kohnke

Hi David, interesting to read your post. My name is Bas Kohnke, co-founder/CEO of Impraise (YC Summer 14). We are always looking for new ways to improve our product, so please feel free to reach me at bas@impraise.com if you are willing to share your experience and ideas. Thanks!

Hey I’m Bas Kohnke, YC S14 alum and CEO of Impraise (https://impraise.com), a feedback based performance management solution. Having worked with different types of companies to revamp their performance management processes, I’d be happy to share some of our thoughts and experiences.

Internally, we run quarterly 360 degree reviews based on 3 questions: what should this person, continue, stop, and start doing. Each person comes up with their own goals and projects which they’re evaluated on. In between reviews we share real-time feedback so that people always know where they stand and what they can do to improve - in this way review results are never a surprise. Team leads also hold regular 1-on-1s and check-ins with each team member (at least twice a month).

A few things we’ve learned:

- Simply prompting people to share more feedback isn’t enough. Education on how to formulate actionable feedback and how to take and internalize received feedback is essential for it to actually be effective

- Strengths based feedback[1] is highly motivating

- Reviews should always be followed up with 1-on-1 conversations during which a development plan is formed

- Continuous feedback throughout the year is essential to keep everyone on track and ensure that people aren’t blindsided during reviews

- Continuous and 360 degree feedback can help combat bias[2] in performance reviews

- If reviews are results based, goal-setting should always include equal input from the individual and their team lead

There’s not a one size fits all approach to performance management, yet so many companies try to fit their organization into a standard model. Many companies are now customizing their own processes, picking and choosing the elements that work best for their size, industry, culture and the specific pains they want to solve. For example:

- Ratings vs ratingless reviews

- Anonymity vs non-anonymous reviews

- Reviews linked to compensation decisions vs reviews focused solely on development

- Companies allowing people to choose their own reviewers

- Results vs competency based reviews

For advice on the different performance management trends we’ve seen working, feel free to reach out to us.

[1] https://blog.impraise.com/360-feedback/constructive-feedback...

[2] https://blog.impraise.com/360-feedback/4-factors-hurting-you...

Send me a pm at baskohnke (at) gmail . com. I am Dutch and run a YC start up in SF. Happy to tell you more about the Dutch scene.