12 Nov A Better Way of Reviewing Performance
At Talent Suite, we work with organizations of all sizes, and we often hear the same story. As the end of the year approaches, responsibilities start to build. People are taking well-deserved time off during the holidays. Budget meetings and 2025 planning are filling your calendar. You’re planning for your organizational development and envisioning the paths your people will take over the next year.
Amidst all this activity, there’s one more task to manage: performance reviews.
This is the time of year when many articles pop up about how to plan for next year and how to review your team’s progress. But here’s a question worth considering: Is there a better way to handle performance reviews?
Often, we find organizations following a traditional process simply because that’s how it’s always been done. But what if we could rethink this process and make it more meaningful, flexible, and effective for everyone involved?
Here’s what we’ve observed are common challenges with the typical review process—and how a shift can bring real value to your team:
1) Lightening the Load for Middle Managers
Middle managers play a vital role in any organization, overseeing daily operations, driving new initiatives, and supporting their teams. Adding year-end performance reviews to their already packed schedules can be overwhelming.
By rethinking how and when performance reviews happen, you can give these middle managers a little breathing room during their busiest time of the year. Simple adjustments, like spreading reviews throughout the year, can make a huge difference, allowing them to focus on supporting their teams effectively.
2) Making Reviews More Engaging and Less Repetitive
For long-standing employees, performance reviews can sometimes feel like a routine exercise—one that rehashes what everyone already knows. These conversations can become repetitive..
Instead of sticking to the same script year after year, imagine a process where reviews spark meaningful conversations and offer real insights. You can do this by sending an employee 3-5 reflection questions about their and your performance. By creating more dynamic, ongoing feedback loops, employees and managers can engage in conversations that truly drive growth and development.
3) Embracing a Holistic Approach
What if performance reviews weren’t just an end-of-year task, but an integral part of an ongoing dialogue? What if they helped employees and managers stay aligned on goals and progress throughout the year?
This is exactly the type of productive, goal-oriented system we believe in at Talent Suite. Rather than a once-a-year checklist, we encourage a more flexible and continuous approach—one that benefits employees, managers, and senior leadership alike. It’s all about creating a rhythm of feedback that helps everyone stay on the same page from January to December, not just in the last few weeks of the year.
If you’re ready to rethink performance reviews and make them more effective, we’d love to help. Let’s make this the year you shift to a system that empowers your people and drives real progress.