People · Organising to Scaling
The performance review
You hold a conversation about someone's work where nothing comes as a surprise and everything ends up on paper.
Worth reading first: A role with a purpose, The A-player matrix, The one-to-one
Does this sound familiar?
- You dread the round of reviews, and so do your people.
- You fill in the form the night before, on gut feeling.
- In the review they say they don't agree with you, and you're not sure where to go from there.
- Six months later nobody remembers what was agreed, and there's nothing on paper.
Who it's for, and when
For founders and managers who sit down with each employee once or twice a year to look back, and for whom that's currently an hour of gut feeling. It comes into play once you no longer work alongside everyone yourself and someone else judges your people's work. It only works once there's an agreed role and you've had one-to-ones in between.
The model
A performance review looks back on the work once or twice a year, in two directions: how are they doing, and what do they need, from you as well? It isn't an appraisal. An appraisal has consequences for pay or contract, and you hold that one separately. Say beforehand which of the two it is, or they'll spend the whole hour defending themselves.
You measure against the agreed role (the lesson A role with a purpose): the purpose, the outcomes, the behaviour and the bar. Nothing that comes up here is new. You've already given the compliment and raised the irritation in a one-to-one (the lesson The one-to-one). This conversation puts it all side by side, looks ahead and gets it in writing.
This lesson is a playbook, not a new skill. Listening until you really understand them is the lesson Digging deeper. Saying something difficult is The difficult conversation. What to do with someone who hits their numbers but doesn't fit is in The A-player matrix.
Based on the Dutch review cycle: a planning meeting, a performance review and an appraisal. The bar comes from Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street (2008): a role with a purpose, outcomes and competencies.
0 to 5 minutes: opening
Say what kind of conversation it is: about the work, not about pay. Say how long it'll take and that they go first. 'We've got an hour. Your view first, then mine, and we'll finish with agreements that I'll write up for you.'
5 to 20 minutes: their view
They go through their preparation. You ask follow-up questions and summarise until they say 'yes, exactly', before you say anything of your own.
Digging deeper20 to 40 minutes: your view, against the role
For each outcome, what you saw, with one example. Then the behaviour and the core values. Where you see it differently, work out where the difference lies (see Apply it).
A role with a purpose40 to 55 minutes: looking ahead
What will they do over the next six months, what do they need from you, and does anything change in the role? Every agreement gets a name and a date.
55 to 60 minutes: closing
Read the agreements out loud. Say when they'll get the write-up and that they can add their own response to it.
Pitfalls
Everyone's 'good'
If you tell everyone the same thing, you tell them nothing. Your best people don't feel seen and start looking around, and whoever needs to change doesn't hear it.
The form becomes the conversation
You go through the questions one by one and look at your screen instead of at them. The form is your preparation. In the conversation you follow the blocks.
Watch and read
A Flemish HR consultant answers a managing director's question about how to structure the review, from preparation to agreements. In Dutch.
Watch on YouTubeA step-by-step guide for a manager doing it for the first time: preparing, the conversation itself and what you do afterwards.
Watch on YouTubeThree minutes on what to do when the employee gets defensive or emotional about what you say.
Watch on YouTubeRead
Who: The A Method for Hiring
Geoff Smart en Randy Street · 2008 · ISBN 9780345504197
The chapter on the scorecard: the role you measure against in the review. The same book as in the lesson A role with a purpose.
View the bookBeter functioneren en beoordelen
Geert Haentjes · 2003 · ISBN 9789058712431
A slim Dutch book on the conversation between manager and employee, and the difference between a performance review and an appraisal. Not new any more, but clear. Only available in Dutch.
View the bookApply it
- 1
Make sure the role is agreed
Purpose, outcomes, behaviour and the bar, agreed by you. If it isn't there yet, have that conversation first.
A role with a purpose - 2
Book an hour, and send the form a week ahead
Make clear it's a performance review and not an appraisal. They fill in their side, you fill in yours. The form is below, under the examples.
- 3
Reread your notes from the one-to-ones
Want to say something you've never said before? Then say it before the review, or leave it out.
- 4
Run the review in the five blocks
Opening, their view, your view against the role, looking ahead, closing. Stick roughly to the times: if their view runs over, there's no time left for agreements.
- 5
If they disagree, find where the difference lies
Let them finish first and summarise. Then ask: is it about what happened, about the yardstick, or about the judgement? If it's the facts, look them up together. If it's the yardstick, the role wasn't sharp enough, and that's your part; sharpen it and measure from now on. If it's the judgement, say you see it differently, write down both views, and agree how you'll measure it together over the coming months.
- 6
Write it up and have it signed
Within two working days. They read it, can add their response and sign it as read; you sign too. It goes in their personnel file. Set a reminder for the date of the first agreement.
Examples
Ready to use: the form for the employee
A week ahead, five questions. 1. Which outcomes in your role went well? Give an example for each. 2. Where did you get stuck, and why? 3. What do you need from me or from the team? 4. What do you want to learn or take on over the next six months? 5. Does your role still match the work you do?
Ready to use: your preparation
For each outcome in the role: what did you see, with one dated example. The behaviour and the core values: where did you see them, and where not? One thing they should keep and one thing that has to change. What you could have done over the last six months to help them. Put your notes from the one-to-ones next to it: if something in your preparation isn't in there, it'll be news to them.
When they disagree: how it sounds
You: 'On the schedule, I saw the crew standing around waiting on a Monday in three of the eight weeks.' Them: 'That was the supplier, not me.' You: 'So the delivery came late, and that threw the schedule out?' Them: 'Yes. I only hear on Friday.' You: 'Your role says crews start on Monday with no waiting time. What would you have needed to make that happen, even with that supplier?' Them: 'To know on Thursday.' You: 'Then we'll write down: you chase the supplier on Thursday, and I'll arrange with purchasing that they let you know. In four weeks we'll look at the waiting time together.'
Ready to use: what goes in the write-up
The date and who was there. For each outcome, one or two sentences on how it went, with an example. Their view, where it differs from yours. The agreements: who, what and when. Whether the role changes. What doesn't go in: impressions of their character, and anything that wasn't said in the conversation. At the bottom you both sign; they sign it as read, not as agreed, and their response belongs with it. If you later need to start an improvement plan, what's recorded here is what counts.
An A-player
The looking-ahead block becomes the longest: what do they want to learn, where do they want to go, and what work can they take over from you? Someone who only ever hears 'keep it up' has nothing to work towards.
Do this in your own business
Everything up to here is free. What you fill in for your own business, you keep in Boldcaster.
- Go to Performance reviews. The employee fills in their self-reflection first, then you. The role, core values, job goals and KPIs are shown alongside. Choose the type when you schedule it. Salary only appears in an appraisal.
- You look back on a situation from your own work. Only you can read what you write.
- You set a date with yourself, and on that day the app asks how it went.
- You assign the lesson to your team and see who has done it.
- The quiz counts towards your progress, and you see which lesson comes next.
Four weeks free. You'll land straight in this lesson.
Quiz
6 situations. You need 5 of 6 right. You can try again at any time.
1.In the review you tell an employee they're late with quotes. They look surprised: nobody had told them. What went wrong?
2.You have a clear picture of how the last six months went, and you want to keep the review short. How do you start?
3.You think their scheduling is below the bar. They think it was down to the supplier. What do you do?
4.They disagree with one point in the write-up and won't sign it because of that. What do you do?
5.Your best salesperson has been hearing 'going well, keep it up' for two years. What's the risk?
6.The review is booked in two weeks' time, but there's no agreed role yet. What do you do?
Nothing is saved here. In the app, the quiz counts towards your progress.
Read next
- Founder mode · You choose, topic by topic, whether you get hands on or let go, and you say why and until when.
- The difficult conversation · You name behaviour that doesn't fit, once and clearly, without tearing anyone down.
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