No story. Short article. Just a simple plea: use performance reviews and 1:1 checkins. We have talked about building your team, creating a culture, and managing individuals. This only works if managers are actually managing effectively to drive performance. Else the budgets you have set or the OKRs you have negotiated for your team really won’t matter.
The good news is that they are easy to implement, and done well, liked by everyone. Don’t believe me? A tight 1:1 and Performance Review process:
And no, AI will NOT do this for you.
I have never seen an amazing team that doesn’t use them. The only reason people don’t do it?
Root cause | Typical excuse | Why the excuse doesn’t hold up |
Capability gaps | “I don’t know how to give actionable feedback; the conversation feels awkward.” | Giving feedback is a core part of being a manager. Learn it, or you’re not managing. |
Workload & logistics | “My calendar is packed; time-zones and large teams make scheduling impossible.” | Two hours per employee every six months plus a 15-30-minute weekly 1:1 is all it takes when done well. |
Attitude & priorities | “Reviews are corporate theater; dashboards and stand-ups cover everything.” | A well-run review is the heart of real communication, enabling honest two-way feedback no dashboard can match. |
Process & tool confusion | “Pulse surveys and AI summaries replace live dialogue; I don’t have a template.” | No one improves from a pulse survey alone. Use a simple template (see bottom) and have the conversation. |
In essence, poor managers don’t do it. Great managers use these tools to make the world go around. Of course, the structure varies, but here is a form I have found successful.
The Bullets
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Let’s get to work.
1. Weekly Check-ins
Talk once a week to your direct reports. Get feedback, set the direction for the upcoming week. It doesn’t need to take much time (15 minutes for smaller roles, 30 minutes for most roles, and 1 hour for complex strategy). This is how, as a manager, you turn talking into action.
Structure. Keep the same format across all your team to make it easy. It’s best to keep this separate from OKR tracking, which is handled in other structures. One simple way to run this is to ask for a bullet-pointed email ahead of time covering:
Wins. Highlight a success or two from the week.
Challenges. What are the biggest upcoming challenges, and what are the proposed solutions?
Growth. What are they working on that will grow their skillset or knowledge?
Preparations. The direct report should send you the agenda, with any linked documents, at least an hour before the meeting. Set aside 10 minutes to review it before you meet.
Quick feedback. Give immediate feedback to move the discussion forward. Ask why they’ve proposed a solution. Ask what happens if things go wrong.
Focus. This could be the most important hour of the week for your direct report (even if it’s one of five for you). Be present and focused.
Batch. Ask direct reports to batch non-urgent questions (and vice-versa) into this meeting so it actually saves time during the week.
This process is not about micromanaging, it’s about developing a relationship with your team and driving results. This simple structure enables that.
Note: The direct report should always come with proposed solutions to any issues they’re facing. Even better if they list multiple options and explain why they recommend one over the others.
2. Performance Reviews
Every six months, step back and talk with your direct reports about their performance. It’s about clarity. It gives your team a chance to improve, and gives them a sense of security and excitement about their future. Nobody likes being unsure about where they stand.
Structure. Keep the structure the same every time. This should be a Google Doc or Word Doc, no more than one to two pages in length. It should include all of the following elements, but feel free to format it in whatever way is easiest to follow.
Set a scorecard. We’ve mentioned this before, but the scorecard should be based on the culture and expectations you’ve set. Use a simple 1–5 scale (Needs Improvement to Excellent), with a brief explanation to provide context. Keep it easy, clear, and effective. Here’s an example:
6-Month Scorecard | Score | Notes |
Continuous Building | 3 | Because you were so focused on getting projects done, you haven’t been able to make as much progress as we had discussed in automating your work. |
Inspiring Others | 4 | You had strong feedback from your business partners in terms of service. There is room for improvement in pushing strategic insights to the teams you support. |
Reliability | 2 | You missed several deadlines, let’s discuss how to fix. |
Getting shit done | 5 | You got a lot done this last six months and really kept things afloat. |
Overall | 4 | Let’s work on committing to deadlines and clearing space to automate your workload so you don’t get tied up firefighting all the time. |
Get 360 Feedback. Reach out to the people they work with and ask for a few lines of feedback—how they’re doing, what could be improved, and anything they were impressed by. If permitted, include these lines in your direct feedback. It reinforces that the performance conversation isn’t just “you winging it.”
Provide detailed feedback. If you want them to improve on something like Reliability, give clear, actionable steps so they feel empowered to improve. For example:
Lay out your calendar a week in advance.
Spend 30 minutes scoping out a project before committing to a deadline.
Publicly share the projects you’re working on.
Work with me to prioritize if a deadline looks like it’ll be missed.
Tie to comp. Compensation should reflect performance. A bonus structure or evolving base salary tied to these metrics works well—and makes the salary process feel less arbitrary.
This does take a little bit of work, but a lot less work than continued underperformance and the departure of your star employees.
In conclusion
There is no reason to re-invent the wheel on people management. Give people good regular feedback to drive results. Like anything else, many iterations leads to better results.
