5 essential elements of a modern performance review

What makes a performance review effective? Is it just about helping employees take note of areas for improvement? Many companies seem to think so, but this outdated approach doesn’t align with what most professionals desire. Indeed, a recent report revealed that only 20% of employees leave performance reviews feeling inspired.*

Why have appraisals fallen out of favor? One reason is that traditional appraisals often emphasize contributions to company goals over individual development. Employees may feel that these conversations focus more on the organization’s needs than their own career growth and aspirations.

The modern performance review, on the other hand, is a collaborative conversation where managers and reports feel heard, understood, and engaged. It runs alongside frequent check-ins and asynchronous feedback, allowing teams to use the dedicated review sessions to explore development goals and map out career paths.

But how do you conduct a performance review that achieves all the above but doesn’t overwhelm everyone? We offer five guiding principles you can follow to lead more rewarding, growth-focused reviews — plus a real-life example of how this could look for your company.

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* SHRM, 2023
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1. Get your timing right

Performance reviews are different from continuous feedback, and there’s no need to have them too frequently. However, conducting reviews only once a year makes things difficult for all participants — there’s too much ground to cover and fewer chances for growth-focused conversations throughout the year. The most effective review cycles occur twice a year or every quarter; these timeframes carve the year into more manageable segments and create a sense of progression between reviews.

But setting up and carrying out assessments involves quite a lot of work — so how can you make the case to leadership that you need to hold them more often? 

“If an organization removes some of the time-consuming administrative requirements of performance reviews — setting complex goals, filling out review forms, multi-rater feedback — this will free up time for higher-value activities, like ongoing informal feedback,” says HR practice leader Rose Mueller-Hanson for SHRM.

‍The more aspects of performance evaluations you can streamline and automate, the easier it is to run them more frequently. This is possible with a platform like Leapsome, which has integrated AI features that reduce manual work and make your continuous performance management cycle more efficient.
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2. Look forward

Many people view performance reviews as purely retrospective (focusing only on past work). However, effective reviews should use past observations to understand the present and create a plan for the future — so individual contributors (ICs) and managers can move forward better informed and inspired to do their best work.

How do you bring discussions about the future into your review conversations? Leadership advisor Mark Nevins suggests encouraging employees to consider their primary goals — or “big rocks” — for the year ahead. To get to that list, Nevins recommends asking questions like:

• Why did you choose these goals?
• How will you measure results?
• What’s your plan or roadmap to execute?
• Who should you engage and collaborate with to be successful?

🔎 Looking for other questions to ask in performance reviews?

Download our free performance review questions template, which includes suggestions for 360-degree and leadership evaluations.

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3. Focus on development

Imagine you’re taking a long road trip. Occasionally you’ll pull up at a petrol station to fill up on gas and check where you are on your route. Sometimes you’ll realize there could be a better route to take; other times you might have a problem with your car that needs to be addressed.

It doesn’t matter which car you drive: only where you are. Reviews are the same: they’re not about putting a number on people, but assessing where they are in relation to company goals and values, and how they can best move forward.

Even though there’s an inevitable connection between performance and compensation, this shouldn’t be the focus of a general performance review. After all, it’s hard to absorb constructive feedback if someone is worried about financial considerations. 

You can always schedule separate, dedicated meetings to discuss those topics. So center reviews on development, sharing recognition, and providing constructive guidance. Giving employees development opportunities is a powerful tool for talent attraction and retention: McKinsey research found it to be the top motivator pushing employees to look for another job.

⭐️ Tailor development paths to suit employee needs and aspirations 👩‍🚀

Leapsome Learning allows you to create self-led, customizable learning paths to upskill your team the right way.

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4. Be sympathetic

Even at the best of times, reviews can be hard. Some people may feel put on the spot in a performance evaluation, making it difficult for them to process constructive feedback.

With this in mind, build a performance management system that makes team members feel more comfortable. For example, consider sending reports the written evaluations before the review meeting so they can gather their thoughts in private. That way, they’ll feel more calm and collected during the actual feedback discussion.

In addition, get employees onside with the review process. Explain the logic behind the different steps and send out pulse surveys (which you can do with a tool like Leapsome) after each review cycle to find out what they’d like to improve about the process.
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5. Include multiple perspectives

Make sure the employees know in advance what the purpose of the review is, otherwise they’ll come to the meeting with all kinds of fears, anxieties and expectations. This makes the review process more productive, too.

Be clear about the questions that are going to be asked, and what competencies are being evaluated - not only does this help the employee prepare for the review and outline their personal goals ahead of time, but it forces the reviewer to formulate unbiased, objective questions beforehand.

In addition to making your intentions clear, use automation to make the process as streamlined as possible. With the help of a feedback tool, reviews will become much less chaotic and overwhelming.

Including multiple perspectives can transform performance reviews. Instead of just a manager reviewing their direct reports, various points of view create a fairer, more accurate assessment. 

Your company might include:
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Manager review

‍A two-way feedback relationship between managers and reports helps democratize the review process and gives you crucial leadership insights.
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360º review

Peer reviews yield more comprehensive data because the information comes from multiple sources; they can also be more factual in cases where employees work more closely with peers than with their managers.
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Self assessment

Here, employees can better understand their strengths by matching their perspectives of themselves with external points of view. Self-assessments also instill a sense of agency and give employees the opportunity to remember their achievements and contributions before review talks.

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How Bolt’s Head of People Tech made reviews more empowering and development-focused 

As Bolt experienced rapid growth (from 1,000 to 4,000 employees in a relatively short period) and expanded across 45 countries, Head of People Tech Andy Turnbull realized that the company was outgrowing its previous review structures. Operational needs became more diverse across the board, and managers had their own approaches to performance tracking — meaning that team members had dissimilar experiences.

“If parts of your organization value different things and quantify performance differently,” said Turnbull, “it’s difficult to standardize any global programs you might be running. So you can’t do things like identify and retain high performers.”

After testing Leapsome Reviews with a group of product and engineering teams and fine-tuning their processes, Bolt has since used the platform to run 360° performance review cycles. Having a unified process for gathering feedback, scores, and making action plans allows them to iterate more granularly as they go. 

“We’re not going to be building something which is then static for the next 50 years,” Turnbull shared. “We run deep-dive retros and ask for user feedback to understand how managers and employees use it. Then, we’re iterating heavily each time.” Using Leapsome as their single source of truth and data also allows managers to operate independently, with minimal involvement from HR.

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Inspire progress with employee-centered reviews

When managers approach performance reviews with empathy and collaboration, they give employees greater ownership over their professional development. Reviews are also most effective when paired with a healthy feedback culture. 

Leapsome provides tools to facilitate continuous feedback and measure engagement between reviews. Our platform also includes features for one-on-one meetings and goal setting to help employees stay on track with their work and growth targets.

Our holistic people enablement platform lets you seamlessly automate review cycles and weave them into your broader development workflows. The result? Reviews become an empowering part of your feedback culture, accelerating employee progress rather than hindering it.

🤝 Create a more collaborative, motivating review process
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Leapsome helps you act on review data with goal setting, learning paths, asynchronous feedback tools, and meeting templates.
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