Conducting Performance Reviews

He was the quiet backbone of the team. On paper? Just “meets expectations.” In reality? Irreplaceable. Recently, I watched a manager freeze when her top performer handed in his notice. It wasn’t just because he was leaving - he had plenty of options. It was because, on paper, he was rated “meets expectations.” That label hid everything that made him essential: the quiet coaching he gave new hires, the long nights keeping a failing project alive, the trust he’d built with customers no one else could calm. All “meets expectations.” And so, when he left, it caught her, and everyone flat-footed. Here’s the truth: Someone six months into a role? Meets expectations. Someone navigating a messy, high-stakes project? Meets expectations. Someone growing faster than their job description can keep up? Still…meets expectations. The way we measure performance makes a bell curve whether we intend it or not. And once people land in the middle, it’s hard to see what makes them matter. That’s why I’ve come to appreciate a question I first heard from Netflix - a question I wish every manager asked before it was too late: “If this person gave notice tomorrow, how hard would you fight to keep them?” It’s the kind of question that slices through the polite language of performance management. It forces you to name who you rely on, who you trust, who you believe in. It exposes the gap between what’s written in a calibration spreadsheet and what you feel in your gut. It sparks the conversations we should be having all along: Not, “did they tick all the boxes?” But, “do we really know what they’re worth, and are we treating them accordingly?” When you ask this question, you start seeing your team differently. Even more importantly, they might finally feel seen. So before your next performance review cycle, I challenge you: Don’t wait until someone’s walking out the door to figure out how much you value them. Have the conversation now. Do the stay interview now. Give the feedback now. Because people don’t leave companies where they feel recognized, invested in, and believed. They leave when they feel invisible behind a label like “meets expectations.” And frankly, we need to start asking ourselves... is the once-a-year performance review even useful anymore? (But ah, that’s a conversation for another post!) For now, at least consider these three take-aways: Stop treating “meets expectations” as the ultimate truth. It’s just a snapshot, not the full story. Stay interviews are more powerful than exit interviews. Don’t wait until goodbye to find out what matters. Performance management should be a mirror AND a flashlight. A mirror to reflect reality - and a flashlight to show the path ahead. Ask the question. Make it part of how you lead. And build the kind of company where your best people don’t just stay. They grow, they inspire, and they never wonder if they’re seen.

Learn from my failure. When’s the last time you walked away from a business review knowing you nailed it? Quarterly reviews? Exec updates? Board meetings? You delivered, and you knew it landed. Not often? I've failed multiple times, including recently. And here's the thing: most reviews/presentations fail before they even start. Not because your content is wrong. Not because you’re unprepared. But because you’re focused on the agenda instead of the goal. The goals of the room. I’m constantly reminded that I can get better at this after every. single. presentation. The truth: they aren’t just about reporting on what’s been done. They’re about building trust, proving impact, and aligning with what actually matters to the business. And the best part? The skills you develop to deliver an effective review aren't just for the exec team, management team, or board meeting. They're the foundation that turns a Director into a CMO. And after my 100000th review, I'm still learning. Here's where I'm at today. A great business review should: 1. Counter assumptions & build credibility – Directly counter any assumptions that important tasks are not being addressed or mishandled. Show that leadership is in control and delivering on priorities. 2. Showcase metrics, not just words – Avoid overemphasizing areas the audience doesn’t value, especially when there are gaps in delivery elsewhere. Data beats anecdotes. Show progress, don’t just talk about it. 3. Invite constructive feedback – Create a venue for stakeholders to suggest areas they feel are overlooked or misprioritized. Alignment doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Bring the room into the process. 4. Make invisible work visible – If stakeholders don’t see it, they assume it’s not happening. Prove them wrong. 5. Demonstrate say-do alignment – “We said we’d do X. We did X. Here’s the result.” Set clear expectations for what will be done and when. So, before any major meeting, I remind myself: THE AGENDA IS NOT THE GOAL. Start with the goals, then shape everything else around it. I've finally built out my template for an effective business review, and I'm happy to share it. But remember, it starts with the goals, not an outline from some random LinkedIn connection. :) I'll also send my longer diatribe on running an effective review. Comment ✅, and I'll send it to you!

Imagine working hard all year, thinking everything's fine. You hardly get any feedback, just occasional praise or suggestions. But then, out of the blue, comes the yearly appraisal meeting. Suddenly, you're bombarded with criticism, caught off guard. It feels demoralizing and confusing. Why weren't you told earlier? Trust falters, and motivation suffers. Sound familiar? Now, imagine a different scenario. Throughout the year, you receive regular feedback - small, yet valuable insights on your performance. Your manager provides guidance, acknowledges your achievements, and points out areas for improvement. You feel supported and encouraged to grow. When the time for the annual appraisal meeting arrives, it's not a dreaded surprise. Instead, it becomes an opportunity to reflect on your progress, discuss goals, and receive constructive input. Trust between you and your manager deepens, and your motivation remains intact. This scenario highlights the importance of regular feedback. When feedback is given consistently, it empowers employees to enhance their performance, make adjustments, and achieve their full potential. It builds a culture of continuous improvement and ensures that annual appraisals become positive and productive discussions rather than demoralizing surprises. Small feedback given regularly is coaching. Big feedback given erratically is an ambush ⭐ If you found this message resonating, share it with your network. Let's start a dialogue on the importance of regular feedback in the workplace. #corporatelife #appraisal #linkedinforcreators #FeedbackMatters #ContinuousImprovement

We all want to reward employees fairly, yet decades of research--and for many people, their lived experience--show that bias persists. In other words, for the same performance, people earn less or more due to managerial error. New research from researchers at our Stanford VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab shows that many interventions are only targeting half the problem. Bias shows up both in how managers describe (view) performance as well as how they reward (value) behaviors. Viewing biases often show up in how performance is described differently based on who is performing it. Men’s approach may be called “too soft,” thus “subtly faulting them for falling short of assertive masculine ideals.” Valuing biases can show up as the same behavior being rewarded when men perform it but not when women do. Examples from the research show that men benefitted when their project specifics were described, whereas women were not. So the same description and behaviors showed up in reviews, but they were only rewarded on men’s. What can be done to curb biases? ✅ Standardize specific guidelines for how managers should view employee behaviors and assign corresponding rewards when giving employees feedback and making decisions about their careers. ✅ Help managers catch bias in both viewing and valuing. ✅ Monitor these impacts from entry level to executive leadership. It turns out that as the criteria shift, so can the way these biases work. A key lesson from our research shows that the work takes discipline, consistency and accountability. These steps may seem like a lot of “extra” work, but at the end of the day, managers also benefit when they weed out biases and fairly promote the most talented employees. Article by Alison Wynn, Emily Carian, Sofia Kennedy and JoAnne Wehner, PhD published in Harvard Business Review. #diversityequityinclusion #performanceevaluation #managerialskills

Behaviors are learned and reinforced. To make performance evaluations more inclusive, you need to proactively craft new practices. 🧠 Unbiasing nudges, intentional and subtle adjustments I craft with my clients, can play a pivotal role in achieving an objective and inclusive performance assessment. 👇 Here is what to consider: 🔎 Key Decision Points Analyze your evaluation process to identify key decision points. In my practice, focusing on assessment, performance goal setting, and feedback processes has proven crucial. Introduce inclusive prompts at each stage to guide unbiased decision-making. 🔎 Common Biases Examine previous reviews to unearth prevailing biases. Halo/horn effects, recency bias, and affinity bias often surface. Counteract these biases by crafting nudges tailored to your organization, integrating them seamlessly into your review spreadsheets. 🔎 Behavioral Prompts I usually develop concise pre-decision checklists tailored to each organization. The goal is to support raters' metacognition and introduce timed prompts during the evaluation process. 🔎 Feedback Loops Begin with small-scale implementation and collect feedback. Compare perceptions of both raters and ratees to gauge effectiveness. 🔎 Ongoing Training Avoid off-the-shelf solutions; instead, tailor training to your organization's unique context and patterns. Your trainer should understand your specific needs and design a continuous training program that reinforces these unbiasing nudges, providing managers with the necessary competencies. 🔎 Pilot and Evaluation Define metrics to measure progress and impact. Pilot your unbiasing nudges and regularly evaluate their effectiveness. Adjust based on feedback and insights gained during the pilot phase. 👉 Crafting inclusive performance evaluations is an ongoing journey. Yet, I believe, it's one of the most important ones. Each evaluation matters as it defines a person's career and sometimes even the future. ________________________________________ Are you looking for more DEI x Performance-related recommendations like this?  📨 Join my free DEI Newsletter:

Every company says they listen to customers. But most just hear them. There's a difference. After spending years building feedback loops, here's what I've learned: Feedback isn't about collecting data. It's about creating change. Most companies fail at feedback because: - They send random surveys - They collect scattered feedback - They store insights in silos - They never close the loop The result? Frustrated customers. Missed opportunities. Lost revenue. Here's how to build real feedback loops: 1. Gather feedback intelligently - NPS isn't enough - CSAT tells half the story - One channel never works Instead: - Run targeted post-interaction surveys - Conduct deep-dive customer interviews - Analyze product usage patterns - Monitor support conversations - Build customer advisory boards - Track social mentions 2. Create a single source of truth - Consolidate feedback from everywhere - Tag and categorize insights - Track trends over time - Make it accessible to everyone 3. Turn feedback into action - Prioritize based on impact - Align with business goals - Create clear ownership - Set implementation timelines But here's the most important part: Close the loop. When customers give feedback: - Acknowledge it immediately - Update them on progress - Show them implemented changes - Demonstrate their impact The biggest mistakes I see: Feedback Overload: - Collecting too much data - No clear action plan - Analysis paralysis Biased Collection: - Listening to the loudest voices - Ignoring silent majority - Over-indexing on complaints Slow Response: - Taking months to act - No progress updates - Lost customer trust Remember: Good feedback loops aren't about tools. They're about trust. Every piece of feedback is a customer saying: "I care enough to help you improve." Don't waste that trust. The best companies don't just collect feedback. They turn it into visible change. They show customers their voice matters. They build trust through action. Start small: 1. Pick one feedback channel 2. Create a clear process 3. Act quickly on insights 4. Show results 5. Scale what works Your customers are talking. Are you really listening? More importantly, are you acting? What's your approach to customer feedback? How do you close the loop? ------------------ ▶️ Want to see more content like this and also connect with other CS & SaaS enthusiasts? You should join Tidbits. We do short round-ups a few times a week to help you learn what it takes to be a top-notch customer success professional. Join 1999+ community members! 💥 [link in the comments section]

Managers often resist performance appraisals—not just because they’re uncomfortable, but because deep down, they feel uneasy about passing judgment on another person’s worth. This insight, drawn from a 1972 Harvard Business Review article, remains just as relevant today. Douglas McGregor argued that traditional performance evaluations put too much power in the hands of managers while treating employees as passive subjects rather than active participants in their own growth. Instead, he advocated for a shift: let employees set their own performance goals, reflect on their progress, and work collaboratively with their manager to course-correct. This approach was groundbreaking then, and it still challenges the way many organizations operate. Despite decades of leadership development, many companies continue to rely on top-down, judgment-heavy appraisals rather than empowering employees to take ownership of their growth. The world looks different today—more remote work, shifting employee expectations, and a stronger focus on autonomy—but the core truth remains: people perform better when they have agency over their own development. Three takeaways for leaders today: (1) Turn Appraisals into Coaching Conversations Instead of judging past performance, help employees define clear, meaningful goals and guide them forward. (2) Shift from Evaluation to Self-Reflection Encourage employees to assess their own progress first. They often hold themselves to a higher standard than managers do. (3) Recognize That People Aren’t Products Performance reviews aren’t about "quality control." Employees aren’t widgets on an assembly line—they are individuals with evolving skills, aspirations, and challenges. McGregor’s ideas may have been ahead of their time, but they still hold a mirror up to how we manage talent today. If leaders want engaged, high-performing teams, they need to stop controlling and start empowering. How do you approach performance conversations in your organization? #performance #collaboration #coaching #teams #leadership #learning #growth #reflection #management #managers #conversations https://lnkd.in/e_tk9_DB

Everyone's a critic, as the old saying goes. As we head into reviews season let's talk about how to give (and get) a review. I used to feel really anxious about reviews. Most people do. It's a normal reflex. Here's a specified time when someone is going to tell you the good and the "bad" of what you're doing. What did I do to cure it? I realized two important things: 1) They're thinking it anyway. Wouldn't you rather someone give you the gift of their perspective than keep silent? You could be walking around with *no idea* about an easy fix you could make to be more effective. Treat the perspective as a gift. Someone is being vulnerable with you and sharing their thoughts. 2) You [probably] already know. If you're anything like me, you're your own fiercest critic. If there's something wrong, 90% of the time I find you already know it. If you don't know, then it's doubly helpful! If you disagree, take a day and see if that changes. If you still disagree the next day, take it with a big grain of salt. -- Now, how to give a great review? 1) Intention matters. If you really want someone on your team to succeed, they can feel it. Make sure they know year round that you're a big fan and are rooting for them if you want a review to be well-received. 2) Appreciation first! Unless someone on your team is really underperforming (in which case, they should already know this before review time!), focus first on all the ways they've been an asset to the team. Don't be shy. Lavish on the praise! 3) Start with a challenge, then leave space for ideas. If there is something you want someone on your team to change, let them take the lead on solutions. Share the challenge in terms of an opportunity. What can they do differently to be more effective? Leave room for them to propose solutions so that they're owning the result. 4) Know their goals. If you know everyone on your team's long-term career goals, you can end on the note of talking about how they can achieve them. Someone on your team wants to be a public company CMO? Help outline the skills they need and how they can gain some of them over the next year. They want a near-term promotion, but this isn't the year? What do they need to do to make it happen? -- How's everyone feeling going into EOY?

Performance conversations should ignite growth, not anxiety. “When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” – Simon Sinek This thought connects deeply when we talk about performance conversations. For years, performance reviews have been framed as verdicts that is evaluative, transactional, and often induces anxiety & stress. But in today’s hybrid and agile workplaces, where collaboration and adaptability define success; we also need to rethink about how we approach them – starting from ground level. ▪️ What if we shift from evaluation method to a developmental method? ▪️ Simply, from “How did you perform?” to “How can we help you grow?” Doesn’t it already sound effective and impressive? Well, great leaders like Peter Drucker reminded me, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Performance conversations, when reimagined, can become exactly that where platforms are to shape the future by investing in people’s potential. In practice, this means: ➡️ Frequent check-ins that replace the one-off annual review. ➡️ Coaching-style dialogues that highlight strengths while guiding growth. ➡️ Clarity with flexibility, recognizing the fluidity of goals in dynamic environments. ➡️ Safe spaces for feedback, where trust fuels progress. The true measure of performance is not just output, but the growth journey behind it. If we, as the leaders, can turn these conversations into catalysts for inspiration, employees won’t just perform — they will thrive. Turlough Gorman Arnabi Marjit Ashutosh Kotwal Sanjay Mishra Bahar Shaikh

Exposing managers to executive reviews early on is essential for developing a deep understanding of senior leadership perspectives on strategy, tactical decision-making, financial frameworks, and broader corporate goals. Here’s why: Typically, QBRs (Quarterly Business Reviews), MBRs (Monthly Business Reviews), and strategic calls are attended primarily by the MD/GM from a GCC perspective. This approach centralizes the responsibility of cascading insights down the chain, with the MD/GM selecting what information to share. However, inviting second and third-line managers to these reviews on a rotational basis can build a more informed and strategically aligned managerial team. This exposure enhances their comprehension of both global and local priorities, fostering leaders who are capable of executing the organization’s strategy with a well-rounded perspective. This approach is equally beneficial when applied to partners and vendors. To truly leverage these relationships, they must be brought into the broader objectives, aligning their contributions to shared goals rather than treating them as one-way transactions. By involving them in relevant strategic conversations, we can build stronger, mutually beneficial partnerships that drive greater value for all parties involved. #LeadershipDevelopment, #ManagerTraining, #StrategicAlignment, #ExecutiveReview, #BusinessStrategy, #GlobalBusiness, #GCCLeadership, #CorporateCulture, #CrossFunctionalCollaboration, #PartnerEngagement, #VendorRelationships, #TeamDevelopment, #OperationalExcellence, #InclusiveLeadership, #BusinessGrowth