Why I Stopped Doing Performance Reviews on Calendar Quarter
Quarter-end reviews put a manager's 8 reviews in the same two weeks, and the last ones go lazy. Hire-date reviews fix it, if the owner holds the raise pool.
Angle
Performance
9 posts
The manager your dashboard can't see
His metrics were strong and his team hit plan, yet the people under him kept leaving. Why the most expensive bad manager is the one who looks good on paper.
Two Words That Killed Performance Reviews
'Meets expectations.' Nearly every employee got it, because the alternative cost the manager a conversation nobody wanted to have.
The Quiet Director
She shipped on time every quarter for two years. At her review, the CEO called her 'not visible enough.'
When Everyone Passes, the Review Failed
Forty-seven reviews. Forty-three 'meets,' four 'exceeds,' zero 'below.' The cycle was a calibration exercise that had stopped calibrating.
Your best people don't quit over money
She didn't leave for a raise. She left because she'd spent a year and a half working around one person, and the math finally stopped working for her.
The PIP Nobody Believed
Sixty days of check-ins and three signed documents produced an outcome the team called on day one. The plan wasn't improvement — it was a record for the file.
The top performer who was breaking the team
His numbers were twice anyone else's. So was the rate at which his teammates were quietly interviewing elsewhere.
The manager who couldn't fire anyone
He gave the same person the same feedback for fourteen months. The team learned that consequences were a rumor.