Performance Reviewed, Potential Ignored
Why The Annual Performance Review Ritual Is a Farce (and What to Do Instead)
Why am I talking about Performance Reviews in April?
Because this is the hangover. The end of the cycle. Raises (or not) have landed. Bonuses (or not) have cleared. And somewhere deep in HR land, a People Ops lead is finally unclenching their jaw.
But now? Now is when it actually matters.
Now is when you have to start doing it differently.
Performance Reviews are the corporate version of dinner theater. Managers pretend to remember what you did 11 months ago. You pretend their feedback is accurate. Everyone pretends this ritual has anything to do with your actual performance.
It’s not about growth.
It’s not about development.
It’s a box-checking pageant with a spreadsheet for a script.
And if this is your “talent strategy,” you’re not managing people—you’re managing paperwork.
The Fiction of Objectivity
Here’s how it goes:
Your manager fills out a form.
They rate you on collaboration, communication, “strategic thinking.”
They copy-paste some goals you barely remember setting.
They ask for your “self-assessment” like it matters.
Then they lock in a score that’s already been socially negotiated two layers up.
You thought this was about your work? It’s about politics. Calibration meetings are where reputations are sanded down, where boldness becomes “a development opportunity,” and where the safest story wins.
Feedback Shouldn’t Feel Like a Trap
We tell people to “seek feedback,” “be open,” “embrace the gift.” But the system makes it feel like a rigged quiz you didn’t study for. Because it’s not just about what you did—it’s about how you landed. Who you impressed. Who you annoyed. Who has time to advocate for you while prepping for their own review.
So employees rehearse the same lines:
“Thanks for the feedback.”
“I’ll work on that.”
“I appreciate the opportunity to grow.”
Translation? “I’m trying not to get fired.”
The Rating Game Is a Lie
Let’s talk ratings. On a 5-point scale:
3 means “you didn’t screw up.”
4 means “you’re good, but you’re not one of our people.”
5 means “we already decided to promote you before this even started.”
And getting a 2? You might as well start backing up your files.
These scores don’t reflect performance. They reflect perception. Positioning. Popularity. The biggest factor in your rating isn’t what you did—it’s who filled out the form.
And yet we attach bonuses, raises, and titles to this process like it’s gospel.
The Myth of “Development Conversations”
Performance reviews are supposed to be developmental. But if your first real feedback of the year comes in a form with your comp tied to it? That’s not development. That’s damage control.
Managers avoid the hard stuff all year—then drop a performance bomb in a meeting with HR on mute.
This isn’t courage. It’s cowardice, wrapped in process.
Development doesn’t happen on a schedule. It happens in the moment. In real time. In the hallway, in the one-on-one, in the moment before someone spirals, not after.
But we’ve outsourced human conversations to a system that needs dropdown menus.
Performance Reviews Aren’t Safe for A Players
Let’s not forget who this hits hardest.
A players—the ones who push, question, demand better—often don’t review well. Why? Because they make their managers uncomfortable. Because they call out systems that don’t work. Because they’re not always likeable in the traditional “warm and collaborative” sense.
And if the manager is a B player? Forget it.
The best people get dinged for “tone,” for “approach,” for “needing polish.” The real feedback? “You make me feel insecure, and this is the one time a year I can ding you for it.”
So What Should We Do Instead?
Burn the template. Build the trust.
Give feedback when it happens, not six months later.
Make feedback a conversation, not a performance.
Stop tying compensation to vague ratings. Tie it to outcomes—and courage.
Review the team, not just the individual. Ask: are they making the people around them better?
Want to know if someone’s high performing?
Ask their peers.
Watch them under pressure.
Look at how they respond when they screw up.
No rubric required.
Let’s End the Theatre
You can’t spreadsheet your way to excellence.
You can’t calibrate your way to courage.
And you sure as hell can’t fix culture with a rating scale designed to protect middle managers from telling the truth.
Performance reviews aren’t broken. They’re obsolete.
It’s time to stop pretending they help—and start building systems that do.
What to Do Instead of That Performance Review Nonsense
For Leaders
(aka: If you manage humans, this one’s for you.)
Give feedback when it matters. Don’t let someone stumble all year and then act surprised.
Ditch the euphemisms. “Opportunities for growth” isn’t helpful. Try: “Here’s what I need to see from you next quarter.”
Separate feedback from fear. If your people only hear the truth when their raise is on the line, they’re not listening. They’re bracing.
Ask for feedback too—and mean it. Let your team evaluate you. And if they’re scared to? That’s your performance review.
Stop rewarding “easy.” The person who never challenges anything? Not a top performer. Just someone who learned how to play safe.
For CEOs & CHROs
(aka: The most important duo. The ones with the keys.)
Stop protecting a broken system. If your performance review process causes more anxiety than clarity, kill it. Now.
Design for truth-telling. Implement tools that encourage real conversations. Not just documentation for legal to skim.
Decouple compensation from legacy ratings. Pay people for contribution, impact, and lift—not how well they navigate PowerPoint politics.
Teach feedback literacy. Equip managers and employees with the skills to give and receive feedback like grown-ups.
Run skip-level insights. Get the truth from people who work under the people you think are “fine.” You’ll find out who’s actually doing harm—or good.
For Employees
(aka: The people doing the damn work.)
Track your wins. All year. Don’t rely on your manager’s memory. They were in back-to-back meetings the whole time.
Ask for feedback early and often. Don’t wait for the official form. Say: “What should I be doing more of? Less of?”
Clarify what success actually looks like. If your manager can’t answer? That’s not your failure. But it is your signal.
Tell the truth in your self-assessment. Not the fluffed-up corporate version. The “here’s what I did and what I want next” version.
Speak up about broken systems. Performance reviews aren’t just ineffective—they’re shaping your career. If they’re failing you, say so.
If your company still clings to the performance review like it’s a sacred cow, ask them this:
"If it actually worked—why do we all dread it?"
Performance is real. Growth is necessary.
But this system? It’s neither.
Let’s build something worthy of the people we say we want to keep.
“That’s not development; that’s damage control.” Yes 🙌 100 times over!