Suppose you manage a team of employees. During the performance evaluation process, you rated all of your team at the highest level "exceeds expectations". During the calibration process (management meeting to adjust employee ratings to fit a bell curve) with senior management, HR, and and other team project managers, you are told that due to "smoothing", you will have to select two (2) of your employees to be in the "below expectations" group and at least two (2) for the "meets expectations" groups. That is half of your team of eight (8) employees. You know that some of the other projects have been underperforming, while your project has exceeded all project targets due to the hard work and dedication of your team. However, rules are rules, despite your best efforts to keep your team in the "exceeds expectations" group, you will have to rate some of your employees according to guidance given by HR and management. That is non-negotiable. How would you deal with this situation? You will have to give your employees' their ratings. How will you ensure that, despite their ratings, your employees feel recognized for their individual performance