What Wrapping Paper Do You Use For Tough Love?

It’s December 12th. You can practically smell the holiday break.

But there is one thing standing between you and that final "Out of Office" auto-reply: The End-of-Year Review.

If you are like most small agency owners I know, you are probably trying to find a way to wiggle out of it. You might be telling yourself:

• "We’re a small team, we talk every day. We don’t need a formal meeting."
• "I give them feedback in the moment when they mess up. They know where they stand."
• "Formal reviews are for big, soulless corporations. We’re a 'cool' agency."

Let’s get real for a second. You aren’t avoiding reviews because you’re "cool." You’re avoiding them because you’re gun-shy.

It is easy to tell a designer, "Hey, you used the wrong hex code on this asset." It is much, much harder to sit across from someone you like and professionally deconstruct their entire year of work without it feeling like a personal attack. You worry that you won't be good at it, so you default to "informal feedback"...

...which usually just means "vague."

But vague feedback doesn't help your agency grow. It just leaves your best people wondering if they have a future with you, and your struggling people unaware they’re sinking.

The Fix: Stop "Judging" and Start "Describing"

The reason reviews feel scary is that you think you have to be a judge. You don't. You just need to be a mirror.

To do this effectively (and painlessly), I recommend an approach called the SBI Model. It stands for Situation-Behavior-Impact. It removes the "opinion" from the conversation and focuses on facts.

Here is how to use it during your reviews this month:

1. Situation (Set the Scene) Be specific about when and where something happened. Avoid "always" or "never."

• Bad: "You've been checking out lately."
• Good (SBI): "During the client kickoff call last Tuesday..."

2. Behavior (Describe the Action) Describe exactly what they did or said. This must be observable. If you can't record it on a camera, it's not a behavior: it's an interpretation.

• Bad: "You were disrespectful."
• Good (SBI): "...you interrupted the client three times while they were giving feedback on the logo concepts."

3. Impact (Explain the Result) This is the most important part. Explain why it mattered. How did it affect you, the team, or the client?

• Bad: "Don't do that again."
• Good (SBI): "...The client shut down and stopped sharing their ideas because they felt unheard. That puts the retainer at risk."

When you use SBI, you aren’t attacking the person; you are discussing a specific event. It lowers the temperature in the room. It turns the conversation from "You are a bad employee" to "This specific behavior is causing this specific problem- how do we fix it?"

Suddenly, you aren’t playing "Big Corporate Boss." You’re just a leader helping your team calibrate their engine.

Your Homework

Don’t let this year end with a pat on the back and a generic "Good job!" Your team deserves better, and frankly, your business needs better.

1. Book the meetings. Yes, put them on the calendar. 45 minutes each.
2. Prep one SBI example for each person, with one area where they crushed it (positive impact) and one where they need to adjust (negative impact).
3. Download the cheat sheet.

If you want the full breakdown of the SBI model- including a worksheet you can literally print out and take into the meeting with you- grab the free guide below and skip to page 21.

A TL;DR from the CRO

Thanks for coming to your performance review so prepared: I definitely appreciate cod skin treats!

-Roman Noodles, Chief Ruff Officer

Refreshed From the Archive: Stop Missed Deadlines, Scope Creep, and Chaos: The Agency Owner's Guide to Executing Strengths

Executing Strengths are the ones that keep client relationships focused, retain revenue, and prevent your Account Managers, Creative Directors, and Project Managers from running your agency straight into the ground or off into the clouds. Here’s how they show up in the day-to-day reality of running a marketing agency and how to use them to stop operational bleeding. Read more...​

ROCK TUMBLING UPDATE

I recently started some Black Obsidian and Labradorite in the tumbler and seven days later is when I usually move them from Stage 1 to Stage 2. Going in to Rock Hudson, the black obsidian looked hella dope- sharp, uniformly black, crazy angles.

When I put the Labradorite in to Rock Lobster, they were...whatever. Some faint translucency, but meh. 3/5.

However, the labradorite after 7 days was SO cool. The translucency was super pronounced so when you shift it in the light, it shines like a holographic Trapper Keeper. I can't wait to see how it changes through the next three stages. You can see the rough labradorite against the 7 days of Stage 1 tumbling above.

The black obsidian, after 7 days, was...forgettable. Generic round black rock. It lost what made it unique. We'll see if it shines up nice in the later stages, but I'm a little disappointed.

What a thrilling performance review season this is for rocks.

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A little shinier after every performance review,

Dan from Learn to Scale​

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​PS. Did you know that the secret to organization...is a Trapper Keeper?​