Measuring Monthly Performance: a Manager and Employee Review Template
For many businesses, it’s annual review season. Personally, I really like conducting annual employee reviews in late March for two reasons:
1. Your financials from the prior year are tucked and tied, so you can have a clear head about the past year’s business performance and compensation.
2. You’ve done your annual planning for the upcoming year, so you and your employees can set goals and professional development plans that tie to the business’s objectives.
But… today we’re not talking about about annual reviews. Instead, we’re discussing the more important version: monthly reviews. And I want to share with you, our very own monthly manager and employee review template.
Before laying out the process, allow me to share a little more background on why I say that monthly reviews are even more important than annual reviews (i’ll also refer to them as 1-1s) .
You never want feedback to be a surprise. And when you conduct reviews only once per year, you run that risk. Think about it: you’ve potentially gone 12 months without giving someone critical, detailed feedback, whether good or bad. So to build it over a year and potentially surprise someone – or talk about something that happened six months ago – is risky.
Also, as Cara Jackson says, giving and receiving feedback is something you can develop. Most people have never been taught how to give and receive feedback. It’s a skill to learn and a muscle to develop.
Working from a manager and employee review template is the tool to do this. Think of it as your exercise. And when you do this exercise monthly, this means you’re putting in at least 12 reps per year. You build the muscle; and eventually, it becomes integrated into your culture.
The Genesis: Matt Mochary’s CEO Within
A couple years ago, I came across the work of Matt Mochary. He’s an executive coach for Silicon Valley-style tech businesses.
Personal note: one of my favorite pasttimes is studying businesses and industries that are a far cry from mine, and then pull out interesting techniques to adapt and apply to small, creative businesses.
I’m a huge fan of Matt Mochary’s cut and dry approach, so we use lots of the tools from his book the CEO Within. His manager and employee review template has changed our company’s complexion. It’s the ultimate tool for our team to really embrace our value of honesty.
Ellevated Outcomes’ Adapted Employee Review Templates
Because I feel so strongly about how important this is (and following the templates pretty closely), I’ll cut to the chase and simply gift them to you:
3 Questions Our Clients Frequently Ask
1. Monthly is a lot. Can we do them every two months?
First, you’re right: monthly is a lot. If you’re a manager, the combination of prep time plus actual 1-1 meeting time, totals 1-2 days per month, depending on how many direct reports you have. I’m going to be tough on this point: do it anyway.
This is an employee investment, not spend. Once you get into the rhythm, it’ll motivate your highest performers. And to the contrary: it’ll cleanly expose gaps when someone isn’t performing. In the case of the latter, you’ll be able to make better, fact-based decisions, more quickly. (I wish we had started this process earlier in Ellevated Outcomes’ history).
Quick tip: schedule your 1-1s and prep time as automated recurrences in your calendar. Keep both the manager and employee review template centrally stored so that you can each access and self-serve every month.
2. Do we have to use the 1-5 rating scale? It feels so… personal.
I strongly encourage you: keep the 1-5 rating scale. When you read the manager review template linked above, you’ll see a preface I’ve written and coach others to verbalize. I come back to: most people haven’t been through real feedback loops. I’ve learned the hard way(!) that especially for high achievers, not scoring a figurative “A+” can be identity-rocking. So, giving the right color and context before you begin this process is important.
And re: the “personal” point: if this is done correctly, it should be the opposite of personal. The feedback deliverer must be careful to de-personalize. The wording is very specific to say “Rate on ____’s performance.” This is how the other party is achieving the outcomes outlined in their job. Then, in addition to the rating, you cite specific ways that person can get to the “next level.” When you use a quantitative scale like this, both people receiving feedback should have a clear view on if they’re meeting, exceeding, or missing the other’s expectations for their role. When you do it this way, it’s about the performance, not the person.
3. Who’s responsible for 1-1s?
Managers are responsible for setting the framework, conditions, safe space, and making tough decisions. However, I have a strong POV that employees must “own” the 1-1 process. I think about it this way: monthly employee reviews are the mechanism by which employees take responsibility for the strategy of their career.
A manager’s role in this process is to coach, guide, upskill, and hopefully sponsor their employee by opening opportunities for them. But unless their guidance and help is pointing in the direction of what the employee wants, it’s a moot point. Everyone must own their own career and professional development, and this is where to start.
I cannot emphasize enough how this process has transformed our business. Last fall, Julia Sweitzer called our monthly 1-1 process magical.
Be still, my heart.
The Impact of 1-1s, beyond the Day to Day
Please don’t mistake this “magic” for “feels good all the time.” It definitely doesn’t – in both directions. In fact, it’s the birth place of many difficult conversations and hard decisions. AND it’s the birth place of developing and sponsoring people’s careers. Creating growth paths, new responsibilities, and increased compensation. For an organization, it’s the ultimate investment of care into your people. There are tears, there are laughs, there are difficult decisions, and there are big celebrations.
One of the responsibilities I take so seriously as a CEO and a Manager, is sponsoring others’ (especially women’s) careers. Creating opportunities and upskilling so that those I’m invested in, are ready to seize them. In fact, I count this as the most important responsbility in my job.
I believe: when you’re building and growing a business to be bigger than you, the impact you’re really aiming for is the ripples you send into the world, through your people. And I promise you: as simple as it sounds, monthly 1-1s are where those ripples begin.
