So what is it? Google’s rating system was (and is) distinctive in that it isn’t just the direct manager making the decision. A manager assigns a draft rating to an employee—say, “exceeds expectations”—based on nailing OKRs but tempered by other activities, like the volume of interviews completed, or extenuating circumstances such as a shift in the economy that might have affected ad revenues.xliv Before this draft rating becomes final, groups of managers sit down together and review all of their employees’ draft ratings together in a process we call calibration. Calibration adds a step. But it
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