Performance reviews are my favorite time of the year.

Performance reviews are my favorite time of the year. I know you may think I’m crazy, but as a leader, I love that, once a year (twice if you are lucky enough to work for an organization that does mid-year reviews as well) I am given the explicit permission to not talk about the business at hand, but instead to set aside time to talk about my teammate. Time to reflect on successes. Time to process and learn from missteps. Time to dream about the future and time to make development plans. What more could you ask for?

I know this isn’t a popular opinion, and it is one that my team both loves and hates at the same time. It is easy to just put our heads down and get the job done. It is much more difficult to think and reflect and discuss the abstract, but it is what our teammates deserve (like it or not). If we don’t give performance reviews the time and attention they deserve, how can the organization grow and evolve? If we don’t dream with our teammates, how can they maintain their energy and expertise and explore new possibilities that will move the organization forward? If we don’t discuss the examples of times when we won and lost, how can we expect our teammates to know what to do more of and what to do less so that the culture of the organization stays (or becomes) a healthy environment? 

Then there’s the toughest part...asking the teammate for feedback. As a leader, the only way to hone your skills is to get feedback, and who better to give it to your than the people who are most directly impacted by it. Sure, getting feedback from those above you is nice, but they evaluate you with their opinion of what good is. Your teammates, on the other hand, provide feedback on you effectiveness as a leader. And if you don’t continue to grow and evolve, how can you ask that of those you lead?

This is why performance reviews are the best time of year for me: a true time of reflection.