Don't Wait Until Year-End to Talk About Performance and Development

Prepare Now for More Meaningful Year-End Conversations

For many organizations, year-end performance reviews are still a few months away. But September is a good time for managers to look at what their employees have accomplished, where they may need additional support, and what development could help them finish the year strong.

Starting those conversations now can make the formal performance review more useful and far less dependent on what everyone happens to remember in December.

A Better Performance Review Starts Before the Review

Performance reviews can put a lot of responsibility on a single conversation.

Managers are expected to look back across months of work, provide meaningful feedback, recognize accomplishments, address performance concerns, and often discuss future goals and employee development.

That's a lot to accomplish if the manager hasn't been having those conversations throughout the year.

By Q3, managers already have months of information they can use. They've seen employees navigate changing priorities, work through challenges, take on new responsibilities, collaborate with others, and deliver results.

This is a good time to take stock of what they've observed rather than waiting until the formal review process begins.

Look Beyond What Got Done

Performance matters, but a useful review of the year should consider more than completed goals and projects.

Managers can also look at how an employee approached the work.

Where did they demonstrate a particular strength? What new capability have they developed? Where have they taken greater ownership? What types of assignments brought out their best work? Where have they struggled or needed more support?

Looking at these patterns gives managers a more complete picture of performance and creates a stronger starting point for employee development.

It also helps shift the conversation from simply documenting what happened to thinking about what should happen next.

Give Employee Feedback That Shouldn't Wait Until Year-End

If a manager identifies something an employee needs to hear now, there is little value in saving it for a performance review months from now.

Useful feedback is timely enough for someone to act on it.

That applies to corrective feedback, but it also applies to positive feedback. When employees are doing something particularly well, managers can help them understand what is working and why it matters. That gives employees an opportunity to use those strengths more intentionally.

Regular feedback also means fewer surprises when formal performance conversations arrive.

The year-end review can reinforce what managers and employees have already been discussing rather than introducing months of accumulated feedback all at once.

Connect Performance to Employee Development

Looking back is only part of a useful performance conversation.

Managers can also use this point in the year to begin talking with employees about what they want to strengthen next.

An employee may need to build a capability that will help them perform more effectively in their current role. They may be ready for greater responsibility. A strength they have demonstrated this year may be something they can apply more broadly. Or an upcoming project may provide an opportunity to practice a new skill.

This is where performance coaching and development coaching begin to work together.

Managers can help employees understand what they're doing well and where improvement is needed while also asking questions that encourage employees to take ownership of their continued growth.

Use This Time  to Ask Better Development Questions

Managers don't need to conduct an early performance review in September. A few thoughtful questions can help them understand where things stand and what deserves attention before the end of the year.

Consider asking:

• What accomplishment from this year are you most proud of?
• Where do you think you've grown the most?
• What's been more challenging than you expected?
• Is there a strength you'd like more opportunities to use?
• What would you like to improve or get better at before the end of the year?
• What support or feedback would be most helpful from me?
• What would you like to take on or develop next?

The answers can give managers useful insight while giving employees a more active role in evaluating their own performance and development.

Make Year-End Performance Conversations More Valuable

A strong performance review shouldn't feel like a manager revealing their assessment of the past year.

Ideally, it's a continuation of conversations that have been happening all along.

Using Q3 to reflect on performance, provide feedback, recognize growth, and discuss development gives managers and employees time to act before the year is over. It can also lead to better development priorities as organizations begin planning for the year ahead.

And that makes the formal review less about looking backward and more useful for deciding what comes next.

Strengthen the Development Side of Manager Coaching

Performance conversations and development conversations are closely connected, but they aren't the same.

In our upcoming Manage OnPoint! Developing Your Direct Reports public workshop, managers will learn how to distinguish between coaching for performance and coaching for development and use a practical, strengths-based approach to help employees take greater ownership of their growth.

This focused, two-hour virtual workshop is a timely opportunity for individual managers and small groups to strengthen their employee development and coaching skills before year-end performance conversations and planning get underway.

Manage OnPoint! Developing Your Direct Reports Public Workshop
Wednesday, September 23 | 1:00–3:00 p.m. ET
Online, facilitator-led

 Learn More and Register »