Each year millions of line managers do performance reviews with each member of their team. Reviews are tricky, risky, and difficult to run as structured conversations, which is how they have always been run. This deck proposes that managers replace conversations with workshops, which are easier to run, generate more insights, and less likely to cause bad feelings as focus turns from attack-defend to collaborative problem solving.

1. ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW
A TOTALLY NEW WAY TO…
WORKSHOP EVERYTHING

2. Each year millions of line
managers do performance
reviews with each member of
their team

3. Reviews are tricky, risky, and
difficult to run as structured
conversations, which is how they
have always been run

4. This deck proposes that
managers replace conversations
with workshops, which are easier
to run, generate more insights,
and less likely to cause bad
feelings as focus turns from
attack-defend to collaborative
problem solving

5. BEFORE THE SESSION
Setup a 90 minute meeting and
invite 1) the manager, 2) the
team member and 3) one other
participant who knows the team
member well. Nobody needs to
do any prep-work.

6. PART ONE: WHAT IS THE
ROLE (20 min)
Tape some flip chart paper on the wall.
Then, ask the candidate to break
his/her role into 4-6 functions (and add
1 for Misc). Write each function on a
sticky note and align them along the
top horizontally.
As a group, talk about this scope of
work. Is it complete? Which functions
are more important and time
consuming than others?

7. Job: Consulting Partner
People
Management
Sales
Management
Delivery
Management
Admin &
Reporting
Misc

8. PART TWO: WHAT IS
SUCCESS (10 min)
For each function, ask the team
member to define what success looks
like and then discuss quickly. Try to be
quantitative and specific.

9. People
Management
Sales
Management
Delivery
Management
Admin &
Reporting
Job: Consulting Partner
• Engagement Survey
Scores >86%
• Attrition below 7%
• Hit hiring objectives
• Revenue of 20M
• Consulting team
Utilization >84%
• Pipeline quality
• Customer
satisfaction >5.2
• Hit Delivery
Quality metrics
• <3% error rate in
admin data quality
• No delays in
regular reporting
Misc

10. PART THREE: WHAT WENT
WELL PT 1 (7 min)
In the first 7 minutes have each
participant independently (nobody talks
during this time) identify successes
over the last year and write each
success on a post-it note (1 success per
post-it). Each participant should aim for
10-15 post-its. When the 7 minutes is
over, everybody should post their post-
its under the relevant function.

11. People
Management
Sales
Management
Delivery
Management
Admin &
Reporting
Job: Consulting Partner
• Engagement Survey
Scores >86%
• Attrition below 7%
• Hit hiring objectives
• Revenue of 20M
• Consulting team
Utilization >84%
• Pipeline quality
• Customer
satisfaction >5.2
• Hit Delivery
Quality metrics
• <3% error rate in
admin data quality
• No delays in
regular reporting
Misc

12. PART THREE: WHAT WENT WELL
PT 2 (23 min)
As a group, merge similar ideas into common
themes. If not everyone understands a post-
it, stop to clarify.
Then, talk about areas of obvious agreement
as well as outliers (where only 1 of 3
recognized this as a success). You might also
look at why “Misc” occurred.
Finally, look for 1 or 2 items that have low-
hanging opportunities to accentuate a
strength in the next year.

13. People
Management
Sales
Management
Delivery
Management
Admin &
Reporting
Job: Consulting Partner
• Engagement Survey
Scores >86%
• Attrition below 7%
• Hit hiring objectives
• Revenue of 20M
• Consulting team
Utilization >84%
• Pipeline quality
• Customer
satisfaction >5.2
• Hit Delivery
Quality metrics
• <3% error rate in
admin data quality
• No delays in
regular reporting
Misc
Successes

14. PART FOUR: OPPORTUNITIES
TO IMPROVE (30 min)
Go through the exact same exercise
that you just did, but for
opportunities to improve / what
things did not work in the last 12
months

15. People
Management
Sales
Management
Delivery
Management
Admin &
Reporting
Job: Consulting Partner
• Engagement Survey
Scores >86%
• Attrition below 7%
• Hit hiring objectives
• Revenue of 20M
• Consulting team
Utilization >84%
• Pipeline quality
• Customer
satisfaction >5.2
• Hit Delivery
Quality metrics
• <3% error rate in
admin data quality
• No delays in
regular reporting
Misc
Opportunities to Improve

16. That’s it! Good luck!