The contemporary performance review is the far-flung descendant of a now-defunct military rating system established during World War I. At its inception, the original performance review was punitive — designed for flagging poor performers and culture defectors.
By World War II, though, the appraisal system evolved, instead highlighting soldiers with the earmarks of a great leader. In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, the performance review was adopted by the corporate world and garnered the attention of social psychologists and leadership experts. With the adoption came adaptation: The conversation shifted from only a review of historical performance to include forward-looking opportunities for growth and advancement. The shift has also occurred in the voices leading the conversation: a previously manager-led review can now often become an equal-parts employee-manager discussion about wins, challenges, feedback and the best projects and roles to fit their desired development path.
Over a century since its military beginnings, the modern performance review is an extension of a more holistic development system, rather than the focal point. Savvy tech managers focus on building genuine rapport and a robust feedback pipeline year-round, with the performance review serving as an opportunity to delve deeper into the employee’s ongoing growth.
The modern performance review is an extension of a more holistic development system, rather than the focal point.
Data Science Manager Kat Bardash points to Prove’s established culture of consistent feedback as the cornerstone of its performance review strategy.
“We’ve created a culture of feedback, improvement and celebrating successes on our team, so framing or delivering feedback feels natural,” Bardash told Built In Colorado.
Ultimately, Bardash envisions the performance review as an opportunity to create a personal roadmap for each employee.
“Performance reviews at the start of the year help set up the goal-setting process,” Bardash explained.
As Bardash makes clear, the modern performance review has far outstripped its harsh beginnings, serving as a powerful tool for professional development and compassionate management in the tech world.
Prove provides mobile and digital identity authentication for banks, insurers, brokerages and technology companies.
Ahead of a performance review, how do you prepare in order to ensure it’s a meaningful and productive conversation?
I use a variety of tools and resources to gather information before finalizing a performance review: one-on-one notes, progress toward goals, tech team competency matrices, self-reflection and feedback from people they frequently work with.
The self-reflection allows me to see how the employee viewed their work, their impact on the team and their contributions over the past year. The competency matrix helps me reflect on specific areas such as technical acumen, communication and teamwork.
Self-reflection allows me to see how the employee viewed their work, their impact on the team and their contributions over the past year. ”
Instead of saying, “You need to improve your communication,” I can better pinpoint what their level of communication looks like and provide specific examples to my team on how they can improve, keep doing what they are doing or get to the next level.
I meet with individuals biweekly and ask about their accomplishments, challenges, blockers and interests — so there is a wealth of information in those notes that I can reference. Once I collect this information, reflect on it and write the review, the hard work is done. I then share the review with the team member ahead of our conversation so we both come to the table with thoughts, questions and conversation points.
What advice do you have when it comes to framing or delivering feedback, whether it’s positive or negative?
The hard work is done prior to the conversation — I try to write thoughtful, specific and succinct feedback so that each team member has the best chance of receiving the message and doing something about it. Even in the most difficult conversations outside the review cycle, I gather specific examples of the challenges and make sure I can clearly communicate why improving upon these challenges matters to the employee and the team. Doing this allows me to keep the conversation objective, specific and focused on growth and success.
To start a conversation, I assume best intentions and will typically bring up a recent example of the behavior that I’d like to discuss and let them lead. Usually, the employee knows what is going on and can articulate the issue or they may share something new with me about what is affecting their work. I will end hard conversations by reminding them that I’m rooting for them and their success.
What happens after the performance review? How do you leverage these types of conversations to help your employees grow and develop their skills?
If there are issues with performance, those would be written out as clear goals with timelines for the employee to meet. For members of my team looking to reach the next level, we create specific goals that push their knowledge and skills. For example, if one team member is interested in taking on more leadership opportunities, I can work with them to set a goal for them to mentor a junior member on a specific project over the next few months.
Our goals are recorded in a tracking tool — so it’s easy to refer back to them periodically to check on progress or obstacles getting in the way. The biweekly one-on-ones are another place where we can continue conversations and check-ins about each member’s progress.
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