I propose ideas to improve the experience of accounting.

Performance evaluations have an obvious problem: most of the information is about something that has already happened.

We spend time reconstructing the past, explaining what went wrong, defending what went right, and rating performance that can no longer be changed. That may create documentation, but it does not always create better performance.

I prefer a different set of questions. Questions focused on what comes next.

What can you do differently in the future? What three things would be exciting to accomplish in the future? What would better look like next time? What support will you need? What will you practice? What will you stop doing?

What The Future. “What” questions about “the Future.”

1. Surprises Aren’t Allowed. If someone is surprised by feedback in a performance evaluation, the feedback arrived too late. Coaching and feedback should happen close enough to the work to still be useful.
2. Lost in Grace. We often soften difficult feedback until its meaning disappears. Kindness and clarity can coexist. Give people enough grace to learn, but enough clarity to know what needs to change.
3. Expired Feedback. Feedback has a shelf life. The longer we wait, the less useful it becomes. Talk about performance while the situation is still available to both people.
4. No Trolling. An evaluation should not become a hunt through the past for every mistake someone has made. The purpose is development, not prosecution.
5. Discontinue “Continue.” “Continue doing what you’re doing” sounds positive but gives a person very little to act on. Be specific about the behaviors and results worth repeating.

HOMEWORK (that you didn’t ask for):

• Read Marshall Goldsmith’s work on feedforward.
• Practice asking WTF questions that create a useful picture of the future.
• Ask: “What’s the best outcome available next time?”

I am a work coach, and accountants are my work. I believe better questions can create a better accounting experience.

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