Annual (?) Reviews

The idea of annual reviews makes no sense. Does an annual review really mean that formal, thoughtful, actionable feedback is provided to an employee once a year? Actually, sadly, it does. Yet, consistent research that says employees crave more frequent and specific feedback. (www.Gallup.com) Even when managers believe they are doing it right, the results clearly show that it needs to get better.

As mayor of New York City in the eighties, Ed Koch was famous for uttering one sentence consistently. Everywhere he went he would ask people, “How am I doing?” Koch said that by asking that question he knew what New Yorkers really thought about his job performance. And the answers to that question made him better.

Do you get consistent and specific feedback from your boss? Your employees? Your peers? How do you know what you are doing well? And not so well? If feedback is not consistent and specific then it doesn’t count. And annual feedback definitely doesn’t count.

The #1 management skill to be developed is the ability to put the right person in the right job. #2 is the ability to help your employees learn and grow. And that happens via consistent and specific feedback.

I offer you a slam dunk guarantee: when you consistently and specifically tell Sally how she is doing many good things will begin to happen:
1. You immediately ensure that Sally is working on the right things.
2. You and/or Sally can create a plan to correct what is not working.
3. You and Sally can find ways to help her utilize her strengths more often that her weaknesses.
4.You can quickly correct what Sally is doing wrong.
5. And most importantly, you will show Sally that you care about her, and that is likely to make Sally care even more about doing a great job.

Spend time consistently – weekly – giving employees specific feedback and performance will improve. It doesn’t matter that you haven’t been doing it. What matters is that you start. And you can start by asking your team, “how am I doing?”