Your Annual Review Is Already Too Late

TL;DR: Waiting for an annual performance review means feedback often arrives long after it could have changed the outcome. Nicole Hollar, behavior change keynote speaker and coach, compares it to a football team waiting until the end of the season to watch game film—and looks at what happens when teams review constantly, adjust quickly, and make feedback part of how they improve.

Football teams don’t wait until January to find out what went wrong in September. They review game film after every single game, sometimes after every quarter, because waiting until the end of the season to identify a pattern means you’ve already played the whole season making the same mistake. Most workplaces do the opposite. They hand out one formal review a year, often tied to a raise or a promotion, and call that “feedback.”

The data backs up what this feels like from the inside. Gallup research has found that only 14% of employees strongly agree their performance reviews inspire them to improve—and separately, that 80% of employees who received meaningful feedback within the past week are fully engaged at work. The gap between those two numbers isn’t about whether feedback works. It’s about timing. Feedback that arrives eleven months after the moment it was relevant isn’t really feedback anymore. It’s an autopsy.

“In Logged In, Checked Out,” I write about this directly: don’t wait for a year or more to receive or give feedback. Seek it periodically from peers, supervisors, and the people who report to you. Occasional, low-level feedback gives everyone a chance to improve, shows genuine interest in growth, offers a boost of real-time praise, and lets small concerns get aired before they solidify into annual-review surprises nobody saw coming. Except everyone did, they just never said anything.

Awareness must come before adjustment

This connects to the first principle in Hollar’s Potter’s Wheel™: Awareness—I see it. A football team can’t adjust to a problem in their offensive line if nobody watches the film until the season’s over. The same is true for a communication habit, a missed deadline pattern, or a leadership blind spot. Awareness only helps if it arrives close enough to the behavior to change it.

Asking for feedback is an act of ownership, not weakness

There’s a version of professionalism that treats asking “how did that go, honestly?” as exposing a vulnerability. It’s the opposite. Proactively asking for feedback, instead of waiting for it is you taking ownership of your own growth rather than outsourcing it to a calendar reminder from HR.

Step away from the canvas periodically

I encourage people to check in with themselves the way an artist steps back from a canvas: Am I committing to being my best self? Am I listening to what others are telling me? Does my contribution move the needle? These aren’t questions that belong in a once-a-year form. They’re questions worth asking on a rhythm you set for yourself, regardless of whether your organization ever changes its review cycle.

For leaders specifically, this is where a genuine feedback culture becomes a competitive advantage rather than an HR initiative. Teams that review like they’re trying to win the next game, not just survive the season, adjust faster than the ones waiting for January.

Questions for Reflection

1. What's a piece of feedback you're currently sitting on, for yourself or someone else, that's losing value the longer you wait to say it?
2. When did you last ask for feedback instead of waiting for it to be delivered to you?
3. If you reviewed your own performance the way a football team reviews game film, what would this week's footage show you?

Frequently Asked Questions

Why don't annual performance reviews work?

They arrive too long after the behavior they're meant to address, which strips out the specificity and immediacy that make feedback useful. Gallup research has found that only a small fraction of employees say annual reviews inspire them to improve.

How often should feedback happen instead?

There's no universal number, but the principle is proximity: feedback is most useful close to the event it's about. Many organizations that have moved away from strictly annual reviews use short, frequent check-ins instead.

How do I ask for feedback without seeming insecure?

Frame it around a specific, recent situation rather than a vague “how am I doing?” Something like “what would have made that presentation land better?” is specific enough to get a useful answer and reads as initiative, not insecurity.