Delightful

Performance
Reviews:
How to run
modern, 360˚
review cycles
Table of Contents
What Makes a Good Performance Review? 4

Do Performance Reviews Still Matter? 11

Case Study: Google Reinvents Reviews 20

How to Run a Good Review Cycle 23

The Nitty-Gritty 28

Tools and Resources 35

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 Introduction:
Getting to the Point

What is the point of performance reviews? Are they

really needed? And why are they frequently so bad?

Some top companies such as GE, Adobe, Gap, Deloitte, Accenture and
Microsoft have been getting attention for cutting their traditional
annual performance review and ranking process. Performance reviews
are not relics of the past, though.

Instead, leading companies are shifting to create a “feedback culture”

involving both ongoing and fluid feedback systems, as well as more
structured, comprehensive processes.

Modern, 360˚ reviews play an essential role in building a meaningful

feedback framework. They drive performance and support employees
in their growth and development.

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 What Makes a Good
Performance Review?

Essential Review Elements

A good performance review happens more frequently than just

annually, involves more perspectives than a single manager’s, and is
development-focused and forward looking rather than just assessment
focused and backward-looking. Review cycles can then be
complemented by other feedback processes throughout the year.

Development
Focused
More
Frequent

More Complemented by
Perspectives Other Feedback
Processes

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 What Makes a Good
Performance Review?
More Frequent
A good performance review
process will happen semi-annually
or quarterly, depending on
company needs. It is tough to feel
motivated in December for
feedback one has gained last
January. Semi-annual or quarterly
reviews are often enough to ensure
feedback is given in a relevant
timeframe. More frequent periods
also allows easier comparison and
learning about performance over
time.
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More Perspectives
Employees interact with a diversity
of people at a company. Although
managers review employee work,
others also often have valuable
perspectives to share. Employees
themselves also have insight on
their own strengths and
weaknesses. Expand reviews to
360˚, and open up new learnings.
5
 What Makes a Good
Performance Review?

Development Focused Complemented

Performance Reviews work best

Reviews are a great opportunity to
when complemented by other
help employees and managers
measures, such as
develop. This opportunity is lost if a
review is simply seen as an ● Continuous Feedback
assessment or scorecard. Instead, ● Manager Coaching,
frame reviews as an intentional Check-ins and 1:1 Meetings
way to pause and ask where the ● Surveys
employee currently is in regards to
performance, skills, and
development, and where they need
to and want to be.

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 More
Perspectives

Peer Review

Have employees reviewed by one or members from their team or

neighbouring team. The more perspectives on an employee’s
performance, the easier it is to grasp where the employee really is, not
just where the manager thinks they are. Additionally, involving peers
mitigates any bias a manager might have, and helps highlight
contributions a manager might overlook.

Self-Review

Self-review helps compare and giving context to a team and manager’s

review of an employee, with the employee’s own thinking. It also a
valuable tool for the employee to reflect on their own performance,
how they view their skills, and what they want to improve upon.
Employees can better understand their strengths by matching up their
self-perspective with external perspectives.

Manager Review

Apart from the manager reviewing the employee, good performance

reviews go both ways. Give employees a chance to provide feedback to
their managers.

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 Greater
Development Focus

Cultivate a greater development focus by:

● Including more development-focused questions in reviews

● Separating talks focused on salary and compensation from talks

about development

● Having managers and employees sit down to discuss reviews,

with good preparation ahead of time

● Setting up a goal framework to support the employee in setting

development objectives, and breaking down concrete steps to
reach those objectives

● Complementing bi-annual or quarterly reviews with smaller,

more ongoing development-oriented feedback processes

● Working to establish a feedback and growth oriented culture

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 Complement with Other
Feedback Processes

Compliment performance reviews with other

measures, such as

● Continuous Feedback: processes that allow frequent formal and

informal feedback on an ongoing basis. For example, after an
employee gives a presentation, they might check in with their
team to ask about their preparation and presentation skills.

● Manager Coaching, Check-ins and 1:1 Meetings: Regular

sit-downs between managers and employees. The focus is
coaching and improvement. Three questions to ask to prepare
regular 1:1 Meetings could be: What are key achievements from
the last week? What are next steps for the next week? What are
current issues or requests for support?

● Surveys: Regular surveys on topics such as e.g., engagement,

manager support or development opportunities help to leverage
honest and timely feedback from employees. These can be short
surveys with just a few questions, sent regularly, or longer and
sent out only a few times a year.

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 “There's no way to get
better at something you
only hear about once a
year."

Daniel Pink,
NYT bestselling
author of “Drive”

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 Do Performance Reviews
Still Matter?

Good Reviews = High High Motivation and

Motivation and Engagement = Performance
Engagement and Retention

Surveys by leading US research firm According to Gallup, organizations

ProClinical found that across the US, with higher than average levels of
Europe, and Asia, more frequent employee engagement see 27%
reviews (ex, monthly) made higher profits and 50% higher sales.
employees almost 60% more
The Harvard Business Review found
motivated, 67% more likely to
engaged employees have 31%
recommend their company as a
higher productivity, and 37% higher
place to work, and over 50% more
sales.
likely to be working there in a years’
time.

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 Do Performance Reviews
Still Matter?

Reforming Reviews
Bad performance management practices do need to change, but that
doesn’t mean performance reviews should be done away with completely.

Modern, 360˚ performance reviews are a powerful tool when

implemented alongside everyday continuous feedback, and meaningful
coaching and 1:1 meetings with managers.

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 Do Performance Reviews
Still Matter?

The ROI of Performance Reviews

Studies show 70% of employees are unhappy with their current
performance review process. There is a lot of potential for positive
growth!

Good performance reviews increase employee motivation and

engagement, which drive performance, growth, and retention.

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 Do Performance Reviews
Still Matter?

Honest Feedback = High Motivation and Engagement

Employee engagement percentile

Managers providing honest feedback

Source: Based on a study of 22.700 managers by zenger folkman , published in Forbes Magazine 12/2013

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 Do Performance Reviews
Still Matter?
Correcting a Bad Track Record
Performance reviews have not
always been a positive force
within companies. Traditionally,
many reviews have emphasized
financial rewards and punishments.
This diminishes internal motivation
and learning.
Traditional reviews also often
award rankings based on a “curve”
where only a certain number could
be called “excellent,” and a certain
fixed number must be labeled “low
performers.”
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These measures increase
competition between employees,
rather than collaboration. They
create a mindset focused on
avoiding failure, rather than
embracing growth.
Why reduce 2000 hours of annual
work into one number without
providing a clear path to
development potential, and hurt
learning and motivation? There
needs to be a better way - and
there is.
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“Performance management as
practiced by most organizations has become a
rule-based, bureaucratic process, existing as
an end in itself rather than actually shaping
performance. Employees hate it. Managers
hate it. Even HR departments hate it.”

Lazlo Bock,
Former SVP People Operations at Google

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 Modern Reviews:
A Better Way
Performance Review Wingmen:
Manager 1:1s and Continuous Feedback
Performance reviews do not stand
alone. They fulfill their role best
when they are integrated in a
culture of feedback and growth
orientation, and complemented by
ongoing feedback and 1:1 meetings
with managers.
This frequent feedback is needed
to avoid recency bias and give
specific feedback at the time when
people need it. It also provides
small, ongoing points of positive
encouragement, and
future-focused improvement.
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Being able to review continuous
feedback provided over the past
months also simplifies providing
feedback to an employee, peer or
manager when performance
reviews are due.
Good learning environments have
a back and forth exchange
between learners and teachers.
They balance ongoing feedback,
with regular check-ins, and then
comprehensive reviews. Work is a
learning environment. Why
shouldn’t it be the same?
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 Modern Reviews:
A Better Way

Why Can’t the Wingmen Stand Alone?

Ongoing feedback is essential, and Performance reviews create a

some would argue that a structured time to take a break and
semi-annual or quarterly review is fully reflect, gaining a deeper
unnecessary if good ongoing understanding of where they are
processes exist. at.

However, performance reviews Combined with ongoing feedback,

give a structured, bigger-picture employees can then continually
view outside the scope of smaller, finetune their progress.
ongoing feedback. Both scales are
needed.

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 “The solution here is
not to throw out
performance reviews,
but to build a culture
and recognizes and
rewards growth.”
Lori Goler,
Head of People atFacebook

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 Case Study: Google Reinvents
the Performance Review

Google Reinvents the Performance Review

Google has one of the most dedicated and innovative human resources
(or, as they call it, People Operations) teams in the world. After years of
trial and error, surveying, and testing, they concluded this: performance
reviews still matter. Here’s how Google implements them.

Semi-Annually 360 Degrees

Google does reviews twice a year:
Once a highly comprehensive
review that happens once a year in
November, and then a mid-year
check-in on that review six months
later in March or April.
Employees review themselves,
each other, and their manager, and
managers review direct reports.
Managers have full access to all
feedback, including
non-anonymized peer reviews.
Individuals see only anonymized
peer review results.

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 Case Study: Google Reinvents the
Performance Review

What Google Measures

Quantitative Qualitative

● “Googliness”: metrics that ● Strengths:

align with Google’s values
● Problem solving: How well
people’s skills align with
addressing work situations
● Leadership: Demonstrating
initiative and resourcefulness
● Presence: How well people
Contributions
communicate and make
themselves heard
What to keep doing
● Weaknesses:
What to work on
● Comments on contributions
to specific projects
● How well the employee
achieved company and
project goals, ex, according to
Google’s Objectives and Key
Results (OKRs).

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 Case Study: Google Reinvents the
Performance Review
Putting It All Together
After seeing peer and self
assessments, and taking into
account employee contributions on
OKRs, managers draft ratings for
their own employees. These are not
final, however. Groups of managers
then gather to “calibrate” ratings.
This reduces bias, as managers
have to justify their decisions to
one another. Shared responsibility
also takes the pressure off of
individual managers to assign high
reviews.
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Results
After finalizing a performance
review, managers sit down for two
separate conversations with
employees. One is development
and learning focused. The next, one
month later, is promotion and
compensation focused.
Google knows it is hard for
employees to be in a intrinsically
motivated, development-focused
mindset at the same time that
extrinsic rewards are on the table.
So they seperate the
conversations.
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 How to Run a Modern,
Elegant Performance Review

A great review cycle will:

● Give employees insight on their performance from an all-around,

360˚ perspectives

● Provide larger, structured feedback for employees. This

contextualizes and frames the other pieces of feedback they
received from manager 1:1s and continuous feedback processes

● Highlight both strengths and areas for improvement with specific

insights on how they can improve

● Provide trends to the company on overall performance, and core

competencies

● Remove employee anxiety over performance ratings, by clearly

communicating that the performance reviews is about
development, and compensation discussions will happen
separately. (Ideally, one month later).

● Go two ways, and allow managers to gain feedback from their

employees too

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 How to Run a Modern,
Elegant Performance Review

Prepare

Run Follow-Up

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 How to Run a Modern,
Elegant Performance Review

Prepare

● Look at your overall feedback process: what could be adjusted in

terms of performance reviews, continuous feedback, manager
1:1s, and regular surveys?

● Build buy-in with the HR team, executives, and with managers

● Investigate tools and processes to use, and set up trainings to

support people in effectively using them

● Decide what type of reviews you want to run: Just

manager-employee, or include peers up to a full 360°? If including
peers, will the peer reviewers be in the same team, from another
team, or both? Is everyone in the company being reviewed, or
only some groups?

● Decide what competencies reviewees will receive feedback on,

what scale will be used and what questions will be asked on top of
competency feedback.

● Clarify to everyone how the reviews will be used: are they only
development focused? Will they be used for compensation at all?
If so, how?

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 How to Run a Modern,
Elegant Performance Review

Run

● Roll out on a regular basis, i.e semi-annually or even quarterly.

● Provide both employees and managers with tools and resources

to get the most out of the review process

● Facilitate manager-employee conversations! Written feedback is

only half the process. Use managers or others as coaches for
future-focused development.

Follow Up

● Ask for feedback on the process, and optimize.

● Keep providing ongoing support on feedback skills and processes.

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 How to Run a Modern,
Elegant Performance Review

Compensation

Companies may be tempted by traditional, ranking-based reviews

because they want a simple basis for promotion and compensation. It is
time to let go of that thinking, however.

Compensation might be informed by - among other factors - the

outcome of performance reviews. However, those talks should always
be clearly separated, preferably by a time period of at least one
month.

By themselves, individual performance reviews are not the best way to

determine compensation. For more guidance on frameworks for fair
compensation, check out Google’s re:Work guide.

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 The Nitty-Gritty
Details
Best Practices
Grounded in Theory and Practice
Leapsome has developed best
practices for questions that are
grounded in both scientific
frameworks, and real world
experience.
We draw from field sources like
Google’s public re:Work platform,
and academic sources like Harvard
University’s Program on Survey
Research.
You can read more of Leapsome’s
best practice questions here.
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Question Types
Skills and Values
Define your the skills and values
your company prioritizes
(“company skills”). Then, choose
questions that target those skills
and values. Companies can then
track performance on these skills
and values over time.
Common vs. Specific
Some questions will be common no
matter who the reviewer is: ex,
quantitative questions on company
skills. Others, you may want to be
specific based on who the reviewer
is: ex, qualitative questions.
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 The Nitty-Gritty
Details
Quantitative Questions
Quantitative survey questions
should ask questions that can be
objectively assessed. Leapsome
recommends a five-point scale.
Example skills:
● Drive Innovation, Deliver
Results, Prioritize Effectively
Example Questions
● Drive Innovation: Thinks out
of the box and contributes
new ideas
● Deliver Results: Consistently
gets things done and delivers
convincing results
● Prioritize Effectively: Focuses
on the most relevant
priorities
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Qualitative Questions
Self-Assessment
● What are your three
biggest achievements
since the last review?
● What are the three biggest
challenges that you are
currently facing?
● What do you consider your
three core strengths?
● What is/ are your one to
three key learning &
development goal/s?
● What support do you need
by whom to move forward
on your development
goals?
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 The Nitty-Gritty
Details

Qualitative Questions

Manager to Employee, or Peer to Peer

Employee to Manager

● What do you consider his / ● What do you appreciate

her biggest achievement most about him / her?
since the last review? What are you thankful for?

● What should he / she keep

● What should he / she keep
doing?
doing?
● What should he / she
● What should he / she
change?
change?
● What is the most
important development ● What support could you
offer to him / her to
goal that he / she should be
further develop in his / her
working on?
role?

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 The Nitty-Gritty
Details

Who Should Review Who?

Who Should See What Feedback? When?

Deciding who should review who can be tough to navigate, but it

doesn’t have to be. This choice is highly customizable in Leapsome, and
the Leapsome Customer Success Team is there to advise.

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 The Nitty-Gritty
Details
Who Should Review Who?

Option Pro Con

Managers Managers have insight Managers may know less

appoint peer into the strengths of than employees about who
reviewers their reports, and can would benefit most from
assign reviewers who what reviewer
make sense

Employees Employees can select If employees feel

nominate what those peers who know pressured to achieve good
peers they want their work best, and have results, or think their
to be reviewed by the most to add peer’s rating strongly
*This option then affects their
includes manager compensation, they may
confirmation select peers they think will
review them more
favourably. However the
manager confirmation step
accounts for this.

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 The Nitty-Gritty
Details
Who Should See What Feedback?

Option Pro Con

Managers can see Managers have greater Managers may elevate or

all reviews, with context into feedback dismiss feedback based on
name given, and thus greater their opinion of reviewer
insight

Managers can see Managers are not biased Managers may still make
anonymized by who the reviewer is assumptions of reviewer
reviews only identity, and managers
cannot follow up for
additional context

Reviewee can see Individual has greater May impact relationship if

peer reviews, context into their employee is hurt by
with name feedback, can follow up feedback

Reviewee can see No risk of damaged Employees may still make

anonymized peer relationships assumptions of reviewer
reviews only identity, especially in small
teams, and cannot follow
up for additional context

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 The Nitty-Gritty
Details
When Should People See Feedback?

Option Pro Con

Managers can Managers opinion not Managers may miss points

see completed overly swayed by others’ or build on or gaps to fill,
self and peer positive or negative sparked by seeing others’
reviews only reviews reviews, Managers can
after writing the integrate peer feedback
employee’s and put it into perspective
review

Managers can Manager can build on Manager’s opinion and

see completed employee’s self and peer review may be overly
self and peer reviews, gaining new swayed by positive or
reviews while perspectives, negative reviews
writing the complimenting points or
employee’s filling gaps
review

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 Tools and
Resources

Leapsome
● How to Set Up a Review Cycle
● Best Practice Questions for Reviews

Google re:Work
● Google Guide: Structure and Check for Pay Equity
● Google Blog: How the “What’s Your Current Salary?” Question
Hurts the Gender Pay Gap

Harvard Business Review

● Let’s Not Kill Performance Evaluations Yet
● People Don’t Want to Be Compared to Others in Performance
Reviews. They Want to Be Compared to Themselves
● Why Managers Shouldn’t Have the Final Say in Performance
Reviews
● The Key to Performance Reviews is Preparation

Deloitte
● Reinventing Performance Management

Berkeley Human Resources

● Performance Management: Tools and Resources

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Leapsome is an AI-powered All-in-One
Platform for engagement surveys, continuous
feedback between employees, 360°
performance reviews and OKR tracking.

To learn more, visit

www.leapsome.com

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