How to Give Good Feedback

Conversations about performance, on the other hand, are informal and collegial. Associates meet weekly with a colleague to discuss their current project. The firm schedules formal sessions monthly, quarterly, or every six months (depending on the associate's tenure) to discuss the past, present, and future of each person's work. "We have conversations, not appraisals," Allan says. "And these conversations never include discussions of pay. Period."

Glenroy Inc., the Wisconsin manufacturer that burned its employee manuals, has experimented with a more radical approach to pay. Several weeks after the bonfire, it was time for annual performance appraisals and salary reviews. Management was clear: Reviews were on the ash heap of history. But Glenroy did need to figure out what kinds of raises its employees would get. The improved approach? Employees decided their own raises.

Glenroy divided its workforce into peer groups based on job classifications. It was up to those peer groups to set their raises. In most cases, executive vice president Michael Dean reports, the peer groups were tougher than management would have been; the company later had to adjust many of the raises upward. "We treat people like adults," says Dean. "That's the essence of leadership."

5. Always Get Feedback on Your Feedback

One reason candid feedback is so important is that most people are great at self-delusion. It's easy to think we're better at writing software, creating marketing campaigns, or evaluating business plans than we really are. That same talent for self-delusion applies to the art of giving feedback. Bruce Tulgan puts it this way: "There's such a disconnect between managers' impressions of the feedback they give and their employees' impressions of the feedback they get. Most managers need a reality check."

Tulgan has devised a simple technique for creating such a check. He suggests that managers think about the three most recent times they offered feedback to one of their employees. Then, they should write down brief answers to questions about those sessions: What prompted you to give feedback on that matter at that time? Did you check your facts first? What was the substance of the feedback? Was there any concrete action as a result? Next the manager should ask the employee to write down brief answers to the same questions. The comparisons, Tulgan says, make for interesting reading.

"Think of the people who work for you as 'customers' for your feedback," he argues. "Find out whether the feedback you're providing is working for them. If it's not, what's the point?"

Gina Imperato (gimperato@fastcompany.com) is an associate editor at Fast Company.