Thread by @lennysan

Performance review season is fast approaching, so I thought I’d share some advice for managers about structuring your performance conversations. This is a system I’ve evolved over many years, which has been called both “legendary” and “fun”. 😳

Thread 👇

docs.google.com/document/d/1SX…

1/ 👩‍💻Start with the template above: No matter what your org suggests, I recommend sticking to this format each cycle and pasting it into the official system later. Your reports will appreciate the consistency, and you’ll appreciate sanity.

2/ 🤝 Intro: I start each conversation lightening the mood (people are always nervous being judged), then give an overview of the agenda, and last sharing how seriously I take performance conversations, spending many many hours preparing in order to best help them succeed.

3/🥇 Rating: This is the main thing on people’s mind and I find people don’t fully pay attention until they know how they did. Thus I always start by sharing it early on. I then quickly move forward, noting we’ll now talk why this rating.

4/ 💪 Accomplishments: Next, I detail the person’s accomplishments over the course of the period we are covering. No matter how the period turned out, you went the person to feel good during this part. I like to also include a sampling of the best positive peer feedback here.

5/ 🦸‍♀️ Superpower: I then highlight a super-strength of the directs, something they are much better at than most anyone else. For example, communication, execution, hustle. This gives your report a foundation to build on when developing new skills or addressing challenges.

6/ 🤔 High level feedback: Next, I take a step back and summarize the reports performance as a short narrative, in 4-8 sentences. Connect the arc of where they’ve come from, how they did this cycle, and what they need to focus on next. This then transitions into...

7/ 🧠 Development areas: Identify 1-2 development areas to focus on for the next cycle. Selecting these is absolutely critical, and hard to summarize here, but a good rule of thumb is to pick the things that are *most* holding the person back from the next level.

8/ 🧐 Details of development areas: This is where most of the work and conversation goes. Within each development area, include:
* Concrete examples of this not going well, w/ peer feedback examples
* Concrete suggestions for improving
* What “killing it” would look like
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9/ ⌛️ Timeline: Before wrapping up, always give your report a sense of how far they are from the next level. Be conservative, don’t overpromise.

10/ 💰Compensation: Last, share any compensation updates. This normally ends things on a happy note. Then open it up to questions and closing thoughts.

11/ 🧗‍♂️ The most important part: Create an action plan. Over the next week, ask your report to fill out a simple spreadsheet listing out the concrete things they want work on, with a color-coded-status. No more than 10. Align on the list, turn these into monthly coaching sessions.

12/ How do you get peer feedback The simplest process is to email 3-6 people that regularly interact with your report and ask “What are three things this person is doing well”, and “What are three things this person can improve”.

13/ How do you use peer feedback? This is where many people go astray. Peer feedback is just one input. You need to make your own conclusions about the person. In certain roles (eg PM), people won’t always like you. Many times that’s ok. It’s your job as manager to judge.

14/ A few final tips:
* I usually send this doc out a few hours before our chat. It gives more time to focus on the important stuff.
* As much as possible avoid the performance rating being a surprise. Your report should generally know how they are doing through regular chats.

Note: I'll elaborate a bit more about all of this in a blog post I plan to write, but this framework evolved from a format my all-time-best manager, Vlad, originally used (he's not on Twitter).