Preparing your annual reviews? Here’s what NOT to do.

By: Rich Walburg

It’s time for annual reviews. We’re not here to tell you how to coach your employees. But we CAN help with what not to do.

Cincinnati-based LPK, the global brand design and innovation consultancy, is opening Cans of Feedback. Aligning with LPK’s core value of “keeping it real,” Cans of Feedback offer cheekily named, fully designed cans that illustrate the various types of horrible and non-perishable feedback.

LPK’s Cans of Feedback include these types of poor feedback:

• Dear John – steeped in sympathy and sorrow.

• The Ghost – containing zero feedback…marinating in chilly silence.

• Leap Frog – small batch feedback direct to your manager’s inbox.

• Mind F*ck – open ended with hints of something ominous. Great before weekends and vacations.

• The Moth – spirals slowly around the point.

“Delivering feedback is difficult and that’s why it’s often done badly,” said Nathan Hendricks, LPK’s chief creative officer and the mildly dented mind behind Cans of Feedback. “By collecting, condensing and canning the various methods of feedback, we can learn to give more valuable feedback and receive it with better understanding.”