Performance Review Strategies for Managers in 2025

Most performance reviews try to do two jobs at once: 1️⃣ Pick between people for pay, promotion, and roles. 2️⃣ Develop people by finding strengths and gaps. These goals pull in opposite directions. Why this clash happens (brain + math): 🧠 Brain: When a review affects your pay or job, your brain reads it as a threat. Stress goes up. Learning shuts down. Feedback feels like a warning, not help. 🔢 Math: If you focus on ranking people clearly, everyone’s profile looks the same and you lose detail about strengths and weaknesses. If you focus on rich, detailed feedback, clear rankings get fuzzy. You can’t optimize both at the same time. The fix isn’t “blend them better.” You need a third way. Build two separate tracks with different goals, timing, and rules. Track A — Allocate (between people) - Purpose: pay, promotion, role, and staffing decisions. - Timing: set times (e.g., twice a year). - Evidence: common criteria and comparisons across people. - Norms: fairness, consistency, clear documentation. Track B — Develop (within people) - Purpose: growth, new skills, behavior change. - Timing: ongoing, low‑stakes coaching in regular 1:1s. - Evidence: specific behaviors and goals; focus on the future (“feedforward”). - Norms: psychological safety, curiosity, experimentation. Design moves that make it work: 👉 Separate the moments: Never mix ratings or money talks with coaching time. 👉 Separate the artifacts: Use different forms and language for each track. 👉 Separate the roles: Talent review leaders handle Track A; managers/peers coach in Track B. 👉 Give employees a voice: Enable upward feedback and self‑nominations for growth or promotion. 👉 Aim at behavior and the future: Be specific about what to try next, not who someone “is.” Employee gut‑check: “Is this feedback or a warning?” If people can’t tell, the system isn’t truly separate yet. When we honor the polarity—allocate separately, develop safely—performance management can actually serve both business goals. #EmployeeExperience #PerformanceManagement #Leadership #HR

Most VP-level dashboards tell you how your team is performing. Very few tell you how your managers are performing. That is a ginormous miss. Frontline managers are your leverage layer. They’re not just delivering the number. They’re shaping how it gets delivered AND whether next quarter’s number gets easier or harder. So if all you’re tracking is team quota, you’re measuring a lagging outcome, not the manager’s actual impact. Here’s how to build a manager scorecard that drives compounding: 1. Rep progression velocity. If their best rep is their top rep every quarter, something’s wrong. Track: - Ramp speed compared to org average - % of reps showing improvement in stage conversions - % of reps promoted out of their team (upward mobility = strong bench) Great managers don’t just hit plan. They level up talent. 2. Coaching system consistency. Every manager “does coaching," but few do it consistently AND with structure. Track: - % of reps receiving 2+ structured coaching sessions per month - % of coaching sessions tied to live deal inspection, not just performance reviews - % of feedback items closed out (did rep apply it, and did outcomes improve?) Your goal isn’t vibes. It’s visible change. 3. Deal quality lift. Pipeline health is a team stat. Pipeline discipline, on the other hand, is a manager stat. Look for: - Cleaner exit criteria adherence by stage - Lower “Hail Mary” forecast swings - Higher % of deals multithreaded before stage 3 If reps are cutting corners, it’s not just a rep issue. It’s a management issue. 4. Strategic contribution You don’t want managers who just update. You want ones who escalate insight. Track: - Frequency of upward feedback: What are they seeing across deals, verticals, objections? - Net-new process suggestions or enablement needs - Involvement in peer training, mentoring, or playbook refinement This is how you separate tactical managers from strategic operators. 5. Team health & retention Attrition without replacement is a performance drag. Attrition without progression is a leadership red flag. Track: - Voluntary attrition rates by team - Internal transfers/promotions from their org - Culture signal: training participation, call reviews submitted, 1:1 feedback pulled (not just pushed) A strong team isn’t quiet. It’s engaged - and improving. tl;dr = if you want to scale as a VP, your #1 job isn’t hitting the number. It’s building managers who can do it without you in the room. The rep dashboard gets you through this quarter. The manager scorecard gets you through the next five.

Most startups make the same performance review mistakes. They either skip them entirely ("we're too small") or mimic what Big Tech does ("let's do 360s for our 15-person team"). Here's the framework I use to design review cycles that fit for different sizes and stages: Frequency by stage: 0-35 people: Quarterly development reviews 35-200 people: Semi-annual reviews (with optional off-cycle developmental check-ins). Combine compensation and performance reviews at this point. 200+ people: Annual reviews (with optional off-cycle developmental check-ins) Timing matters more than you think. Don't plan promotions and merit increases during low cash flow periods. While January and July are classic review times, if March and September are bad cash flow months for your business model, move your performance review schedule. Review complexity should scale with headcount AND experience: Start with self + manager reviews (180°), even at 1,000 people if you've never run reviews before. Add peer feedback (270°) after 1-2 successful cycles. Full 360s only when you're ready for the complexity. Once you’ve moved to semi-annual reviews with compensation considerations included, it helps to run a tight schedule with clear week-by-week deadlines: Week 1: Self and upward reviews due Weeks 2-3: Downward reviews due — 2 weeks help here for managers with 5+ direct reports and stragglers who were OOO for the whole self and upward review week Weeks 4-5: Manager calibrations Weeks 6-7: Real-time performance review conversations and compensation decision-making Week 8: Compensation and promotion decisions shared Week 9: Title and compensation changes go into effect Tool threshold: 20 people. Below that, Google Forms works. Above that, invest in something like Lattice (my recommended tool)—the time savings on scheduling and reminders alone pays for itself. The biggest mistake? Treating performance reviews like an HR project instead of a business process. Get the sequencing and feedback mechanisms right, and they become a strategic advantage. More tactical details on building review cycles that scale coming in my next newsletter. __ 👋 I'm Melissa Theiss, 4x Head of People and Business Operations and advisor for bootstrapped and VC-backed SaaS companies. 🗞️ In my newsletter, “The Business of People,” I share tips and tricks that help People leaders think like business leaders.