Annual Performance Review Template & the Most Impactful Updates We’ve Made to the Year End Review
For the past month, we’ve been talking about practices that track and cement performance, culture, and enagement. And as you know by now, I believe that the queen who rules them all is the monthly 1-1. While I stand by this, I also advocate that the monthly 1-1 doesn’t take the place of an annual performance review. They are complements to one another, reinforcing the culture and ambitions of your business. So today, I’d like to give you our Annual Performance Review Template.
As a quick reminder, I suggest holding year-end reviews in late March (April’s good too!) 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 financial performance and go-forward compensation.
2. You’ve completed this year’s annual planning. Therefore, you and your employees can set goals and professional development plans that tie to the business’s objectives.
For most people, the concept of an annual performance review isn’t new. Thankfully, many companies do conduct these (though I have been surprised from time to time, hearing friends comment that they haven’t had one in years). So it’s not a given.
And a PSA reminder: You never want feedback to be a surprise. In the year end review, you’re summarizing the performance and career discussions you’ve been having for the prior 12 months, throughout your 1-1s. The power of this peak “event” is to zoom out and examine the themes together, between the employee and manager.
5 Ingredients of Your Most Effective Performance Review Template
It should include…
- Self-evaluation and a Manager evaluation. Just like the monthly 1-1s, this is employee-driven. BUT a good employer will set up the structure and process to make is simple for each party.
- Evaluating the individual’s performance, the team’s performance, and how the individual contributed to the team and business. Employees should be able to cite how their role and work linked to the bigger picture and moved the business forward (or didn’t).
- Quantitative and qualitative reflection. The Mochary rating scale is back…
- Performance as OOBA: outcomes, output, behavior, and attitudes. This has changed my world; more below.
- Professional development goal setting for the next year. The year-end review is the employee’s annual strategy meeting for their career. Some will “get it” and take that responsibility and privilege seriously. Some will not. For those who don’t, I’ve learned that you can’t force it. A boss can’t care about someone else’s career more than they do (sounds like a “duh,” but I’ve made this mistake an embarrassing number of times).
Ellevated Outcomes’ Annual Performance Review Template
These templates took me 5 years(!) to get right. And even over the past 2 years, I made just a couple more tiny tweaks that made a world of difference.
You’ll notice that the framing of the questions within mostly end with the question “… and how can I contribute / help with this?” In our business, there’s an expectation of shared responsibility.
We do have an extremely caring and nurturing environment – but it only works for people who give as much as they take. So if you’re someone who wants something changed, but you’re not willing to help work on it, we’re not going to change it. And this framing helps set the stage for that.
Additionally, just this year, our beloved Heather Mathias of Mathias Collective taught me about OOBA. And now, everyone I share it with, is obsessed. So I wove that into our templates too.
The theory is: performance isn’t just about output. It’s about holistic outcomes. And holistic isn’t only the “what.” It’s also the “how.” In other words, behavior and attitude is equally important as what you achieve. Performance is the combination of all four. (If you want a further peek into my mistakes, I could never quite put my finger on behaviors and attitude, when it came to feedback in the past. Having it illuminated in this simple way changed our business and changed my life).
The Impact of Year End Reviews
The impact of the year end reviews isn’t about looking in the review mirror, to rehash things you’ve presumably addressed throughout the year. It’s using that reflection on past performance to cast the future together.
How can we apply the lessons from highs, lows, and (a)has of last year, to get you where you want to go?
My stance is: I want to help people get whatever it is they want. Now, if there are gaps to fill en route to their desired destination, I will give that, in the spirit of helping them. So if they sign up for the work and the journey, nothing will make me happier than playing a part in achieving their goals.
This week while interviewing for our Strategist position, a candidate said to me, “The team has been raving about your feedback.” I laughed outloud in my reply: “I don’t think that can be true.” She doubled down: “Yes, they have.” I had to pause and stop myself from further self-deprication and sarcasm. Finally I replied, “Okay, thank you for saying that. I have some things from the past seven years to unlearn about this.”
I share this last anecdote to say: I know that when I lay out a case for feedback, monthly reviews, and year end reviews in this manner, it sounds idyllic. But often, it’s not. At times, both parties will stub their toe in delivery. People who come through your organization who are inexperienced in feedback. They say they want it, but really, they only want the compliments. Or they don’t have enough life experience to be really seen up close. It will feel awful for both. And scary. You’ll question this whole methodology I certainly have.
But I promise you: for the right people who are committed, believing, and want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, this annual performance review template will be a magical tool in your cultural and performance toolbox.
