Performance Evaluations

Power Law vs. Bell Curve

The bell curve model we use to rank people in groups--it's inaccurate. In other words, the map of how we imagine people are valued in groups--that map doesn't reflect the territory of reality--of how people actually add value in groups.

What's actually found in organizations: the overwhelming majority of folks fall into a very respectable range of performance, with only a tiny fraction of high and low performers.

Put more dramatically: our collective mental model is wrong; a bell curve is not how people distribute. Now read Josh Bersin's excellent 2014 Forbes article and be prepared to be surprised.