Here's Why not to do an Annual Review

Annual reviews are a waste of time. We haven’t done one in almost a decade.?

In the last week, I’ve come across several reminders from large recruiting firms reminding companies that it’s important to hold an annual review.?

One did an informal poll and an unbelievable 65 percent still do annual reviews. Why are we waiting months to tell people what they’re doing well and where they can improve??

Let’s think about it.?

If your kid gets an A on a History test, are you waiting four months to tell them they did a great job? Of course you’re not! On the day the test comes back, it’s going up on the refrigerator door, there’s a high-five, and maybe there’s a little mint ice cream after dinner.

On the flip side, let’s say you go to lunch with a colleague and they get a little ketchup on their cheek. Can you imagine waiting four months to tell them about it? “Hey Chuck, remember that time we tried that new burger joint over the summer with that partner? You got ketchup on your cheek. Here’s a few napkins. Try not to let that happen again”. That’s nuts!?

No policy on annual review policies is the best policy. Here’s why: The pace of life is sometimes frantic. We are all spinning full plates and dancing over knives on the floor. No one is going to remember specific events that happened months ago. There’s no substitution to giving feedback toward being our best selves and guidance toward career goals in real time.

As a leader, it quickly sets the team up toward amplifying shared values and being the most productive. As a teammate, it enables us to change, give our best efforts toward helping others and bettering our career.?

We don’t always give feedback well. Here’s what we end up doing too often:?

We ignore it - It’s adrenaline bias. We’re too busy and don’t give the time for feedback or guidance. Don Draper of Mad Men and Peter from The Great are good examples. They’re bosses who are too self-absorbed, take the credit, or give back-handed compliments. They may say something like, “I told you ‘good job’ last month, what more than you want?”

We’re too Harsh - Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada and Bill Lumbergh of Office Space go on the list. It doesn’t cut it. Being sharp, snappy, and without compassion in our feedback makes us jerks and our teams don’t listen. Frequent or exclusively negative feedback sparks defensive reactions that color the perceptions others have of us as leaders and they run out the door and toward organizations with better cultures.?

We’re too soft - If you’ve ever watched The Office, it’s the Michael Scott syndrome. It’s when we don’t care about our teammates but we do care how they perceive us so we avoid giving feedback so they don’t have negative feelings about you. An example might be if someone gives a presentation to a group of clients but it’s littered with mistakes and type-os but we say it’s good.?

We let Budgets and Processes Get in the Way - Ebenezer Scrooge and Mr. Krabs are good examples. We put off reviews saying there's no money or that the process is do a review at the end of the year. However, there’s no law that says feedback and/or promotions come at the end of the year. They ought to come when the organization and the employee is ready to make that next step.?

Here’s how we might improve in feedback:?

Recognizing Feedback is Subjective: We have unique perspectives. Forcing them on others as a means of saying it's the right way to do something doesn't always work well. Instead of saying someone is wrong to have done something, try what’s called the Gestalt Method. That’s when you share about a previous experience without judgment. It allows others to learn your perspective, gives context of the organization's culture, and enables teammates to learn more effectively. For example: After being copied on an email, I shared with a colleague that her emails to external partners came across as too harsh and very transactional but - instead of saying, "you should do this instead" - I showed an example of an email that was geared toward sparking more of a conversation and a relationship and how it worked for me. This example is small and was years ago but it’s still talked about today.

Metrics can’t possibly calculate the intangibles of our results.

Metrics are not feedback: Recognize that results are always clouded by external factors. There are always things we don’t have control over. The pandemic slows production. Storms slow delivery. Metrics can’t possibly calculate the intangibles of our results. This is the problem with annual reviews. Too often, bosses look at the metrics and forget the sacrifices and efforts employees make toward a successful outcome. As leaders, we also fall into the trap of only recognizing those who have had great metric success by allowing them to climb the corporate ladder by handing out promotions to these performers. If we only used metrics, we would overlook those natural leaders who pick others up during challenging times and impending deadlines. If we give more of a balanced approach to feedback in real time, we’ll be more prepared in spotting the next generation of leaders.?

Every person is a different person: We all have different strengths and we all have different weaknesses. Great leaders build up teammates' strengths and what are people's different geniuses are in how we accomplish results. We find other teammates who are strong in other areas to compliment the weaknesses of others.? Similarly, we all hear feedback differently. Some team members are processors and need to hear and think about our feedback. Others are collaborators and are energized by the in-the-moment discussion on how to make their work better. It’s our job and no one else’s job to discern and manage each of our teammates on what’s going to inspire each of them to do what inspires them in their own unique way.?

Balanced Feedback: Former Google HR head Kick Ass CEO Coach, and author Kim Scott has summed it up very well in Radical Candor. The term is when you show you care personally about someone or something while challenging their behavior. In other words, we recognize the passion and intent and coach them on how to improve. Here’s an example and a message for the large recruiting firm I mentioned at the start of this piece: From your body of work and your blog posts, I can see you really want to help the world’s workforce be their best but by not evolving and modernizing the way we give feedback, we’re holding employees back from fulfilling work and organizations back from creating a better world for all of us.?

Jamie Bearse is the CEO at ZERO Prostate Cancer and is a Nonprofit Nerd and a Pop Culture Geek.