Comments on: Feedback is for Suckers

By: Mike R

Mike R — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:55:50 +0000

There are so many things that have been incorporated into business as “best practices,” such as job descriptions and performance reviews. There are not legally required, but try to win an unemployment decision or a discrimination case without them. Someone went to Harvard Business School many years ago and decided that the existance of these performance tools were indicative of good performance.

Between the lawyers and the MBA’s telling businesses how best to manage, no one is looking at how to build a better product. Take a look at so many American businesses going the way of the dinasaur.

Now, I agree that job descriptions and evaluations can be a good tool, but the key is the relationship and communication that they enhance between the supervisor and worker. If the supervisor is just doing it because it is required, then it isn’t helping but hurting the company. But their personnel files probably look great for the reorganization and bankruptcy proceedings.

By: Colin Campbell

Colin Campbell — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:01:26 +0000

I find performance reviews to be quite helpful. Both of the companies that I have worked for for long periods of time took the process seriously and the review document was helpful in keeping some of the bargains struck during the process. That said, for career development, there is nothing quite like day to day feedback and mentoring from your boss. Those informal interactions are how careers are best managed. Now how to translate all that quality work situation into a higher salary without jumping ship.

By: Hello, New Readers! « Team Building Is For Suckers

Hello, New Readers! « Team Building Is For Suckers — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:41:08 +0000

[...] Enjoy the blog and — as always — I would really love your feedback! [...]

By: Monday Morning HR Humor: Constructive Feedback! « Team Building Is For Suckers

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:02:53 +0000

[...] Monday Morning HR Humor: Constructive Feedback! 31 03 2008 Remember when I told you that feedback is for suckers? [...]

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:35:38 +0000

That’s awfully generalized, isn’t it? Yes, performance reviews are done in writing because they are required, but that does not mean that the manager who writes them is always going to be vague, always going to use meaningless buzzwords, always going to give bullshit feedback.

My performance reviews are thank-you notes. They describe to my employees their accomplishments from the past year and tell them how wonderful they are and how glad I am to have them on my team. I give them constant feedback about little course-corrections that need to happen, and if they absolutely cannot tolerate that, I document all those little problems and work behind the scenes to find out if we can find that person a better position. But when that person gets a performance review from me, it is a thank-you note for what they DO bring to the group. And if they can’t ever bring anything good, that’s just a reflection on my very poor hiring skills.

All I’m saying is that not all managers use perfomance-review time as an ambush.

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:33:12 +0000

“Thank you for accepting and completing this objective Laurie; I’ve marked you down as having ‘met expectations’ because you delivered exactly the article that I asked for. By way of providing constructive feedback, I’d suggest that maybe you aim for four or five uses of ‘Bullshit’ next time rather than three. Also, I think perhaps you could’ve exceeded my expectations by including a photo of a kitten.”

That kind of feedback is bullshit too. Nice work.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:58:14 +0000

(or bullshit)

By: hr wench

hr wench — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:33:12 +0000

The best performance review is simply a continuation of a (real) conversation that is already occurring on a regular basis. Anything else is merely window dressing.