Why year end feedback does not make sense.

Most organizations have a feedback / appraisal session between the manager and his employee at the end of the performance year. Its the much dreaded time of the year, most managers and employees are stressed out at the prospect of writing and discussing how the year went by.....The HR manager would have done the mandatory process training and spent a hour or so on "how to give and write feedback", and managers would have attended this workshop feeling "easier said then done".......

The reason I think most people feel stressed out about giving feedback is due to the fear of being opposed / not liked / or seen as critical. If one has not been in the habit of having a regular rhythm with their team to review work and performance, then the end of the year exercise will most definitely be a stressful time as its like "breaking the surprise".

Its humanly impossible to remember what the person did during the last 12 months if regular reviews were not there to track progress, achievements and misses, and especially if one manages a large team and the manager has not kept notes or track then it would mostly be a discussion on recent events which is unfair to the employee.

Year-end feedback session is a wrap up exercise of what has already been discussed and achieved. It cannot be a postmortem of how things went or revealing the climax of sorts.

If the culture of regular feedbacks has been missing, most definitely year-end appraisals are a time for stress and heart-burn. One important aspect which we miss is also about focusing on building trust, we know that its always easier to take feedback and give feedback where there is trust between people.

Here’s wishing all those who have the tough job of giving and taking feedback all the best! J