HOW DO YOU ELICIT FEEDBACK
FROM YOUR TEAM ABOUT
YOUR PERFORMANCE?
;
“I approach people
when something
seems amiss.
Employees respect
someone who wants
honesty. I often
speak to people
in their offices—it
helps them feel
more comfortable.
We also have an
SVP of people,
who can report on
things weekly.”
;
RICHARD
WEISSMAN
Co-founder, chairman,
and CEO, the Learning
Experience (education)
2017 RANK NO. 3,972
GROWTH 72%
REVENUE $56.5M
;
“We ask new employees for honest
feedback about the
onboarding program. I gather intel
from anonymous
surveys twice a year
and monthly open-forum meetings with
specific teams. And
I’m looking to start
‘lunchtime chats’
with small groups.”
;
CHRISTINA
URQUHART
Founder and CEO,
Charm City Concierge
(real estate)
2017 RANK NO. 4,792
GROWTH 46%
REVENUE $9M
;
“As part of the weekly
or monthly check-ins I have with the
leadership team, I
ask if they have any
feedback about
what I’m doing. It’s
scary to ask how
you’re doing—and
sometimes challenging to hear—
but so helpful. For
example, one of our
new board members
recently gave me
feedback on how to
make better use of
my time with the
board, and our latest
meeting was the
best ever.”
;
ROSS GORDON
Founder and CEO,
Mystery Tackle Box
(consumer products &
services)
2017 RANK NO. 435
GROW TH 1,013%
REVENUE $9.7M
;
“Asking your team
how you’re doing
can show a lack of
self-confidence.
Team members
value a leader’s
ability to pick up
on body language.
Even with a 300-
member operation,
I’ve found there are
ways to work closely
enough with team
members that
there’s no need to
ask for feedback.”
;
LIOR RACHMANY
Founder and CEO,
Dumbo Moving +
Storage (logistics &
transportation)
2017 RANK NO. 3,261
GROWTH 98%
REVENUE $14.2M
Advice from the founders of America’s fastest-growing companies. ; AS TOLD TO KATE ROCK WOOD
Rankings and data
are taken from the
2017 Inc. 5000:
Growth is calculated
from 2013 to 2016;
revenue is from 2016.
“We use SurveyMonkey about four times a year to take a pulse check on the culture and the performance of management. Also, as painful as they may be to read, the posts on Glassdoor are incredibly useful. The best performance review I get as the CEO is from our Glassdoor page. There’s even a CEO rating, which I pay close attention to.”
;
JENNIFER PROSEK Founder and CEO, Prosek Partners (advertising & marketing)
2017 RANK NO. 3,708 GROWTH 81% REVENUE $31.5M
54 ; INC. ; JULY/AUGUST 2018 ; ; ; ILLUSTRATION BY TOMMY PARKER
R