Their detractors say they’re time-consuming, overly focused on negative feedback, don’t provide actionable steps for improvement, and don’t provide a timely feedback loop, making it difficult for employees to improve throughout the year.
What’s needed is more frequent and ongoing feedback to help employees develop and stay engaged in their work.
At Base Creative, we’ve recently started implementing elements of EOS (Entrepreneurial Operation System), having read (and re-read!) the book Traction by Gino Wickman.
One of the most notable changes for our team is the concept of Rocks, which are described as “specific, measurable priorities that will move your organization forward.”
There are three levels of Rock:
- Company Rocks are key actions for the entire company
- Departmental Rocks help achieve goals at the department level
- Individual Rocks are defined by each person, specifically for their role
Company and Departmental Rocks are identified and allocated during quarterly management and team sessions, but to incorporate Individual Rocks, we have amended the structure and regularity of annual reviews.
Reviews have also been aligned with Rock setting sessions so that each team member’s Departmental and Individual Rocks run in parallel.
New review & check-in structure
Annual review
Review last year’s performance and set next year’s expectations and goals. Devise one Individual Rock to move towards achieving these goals within the next 90 days.
Quarterly Rock review & setting, annual progress review
Review last quarter’s Rock, set next quarter’s Rock, and review progress against annual review expectations and goals
Monthly Rock & work progress review
Review progress towards this quarter’s Rock, and review workload, utilisation, productivity, achievements & focus
Weekly check-ins with line manager (optional, depending on seniority or need)
Review, schedule and delegate workload and tasks