Ohos and the Mess with SCOTUS...

I think we all agree that we are witnessing some of the ugliest, most divisive politics in our country. Last week's confirmation hearing session on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was a cringeworthy display of partisanship disguised as genuine search for truth. While I personally find Dr. Ford's allegations to be credible (I will ALWAYS believe the victim first,) none of us were there. Opining on what took place between these two 36 years ago is at best partially informed speculation. And that goes for our senators as well…

Imagine for a moment what might have happened if an Ohos-like mechanism existed 36 years ago. There was no internet at that time but let's set that aside for a moment. What if Georgetown Preparatory School or Yale College or Yale Law School could enable ongoing feedback on all of their students on a realtime basis (like Georgia Tech tested out with Ohos last year)?!  In that imaginary circumstance, our politicians would have decades worth of data about Judge Kavanaugh way before now. Any accusation could have easily been denied or confirmed by looking at what the collective feedback on Judge Kavanaugh indicated. Collective, unbiased feedback as events occurred, the trends, and the data to substantiate. Moreover, POTUS would know if the public supports the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh and could get behind him in this role.

Well it is nice to imagine and we know that we can't change the past. But we *can* change the future. I am not going to get political (PLEASE vote in November…every voice needs to be heard, not just the people at the top) and I am advocating for us to adopt an ongoing and holistic feedback mechanism to inform our talent decisions. Study after study shows that one-sided, once or twice review process (or every 4 years as with elected officials) is inaccurate and in many instances does more damage than good. Why not strengthen your performance review system by encouraging all of the employees to provide feedback on their peers, their supervisors and their direct reports? Not just once but on an ongoing basis. It could be once per week or once per month but it should certainly be more frequent than once per year. Then you might actually have early warnings of issues as well as data to make better decisions.

We would love for you to use Ohos. Our platform gives you analytics, helps you see who is ready for and has the support of the organization in a leadership role. It shows you if there are unconscious biases towards a group and can save you from promoting a ‘Kavanaugh’ without knowing what might come up.

But even if you don't use Ohos, please consider using something, paper and pen if you must, and implement an ongoing feedback process in your organization. Your retention rates will go up, employee satisfaction scores go up and you will have a healthier and more productive organization.

You will not regret it!