Template : For the Manager

Review Prep Tool

Walk into the performance review already knowing what you want to say. Read the team member's self-assessment, capture what you have seen at work, propose goals for the next period, and bring this prep doc as your half of the conversation.

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1

What this prep is for

This is your prep doc as the manager running the review. The team member is filling in their Self-Assessment the same week. This is your equivalent, in your voice, from your side of the table.

Two things it does:

  • Forces you to think through what you actually want to say before you sit down, so the meeting is a conversation, not a wing.
  • Gives you the running notes to bring into the meeting, so you can stay with the team member instead of trying to remember the three things you wanted to raise.
No surprises. Nothing in this prep, and nothing you raise in the review, should be the first time the team member is hearing it. If it is, you have had a one on one problem, not a review problem, and it needs to be surfaced before the meeting, not inside it.
2

When to sit down with this

Block 90 minutes to 2 hours per person

That is the recommended time per review in the YHRTK playbook. A rushed review is worse than no review. Half of it is reading their self-assessment, pulling their goals, and thinking. Half is using this tool.

Do it the week before the review

Do it after you have read their self-assessment, not before. Their self-assessment shapes the meeting. If you prep first and they raise something you have not thought about, you will be on the back foot.

Then do the review in a 60 to 90 minute meeting

With this prep in front of you. Follow the agenda in section 4. Leave the meeting with the follow up summary drafted in section 10 and send it in writing within 2 working days.

Cadence reminder. Every 6 months is the minimum. Quarterly is the gold standard and matches an OKR goal setting cycle. Pay reviews happen annually and sit in a separate meeting, not this one.
3

How to fill this in

Pull your inputs first

Before you start, have these in front of you:

  • The team member's goals from last period (Goal Setting Generator export, or whatever you used).
  • Their completed self-assessment.
  • Your one on one notes for the period.
  • Any written feedback you have given them (recognition notes, coaching conversations, anything flagged).

Work through the sections in order

Each section covers one part of the conversation. Sections 3 through 8 are about the period just ending, section 9 is about what comes next. Section 10 is the agenda and follow up.

Use the AI assist where it helps

Four sections have an AI assist button: accomplishments, strengths, areas to strengthen, and proposed goals for next period. The AI pulls from your form (role, goals, your notes) and drafts a starting paragraph or 2 to 3 goal ideas in OKR format. Edit before you take it into the meeting. The AI does not know your team, you do.

You can skip sections that do not fit. Where you have nothing meaningful to write, skip it and own the blank. Padding makes the review less useful, not more.
4

The meeting agenda (90 minutes)

Run the meeting in this order. This prep doc feeds each block.

Welcome (5 min)

  • Set the tone. This is a reflection conversation, not a test.
  • Run through the agenda so they know what is coming.

Performance review (30 min)

  • Goals and achievements: walk through each goal. They lead, then you add your read. Section 3 of this prep.
  • Strengths: where you have seen them really shine this period. Section 6 of this prep.
  • Areas to develop: where you want to see growth. Section 7 of this prep. Nothing should surprise them.

Setting goals for the next period (30 min)

  • New goals and objectives: your proposed goals (section 9) as the starting draft. They can counter and refine.
  • Development discussion: the development focus and any training.
  • Support needed: what they need from you, what resources the business can put behind them.

Summary and next steps (5 to 10 min)

  • Recap the key points and agreements.
  • Document action items.
  • Agree follow up timing. You will send the summary in writing within 2 working days.
5

Common prep mistakes

  • Running the review without goals. If you did not set goals at the start of the period, you cannot review against them. Do not run the review, set the goals first and do the review next cycle.
  • Skipping the team member's self-assessment. If you walk in without reading it, you are running your review, not a joint conversation.
  • Writing your prep the morning of. Your prep will lean on whatever happened last week, which is the definition of recency bias.
  • Mixing pay into the conversation. Keep pay in the annual pay review meeting. If the team member raises it, acknowledge it and park it for the pay review.
  • Raising a performance concern for the first time here. If a concern has been building, raise it in a one on one first. The review confirms and captures, it does not ambush.
  • Leaving without written follow up. The meeting is only valuable if it lands. Send the written summary within 2 working days.
Review prep

My prep for this performance review

Fill this in for yourself. Bring it into the meeting.

1 About the review

Quick details so you can keep the prep on file next to the team member's self-assessment.

2 What I took from their self-assessment

After you have read the team member's self-assessment, capture the 3 or 4 things worth bringing back into the meeting. Where you agree. Where you see it differently. What surprised you.

3 Goals from last period

Go through each goal set at the start of the period. Rate how it tracked from where you sit, note what you saw, and name the causes behind where it landed. The rating is less important than the causes.

4 Biggest accomplishments

What you want to name in the meeting. Specific moments, impact on clients, the team or the business. Do not recycle the self-assessment, add what they missed or understated.

5 Challenges and how they handled them

Where it got harder than expected, and how they actually responded. This is the section that tells you about capability, more than the accomplishments section does.

6 Strengths I have seen at work

The capabilities you have observed them use well this period. Client management, delivery discipline, communication, coaching, commercial judgement, team collaboration. Ground each one in a specific thing you saw.

7 Areas to strengthen next period

Where you want to see growth. Nothing here should be a surprise, it should have been raised in one on ones. Be specific. Vague development notes produce vague development.

8 Skills developed and support to set them up

The skills you have watched them develop over the period, and the support you will put behind them for next period. Training, coaching, cover, mentoring, or time carved out.

9 Proposed goals for the next period

Your proposed draft. They can counter and refine in the meeting. Use OKR format: an objective (what we are aiming at) and 2 or 3 key results (how we will measure it). Include 1 role or delivery goal, 1 business project goal, and 1 development goal.

10 Agenda and follow up

What you will focus the meeting on, and what you will send in writing after. Nothing here should be a gotcha. If something has not been raised in a one on one yet, flag it and decide whether to raise it now or before the meeting.
Keep this prep doc on file with the signed review summary you send the team member.