Upward feedback

Hi there. I can speak for McK. Appraisal happens every six months and what you described as “upward feedback” is essentially appraisal for your manager or partner, so it happens at same frequency. 

Upward feedback is taken very seriously, especially if your manager or partner is at his/her promotion window. A bad review from you on your manager or partner can have a big impact on his/her career progress. I’ve seen managers unable to get promotion because of one bad reviews from his/her team member.

Hope this helps!

Upward feedback is taken after every project, or every 6 months - whichever is a shorter timeframe.

And yes, upwards feedback is a real thing - and is taken seriously. It helps PLs/Partners improve further. It also helps keep a good degree of checks and balances in the team dynamics.

Just to add some details regarding McK. Formal review happens twice a year for everyone but "upward feedback" is not mandatory (as opposed to a regular one) which means as a consultant you can (and you are highly encouraged to as it is taken into account) provide feedback for a manager or partner but you don't have to.

Hi, I confirm this happens through an anonymous questionnaire twice per year and is taken very seriously for assessing the consultant's performance.

Best,
Antonello

Hello,

Fully agree with Erica for appraisals at the McK perspective. In addition to the formal appraisals that happen every six months, there are also less formal opportunities to provide feedback to managers and partners that you've worked with more frequently. McKinsey is big on feedback, including upward feedback, and so typically you'd have an opportunity to do some feedback with your partner and manager at the end of a project (and even more frequently than that with the manager - I've been on projects where we did feedback every week). Upwards feedback is taken pretty seriously.

Hi there,

At BCG appriasals happen 2x per year AND at the end of every project (so, if you have 6, 1-month projects, you'll get a review at the end of each one).

Upwards feedback is taken very seriously.

Hey there,

Agree with the McKinsey folks here. Two additional points:

1. Upward feedback is extremely important for people to progress at later stages in their career
2. There is some score inflation, which means people really need top scores across the board

Cheers,

Florian

Hi there!

I see a lot of responses for Mck - let me share Bain's upward feedback. It is aggregated and shared with Senior managers and above twice a year. If the person worked on 4 projects, they will get the aggregate anonymous feedback from their 4 teams every 6 months (for all tenures below them, even if they are not directly reporting to them). There is no upward feedback for consultants.

It is quite important indeed, particularly in promotion cycles. Basically, people must “want” to work with you..