Comments on: Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Giving and Taking Feedback http://cpatrendlines.com/2009/07/27/ten-dos-and-donts-for-giving-and-taking-feedback/ Actionable Intelligence for the Tax, Accounting and Finance Community from Bay Street Group LLC Wed, 23 May 2012 22:03:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Lynn M http://cpatrendlines.com/2009/07/27/ten-dos-and-donts-for-giving-and-taking-feedback/comment-page-1/#comment-545743 Lynn M Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:08:35 +0000 http://cpatrendlines.com/?p=4121#comment-545743 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!" 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!”

]]> By: Renee La Chat http://cpatrendlines.com/2009/07/27/ten-dos-and-donts-for-giving-and-taking-feedback/comment-page-1/#comment-545739 Renee La Chat Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:20:24 +0000 http://cpatrendlines.com/?p=4121#comment-545739 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 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

]]> By: Sue http://cpatrendlines.com/2009/07/27/ten-dos-and-donts-for-giving-and-taking-feedback/comment-page-1/#comment-545738 Sue Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:25:02 +0000 http://cpatrendlines.com/?p=4121#comment-545738 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. 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.

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