Around this time of year, something familiar starts to happen. Calendars fill up with “performance conversations,” managers start scheduling reviews, and we all quietly wonder: "What are they going to say about me?" For some of us, that curiosity comes with excitement. For others, anxiety. And for a few… complete surprise.

Annual review season is basically feedback season. And while reviews are important, they also expose a problem: if you genuinely don’t know what feedback you’re going to get, that’s a system failure. Not a personal failure. A system one.

So I wanted to write about feedback loops now, before reviews fully kick off. Because the goal isn’t just to survive this year’s review. The goal is to make sure this is the last year feedback ever surprises you.

Tip of the Week: Don’t treat your annual review as the main event. Use it as the starting point to create a feedback system.

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The Theory Behind

Feedback is the raw material of growth. If we think about ourselves as evolving products (which, in our careers, we kind of are), then feedback is user data. It tells us what’s working, what’s confusing, and what needs improvement. High-performing products iterate quickly because they get constant input. High-performing professionals do the same. Without feedback, we’re just guessing. And guessing is a slow way to grow.

Most feedback systems are broken. In theory, we get feedback in annual reviews, mid-year check-ins, and the occasional comment in a meeting. In reality, it’s inconsistent, filtered, and often too late to be useful. We also tend to be weirdly un–customer obsessed about our own growth. We wouldn’t build a product with one survey a year, yet we’re fine running our careers that way. No wonder feedback feels scary—it’s rare, heavy, and loaded.

Micro feedback loops beat big moments. The faster the cadence, the safer and more useful feedback becomes. This is why many frameworks emphasize closing loops quickly. For instance, in the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) framework, teams end every meeting by rating it and giving feedback. Not once a quarter. Every meeting. The idea is simple: normalize feedback by making it small and frequent. When feedback is built into everything you do, it stops being emotional and starts being operational.

What I’ve Learned

One of the best managers I ever had started every 1:1 the same way. His first question was always: “On a scale from 1 to 10, how satisfied are you right now with your job?” Then he’d pause. And whatever number I gave, he’d follow up with: “Why not a 9 or 10?” At first, I thought it was weird. A little awkward. Maybe even cringey. But it was incredibly effective. Because the conversation immediately became about what wasn’t working and how to improve it. He was basically asking for feedback on the experience of working with him... every single week.

You might find this cringey. The EOS example too. That’s okay. They still work. The way I see it, on one end of the spectrum, you have annual feedback. On the other end, you have feedback after every meeting. Somewhere in between is your sweet spot. My belief is simple: the closer you move toward faster feedback, the more control you gain over your growth. You don’t need to copy anyone. You just need a cadence. And the tighter that loop, the fewer surprises you’ll have.

Make It Happen

Here’s a simple way to turn feedback from an event into a system:

1. Extract themes from your annual review. When you get your review, don’t just read it... mine it. Pull out 2–3 recurring themes or growth areas. These become your focus.

2. Add one feedback question to every 1:1. For example: “How am I doing on X?” or “What’s one thing I could do better in our collaboration?” Same question, every week.

3. Use the “why not a 10?” approach. At least once a month, ask your manager, direct reports, or stakeholders: “What would make this a 10?” It’s simple. It’s powerful. And it surfaces things early.

4. Run micro-retros on projects. After finishing something, ask: What worked? What didn’t? What should we change next time? Keep it light. Keep it short.

5. Log feedback somewhere visible. Doc, Notion, notes app - doesn’t matter. The point is to track patterns. Feedback only compounds if you remember it.

6. Close the loop. This is the magic. When someone gives you feedback, follow up later with: “Hey, I took your advice and did X.” This builds trust and encourages more honesty next time.

7. Borrow one system that feels slightly uncomfortable. Maybe it’s the EOS meeting score. Maybe it’s the 1–10 question. If it feels a bit awkward, it’s probably working.

Feedback isn’t a threat. It’s a tool. And like any tool, it works best when it’s part of your system, not a once-a-year surprise.

Feedbackly,

Jorge Luis Pando

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