What is Calibration?

Calibration is a part of the performance review process where managers, after completing the review of their teams, discuss the manager assessments with the skip-level manager.

Companies like Google, Facebook use committees made up of skip level managers of various teams and the business human resource partner.

Why is Calibration necessary?

A calibration meeting with your skip level manager is important for several reasons, such as:

1. Mitigate biases - A review by the skip level manager is to ensure that these biases are mitigated.
2. Holistic view - The skip level manager has several other managers reporting into him or her. This gives a holistic view of all the teams and the assessments by individual managers can be calibrated especially for mitigating biases, if any.
3. Clarify assumptions - Calibration meetings allow an opportunity for the manager to clarify any assumptions with respect to the team members' performance summary.
4. Broader context - A skip level manager has a broader context of organisational objectives. When assessing the impact or contribution of individual employee, the skip level manager can better calibrate the manager's assessment of such impact.