# Performance Reviews are Broken. 3-Steps for Actionable Feedback > The way we do performance reviews isn't working. Get research-backed tips from Asana's Work Innovation Lab to give—and get—better feedback. Source: https://asana.com/resources/performance-reviews-broken ## Performance reviews are broken. Try these 3-step to get more actionable feedback _This article was originally published on_[Inc.](https://www.inc.com/rebecca-hinds/performance-reviews-are-broken-heres-a-3-step-approach-for-getting-more-actionable-feedback.html) [Performance reviews](https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/microsoft-research-how-to-measure-employee-engagement-thriving.html) are broken. At many companies, they pack a one-two punch—they're fear-inducing, and they're also time sinks. Management guru Bob Sutton has [said](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140206114808-15893932-how-adobe-got-rid-of-traditional-performance-reviews/) that if a typical [performance review](https://www.inc.com/melina-palmer/this-brain-bias-is-affecting-your-employee-reviews.html) were a drug, "it wouldn't be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because it is so ineffective and has so many vile side effects."  ## Gathering more actionable feedback One vile side effect is that performance reviews are often riddled with vague statements that aren't actionable. Unfortunately, this lack of [actionable feedback](https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/leadership-feedback-critiscism-stanford-study.html) can disproportionately impact women. In their study of performance reviews, researchers at Stanford [found](https://hbr.org/2016/04/research-vague-feedback-is-holding-women-back) that during performance reviews, women were more likely to receive vague feedback that lacked specific guidance.  Another problem with performance reviews is that they are almost always 1:1—one person gives feedback to another person. This means that, when all is said and done, the person being assessed is presented with a mishmash of feedback that can be challenging to knit together.  At Asana Labs, where I work, my teammate Joshua Zerkel and I wanted to design a new more actionable, lightweight, and research-backed way for leaders to gather feedback, especially in dynamic climates. We call it the Feedback Switcheroo.  ## The Feedback Switcheroo The Feedback Switcheroo was inspired by the idea that a leader's own team—collectively—is in the best position to co-create actionable feedback for their leader. Your team is a team for a reason.   Here's how the Switcheroo works.  ### 1. Ask each of your team members to submit one action for you to implement A Switcheroo starts with everyone imagining that they are you—their team's leader. Encourage your team members to step into your shoes. Ask them to observe how you interact in meetings. Ask them to look at your calendar to get a full sense of your day-to-day work. Encourage them to reflect on your goals and priorities.  Why is this perspective-taking a critical first step? Research shows that team members and leaders often suffer from what's called "perceptual distance," meaning that your team members probably have different perceptions of your day-to-day work than you do. For example, your team may not know where you spend most of your time. By priming participants to bridge this perceptual distance through perspective-taking, the goal is to inspire more actionable feedback that is informed by actual day-to-day work—not skewed perceptions of work. Then, instruct each of your team members to:  Choose one action that you would like me, your leader, to implement that would help you more effectively execute your work. Ask each of your team members to independently submit the action of their choice. You can use a survey tool to collect these responses.  ### 2. Ask your team members to collectively vote on the top action for you to implement Once you've compiled all the submissions, ask your team members to vote on the top action that they want you to implement. This step is a form of structured brainstorming, which has been shown to be [more effective](https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/seven-steps-to-better-brainstorming) than more common loosely-structured brainstorming. By asking your team members to vote based on all the submissions, you'll limit rigid thinking. We found that when team members were asked to vote on the full pool of ideas, many of them changed their selection because they discovered that one of their teammates submitted an idea that they liked better than their original submission.   ### 3. Choose the winner Last, announce the winner. By selecting only _one_ winner, the goal is to limit information overload so that you'll be able to swiftly implement the one change that's going to have the biggest impact. ## Sharing experiences, not advice We designed the Switcheroo to be fundamentally different from a traditional performance review, so the feedback you receive is likely to be different than the feedback you're accustomed to receiving.   When we ran the Switcheroo, we found that team members wanted their leaders to share their experiences as leaders more broadly with them. Team members didn't want tips, strategies, and resources as much as they wanted to learn directly from their leaders' experiences, through storytelling, workshops, or shadowing opportunities. Some of these submissions included: - Host monthly team workshops to learn more from our leader's experiences. - Share career stories and turning points, and provide words of advice and wisdom. - Organize a shadowing session to understand how our leader tackles strategic challenges. Why is this experiential knowledge-sharing in high demand right now? When you share information or advice with your team, it can often feel transactional—it often does not invite discussion, reflection, or engagement. In contrast, sharing your experiences can trigger highly immersive exchanges that foster greater connection and more humanity. ## Designing feedback for our next era of work The way that we collect feedback needs to be updated for the future of work. The Feedback Switcheroo is designed to help you gather feedback in a way that sets your team up for collective success. As a leader, that's the single most impactful thing that you can do. - [目標](/resources/goals) - [什麼是策略計劃？5 步指南](/zh-tw/resources/strategic-planning) 商業策略 目標 #### 作者 策略規劃是一種流程，業務領導者透過此流程規劃組織成長的願景以及達成目標的方式。策略計劃流程可為您組織的決策、成長和目標提供資訊。策略規劃可協助您清楚定義公司的長期願景，並規劃您的短期目標和工作將會如何幫助您實現這些目標。這反過來又能讓您清楚了解組織的發展方向，並確保團隊將注意力集中在最具影響力的專案上。可以這樣看：如果您的目標和願景是地圖上的目的地，那您的 ... - [什麼是目標與關鍵結果 (OKR)？](/zh-tw/resources/okr-meaning) 目標 #### 作者 如果您經常替團隊或公司設定目標，那麼您可能聽過 OKR 一詞。所謂的 OKR (或稱「目標與關鍵結果」) 是一種設定目標的方法，用以幫助團隊設定可衡量的目標。大部分的公司都有設定目標的習慣，然而只有 16% 的知識型員工表示他們任職的公司確實有效地設定並傳達公司所訂立的目標。您可以嘗試使用 OKR 提升員工對目標設定的參與程度，並幫助您的團隊訂定及達成宏大 ... - [如何設定 OKR](/zh-tw/resources/setting-okrs) 目標 靈感與影響力百寶箱 #### 作者 看到成功的企業，很容易讓人認定是這些企業的核心構想造就了它們現在的地位。Intel 發明了微晶片、Netflix 開創了隨選提供的影片串流，而 Google 則打造了現代化的搜尋引擎。然而，只靠一個構想將讓您僅止於此。真正把雜亂無章的新創公司轉而變為業界領先的企業，通常並不是憑藉他們原創的構想，而是他們的執行。例如，Google 是搜尋引擎的代名詞，但並不 ... - [如何使用長期目標成就大事](/zh-tw/resources/long-term-goals) 目標 專案規劃 靈感與影響力百寶箱 #### 內容撰稿人 當您為工作設想一個理想的未來時，您看到的是什麼景象？也許您會設想自己推出一項新的全球性產品並達到破紀錄的銷售數字，或是成功招聘您領域中最優秀的人才。不過，這些夢想場景雖然很容易想像，但實際達成又是另一回事。這就是長期目標可以提供幫助的地方。 設定長期目標有助於將您的夢想轉變為具體目標，讓您可以有意識地努力實現之。除了幫助您完成困難的事情外，它們也是一種有用 ... - [Performance reviews are broken. Try these 3-step to get more actionable feedback](/zh-tw/resources/performance-reviews-broken) 目標 團隊成長與專注度 工作創新實驗室 行銷 IT 營運 - [Work Innovation Lab 負責人](/author/rebecca-hinds) This article was originally published on Inc.Performance reviews are broken. At many companies, they pack a one-two punch—they're fear-inducing, and they're also time sinks. Manag ...