Carrington Fisk

Sales. Life. Growth

The Annual Review Needs to Die

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I have had the dubious honor of delivering an Annual Review, you probably dread it each year. Those who receive your reviews awkwardly and meekly walk into your office, sit down across your desk from you, and squirm their way through yet another pointless conversation.

What is it you say you do here?

Pointless? Isn’t it important for employees to be reviewed? What about coaching? Isn’t that important?

Let me tell you a story of two coaching environments. Two different companies, two extremely different sales leaders.

I was consistently #1 in measurable objectives related to sales – month after month after month. I was the go-to person on my team for product questions. My supplier representatives knew that if they needed something to be sold, placed, and anchored I was their guy.

Then I got my review. The review I got told me that I was basically garbage sauce.

Garbage sauce is a term I might have coined (not entirely sure). You could put garbage sauce on the most perfectly seasoned, aged, and cooked steak and guess what? It’s going to taste like garbage.

Me (maybe)

This single, front and back piece of paper was handed to me in the back room of a convenience store.

“Do you have any questions?” my manager asked.

I scanned through my “grades” in several categories. I could feel the heat of anger spreading and knew that it was probably best to make this a short meeting.

“Nope.” I replied, and went back to my task.

“Okay I need you to sign it.”

Sign it I did. After handing his copy back to him, I turned and walked out of the room.

There was no coaching here. It was clearly an obligatory delivery and an obligatory receipt. It was delivered from a person who had not been involved in my performance – good or bad – since the last time I got one of those pieces of paper.

What did it accomplish? You might think it didn’t accomplish anything but it did. That was the day I decided that I was done at that company.

That review was the representation of a toxic culture of finger pointing, complaining, and worthless KPIs.

Compare that scenario to another one. A different company and different sales leader.

There are no documented performance reviews. Two to three times per week I get coached, pushed, and held accountable. I have an opportunity to shape the conversation, ask for help, and soak up years of experience I haven’t had time to obtain.

Take it a step further.

This leader doesn’t just answer questions. I get pushed to talk to other people at the company, to collect experience not just from one place or point of view.

It’s a culture thing.

I am not a recipient of a performance review, I am not required to deliver performance reviews. That does NOT mean I don’t coach my direct reports. That does NOT mean that they aren’t reviewed.

Our culture is a meritocracy where the reviews happen automatically and frequently. Our performance is our review.

It’s time to put these annual reviews to rest. Take the opportunity to get involved on a regular basis with your team members.

More importantly, be a person from whom your team wants coaching.

How can you influence someone on your team, if they question your intent?

If you truly and honestly coach from a place of making your team members better, you will immediately find that your conversations become richer, deeper, and more powerful.

If You Want a Job I Don’t Want You

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My good friend Russ would always say “You can’t soar with eagles if you’re hanging with turkeys.” I’m sure I misquoted it and I think he might have gotten it somewhere. Russ had a stable of one-liners and the confidence to deliver them without remorse.

He’s right. If you desire to change your circumstance, to rewrite your story, to become more, then you absolutely must surround yourself with the right people.

I started a job four years ago. It was just until I figured out my next step. Four years I spent and I developed great relationships with my customers, learned a lot, and developed new skills. It was supposed to be temporary… It wasn’t.

Four years I spent slowly shifting my gaze from up to down. I looked down and watched as I wore the soles off my shoes on my treadmill of a job. I became the grind… I started to commiserate with anyone who would listen. I started to settle. That’s just not me.

I was the kid who “played business” in elementary school. I’m the kid whose favorite encyclopedia was “M” because there in the middle in full grayscale glory, was a spread of all the US currency ever printed. Even at a young age I dreamed of success… a success that isn’t going to come from a job.

I need to feel a passion for what I’m doing. I need to feel my impact. I want to grow, achieve… I want to win. I want to be the best provider for my family. I want to enjoy and believe in what I do.

These are my expectations for my team at Beyond.

If you need a job, you’re not the right fit.

If you need more… if you want a true opportunity… if you are tired of being a cog in a wheel… then this might be the team for you.

Onward and upward my friends. Let’s go Beyond.

 

The Disappearing Annual Raise

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This isn’t news to many, certainly not to me, but the annual routine of granting incremental pay increases is fading away. As job markets continue to tighten for good paying jobs, companies are looking for more impactful ways of rewarding good performance.

The annual raise just doesn’t work. For starters, it’s far too infrequent to make a difference. Once a year based on an often arbitrary review of performance does little to nothing to change the motivation of an employee.

Second, how much is 3% really worth? That’s the average increase for the average employee, with stellar employees receiving an average of less than 5% according to a Bloomberg article written in July 2016. Kiplinger expects the average rate to drop in 2017. If you are making $45,000 per year, what is $1,200 per year really going to do for you?

Our costs keep increasing, and often outpacing the pittance offered in this annual raise. While some companies are fleeing the annual raise model for a more performance based bonus structure, others are doing away with it altogether. The annual raise is not a reward, it’s to keep you from leaving.

A jar of cash on the table.

How many raises do you have left before you retire? I often forget that I am closer to 40 than 30. If I were to count on annual raises to get me to a comfortable retirement, I’d have maybe 20 left if I didn’t get let go for a younger, less expensive model. No thanks, I’d rather own my income – literally.

Where does that leave strong performers? Consider a bank manager or salesperson who grows their center revenue by 5% year after year. Fast forward 10 years and that person, without a significant promotion, is making no more than $15,000 more than when they started.

If $15,000 over 10 years as a pay increase works for you, then stop reading now. While it seems like a lot to some, I promise you that money goes quickly. Apple’s new iPhone is supposedly going to cost over $1,000 and I haven’t met a trip to the grocery store that settles at less than $150.

You need to take control of your income. I left a job for which I was paid well. I had good benefits. Even if the company culture was strong, which it wasn’t, I couldn’t stay. I saw guys 10, 12, 18 years in making only slightly more than when they started. They were treading water for decades and after four years my legs were already tired.

Go where growth is part of the culture. Find a place that hires and promotes from within. My last job hired two outside people for top tier sales positions, ignoring the contributions of internal highly qualified producers.

Be a part of something that matters. This isn’t mandatory by any stretch, but consider this: doing a kindness for a stranger is the best anti-depressant available. Sometimes, even when you’re paid well, have a good culture at work, enjoy what you do… you look for more.

There’s two options, get involved, or join a  movement. Find an outlet for helping people – head up a non-profit event or two, work a soup kitchen line from time to time, volunteer to help those who need it. Another path to take would be to do what I did. Join a company whose mission is about giving back, not just paying out investors. When a great cause IS a shareholder, when the employees ARE shareholders, shareholder primacy starts to make sense.