equal across the company?

--What if people had a performance discussion and feedback absolutely any time they asked for it from anyone they wanted to ask?

I get excited about new possibilities for learning and blowing the lid off 
what a company can do.  I do know that  our assumptions and models to support this are off kilter.  

What if we gave up Victorian classroom management as a model for performance management?

What if tight definitions of "performance"  and tight measurements do nothing but limit what can be done?

What if we quit performing and just did good work day after day after day.

TALK TO ME!  Am I just an OD/HR grump?