Have you ever had a job where you had no idea what was expected of you?
Where you honestly couldn’t tell whether you were doing a great job… or just barely hanging on?
When I got out of college, I went to work in the financial industry. At the time, there was very little emphasis on management. The unspoken assumption was that everyone would be motivated by some combination of fear and greed.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine from college joined a cutting-edge consulting firm. Twice a year, he went through structured performance reviews. Afterward, he’d call me and walk through the feedback he received. Not all of it was glowing but he always knew where he stood, what he needed to work on and how to progress to the next level.
I, on the other hand, hadn’t even been given a job description. I had no idea how I was measuring up.
Manage Me!
After about five years of drifting, I went to the guy who hired me and sat down in his office.
He asked what he could do for me.
I said, “How am I doing?”
He replied, “You’re doing fine.”
I pressed. “What are some things I could do to improve?”
He thought for a moment and said, “You should probably call the branch offices more often.”
Then I asked the question that caused all the blood to drain from his face:
“Where do you see me in five years?”
For a brief moment, I thought he might actually throw up. He eventually recovered enough to mumble something about me becoming a head trader one day.
What I was really saying in that meeting was simple: “Manage me.”
It took another 20 years, but annual reviews were eventually instituted company wide.
From Annual Reviews To…
Since then, management thinking has continued to evolve. Today, most experts no longer advocate for annual or even semi-annual reviews alone. Instead, they emphasize constant feedback so people can keep growing and are never blindsided by poor reviews or termination.
Which raises an important question for leaders:
Do your people truly know what is expected of them? Not just long-term but this week?
This isn’t about micromanaging. It’s about making sure everyone is aligned, aiming at the same target and working from shared assumptions.
One tool I use with leaders is something I call Expectation Mountain…a simple four-step framework designed to eliminate ambiguity, create buy-in and ensure follow-up.
Feedforward
More recently, I have also been using a technique called feedforward. It’s aspirational, future-focused and produces noticeable growth. How much more effective would you be if you not only made measurable progress as a leader, but your people recognized it as well?
If you’d like to talk about expectation-setting, feedforward or how these tools might work in your organization, feel free to reach out.
And I’m curious, what has your experience been with periodic reviews?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
