Conducting annual reviews (TLP 2024w47)

It's that time of year again, when I need to conduct many annual performance reviews over the coming weeks. Notes: It's that time of year again, and sadly I don't mean Christmas! As a leader, I need to conduct many annual performance reviews over the coming weeks. It is always a busy and challenging time, because you have to thread the line between giving someone actionable feedback, while not being so candid that you damage their morale. It is also a good time to reflect on your team, in order to determine who is who at the zoo. In my mind I have three categories that they fall into: Excelling - these are your star performers, who are on the path to promotion. Keep them close, mentor them, and watch them grow. Delivering - these are your "steady Eddy" performers, quietly getting stuff done. They are competent professionals, operating at the correct level for their skill-set and maturity levels. Struggling - these are your "problem children", and are not meeting the expectations of you or their peers. They are struggling, so need to be either mentored heavily to get them to improve, or your need to manage them out. The majority of your team should be in the "Delivering" category, with a few stars in the "Excelling" category and hopefully nobody in "Struggling". A senior leader of a huge engineering team in a big company once gave me this answer, when I asked him what I needed to do in order for him to consider me a top performer: "Imagine if the company was a ship that was sinking, and I had to choose who to pull onto the life-raft with me. That's my top guys." In essence, become indispensable to your manager. It's harsh, but the fact is we are also being judged harshly in a professional setting. As leaders, we must provide accountability when someone fails, as well as praise when they succeed. It's the accountability piece that will test you. I hope your reviews go well, here are some final tips: Gather feedback about the team member from others. Provide examples for all feedback topics. Let them talk, and listen. Provide factual feedback with evidence, and never, ever, get emotional. What I worked on this week: greppr.org now provides search suggestion auto-completion! Media I am enjoying this week: Caesar by Christian Meier Notes and subscription links are here: https://techleader.pro/a/669-Conducting-annual-reviews-(TLP-2024w47)