LEADERSHIP

Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Giving and Taking Feedback

CPAs sound off about performance reviews. Next question: How hard are you working? Join the survey. Get the results.

by Rick Telberg/At Large

I’ve been hearing a lot lately from accountants and finance managers about annual performance reviews – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

After I wrote about why you can’t trust your career to your boss, I received a ton of email with real-life stories and some solid recommendations.

For instance, a CPA in Hunt Valley, Md., wrote, in part:

Your article on performance reviews hits the nail on the head. Unfortunately, performance reviews are nothing more than a political tool for upper-level staff to execute their revenge on staffers under them that they dislike and to push ahead those that they like, regardless of their actual performance. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who suffers!

And a CPA in Lexington, Ky.: wrote:

I 100% agree that performance should be praised as often as it is criticized. I also agree that performance is not evaluated often enough and should not only be completed at the end of each engagement but during each engagement. The worst thing that can occur is for you to not suggest an improvement to someone and then have them make that mistake a dozen more times before their annual evaluation. That has probably caused many hours of inefficiencies and thousands of dollars. In public accounting – time is money.

However – on the flip side – I think the annual performance evaluation is important to ensure that the person is continuing on their goals. I believe it is each individual person’s role to own their career. These annual evaluations should not necessarily focus on developmental points regarding engagement performance but should focus on how each person is progressing within the firm and what they are doing to move up that ladder. It should have information on what their annual marketing plan is and what they need to do to meet annual goals. It is important to set annual goals and evaluate performance related to those goals.

In my research, I’ve found that half the professionals surveyed say their offices handle performance-related communications well and half don’t. Ouch! Whoever’s doing the feedback could use a little feedback themselves.

It’s clear that a little do-and-don’t advice seems in order for some of the nation’s accounting firms and finance departments.

Dos

  1. Good managers do offer feedback based on facts.
  2. Good managers do offer feedback with a bona fide intent to
    improve performance.
  3. Good managers do offer feedback on issues the employee can control.
  4. Good managers darn well better offer feedback in private.
  5. Good managers do use feedback to reward good behavior and correct the unacceptable.

If the Dos list doesn’t work for you, we have a Don’ts list too:

Don’ts

  1. Good managers don’t let feedback get personal.
  2. Good managers don’t let feedback get generalized beyond the specifics of the problem.
  3. Good managers don’t let the situation get out of hand before they offer corrective feedback.
  4. Good managers don’t give comments on issues the employee
    can’t control.
  5. Good managers don’t make feedback feel like a verbal attack.

Feedback on behavior is more than a management tool. It’s the fundamental way people learn to participate and cooperate in society, and that includes such micro-societies as accounting firms and finance departments.

So, please, do give your feedback some thought, and don’t get it wrong.

NEXT QUESTION: How hard are you working? Join the survey. Get the results.

COMMENT: Questions, ideas, rants or raves? Send an e-mail to Rick Telberg.

3 Responses to “Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Giving and Taking Feedback”

  1. Lynn M

    Review results should never come as a surprise good or bad. Reviews aren’t meant to be like the Academy Awards “….and the 5-star review goes to Jim! We never told you all year long how great you were, but we’re telling you now!”
    and “Sorry, Steve, you get the 3-star review because you missed half your deadlines and came in late every day! We avoided confronting you all year, but don’t worry, we saved it all up for this nice, tidy document!”

  2. Renee La Chat

    Hi Rick,

    This is my two cents for performance reviews:

    Whatever is said in the performance reviews should not be the first time that the employee is hearing it especially (and I mean especially) if it is a criticism. What is said in performance reviews should never be a surprise to the employee.

    Thanks
    Renee La Chat
    Director of Finance
    Tahoe Mountain Club
    Truckee, CA

  3. Sue

    The person whose comment you printed who claimed that the review process was purely political must be very unhappy at his/her job. I suggest they find work elsewhere. I don’t believe that person’s view of the review process is realistic. Reviews are meant to be a vehicle for self improvement and to ensure the firm can provide the best possible products to its clients.

    Reviews are not easy for managers. Besides being time consuming, reviewing people who think that there is no intrinsic value to the process is difficult for managers. Any constructive criticism that person receives would be taken personally and probably ignored. They have lost a chance to improve themselves, their team and their firm and created a personal rift with the manager.

    You should consider issuing rules for the “good employee” to follow regarding feedback and reviews. First on the list should be that they not take the constructive criticism as a personal attack. It’s easy to get defensive and hard to improve oneself. The review notes and other comments noted during each engagement is a mini-review of a person’s work. Mistakes happen but if you kept a copy of the review notes you might see a pattern emerging regarding errors made – a pattern that your manager surely has noticed. Fix it and take credit for self improvement.