| Week | Exercise | Time | Artifact |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Snapshot your team's performance | 3 minutes | Quick notes per direct report |
| 2 | Snapshot your own concerns | 3 minutes | Top 3 worries list |
| 3 | Pick the highest-priority item, find step #1 | 5-10 minutes | First action step |
| 4 | Talk to a trusted neutral | One conversation | Revised direction |
| 5 | Commit to action | 5 minutes | Task with a date in your system |
Most performance reviews have a strong recency bias. You remember the successes and failures from the last three months and use that as the foundation for the report card. This is unfair. Your team members have likely forgotten or rebranded their failures, but, more importantly, they are immensely proud of that achievement from nine months ago. That's my promotion project. And you forgot it.
DO THIS. RIGHT NOW. For each of your direct reports, write down the first three things that come to mind regarding their recent performance. Anything. No one except you is going to read this. The goal is to take a snapshot of their performance. Three minutes, no more. (If you don't have a team, flip it -- do this for your boss.)
The last thing you are thinking about in January is performance reviews. That's a Summer or Fall exercise, but investing a few minutes at the beginning of the year, you're preparing for conversations you may need to construct in six months. Put your brief notes somewhere safe -- we're going to refer back to them later in the year.
BONUS: If you find something good, discuss it in your next 1:1.
Last week, you did a super-fast assessment of your team. Not a performance review, nothing formal, just a temperature check. The practice here is a cache refresh -- a non-reactionary profile of your team actively in your head, a perspective not based on your last three reactions.
DO THIS. RIGHT NOW. For yourself, do the same exercise you did for your team. Write down the top three concerns, worries, or obstructions that are bothering you right now. Anything that is showing up as friction this week is probably a bigger deal than you are currently forecasting.
This is a very rough draft of your self-review. All that is important right now is a gut feel. We'll get to action later. Put it somewhere safe.
BONUS: Figure out if anything on this list is worth sharing with your manager. Share it.
In your toolkit, you now have two short documents. A quick assessment of the team and a quick assessment of yourself. Go re-read them.
DO THIS. RIGHT NOW. On those two lists, there is something urgent. For the highest priority item on either list, figure out a first step. This is not the solution; this is step #1. The point is to twist observation into action. A first conversation, more research, something. This act is the hardest because the reason these items are on this list is that you're not naturally just handling them.
BONUS: There's a moment you're looking for with satisfying problem-solving. It's when you can see the path forward -- it might be the solution, but it's probably just a sense that you're heading in the right direction. The step above gets your brain working on this.
Last week, you took the first step toward solving a significant concern, worry, or obstruction about yourself or your team. The goal was to choose a direction, not a solution.
DO THIS. RIGHT NOW. With this direction in mind, talk to a trusted other. They should likely have no skin in the game on this challenge so that they can remain neutral. The point of this exercise is two-fold. One, get the idea out of your head and in front of someone else. Second, the active demonstration to this other human that you value their opinion.
BONUS: Did you learn something from this conversation? Good. Rewrite your direction artifact.
Last week, you took the concern, worry, or obstruction and you shared it with an important someone else. What did you expect to learn? What did you unexpectedly learn?
DO THIS. RIGHT NOW. We've been noodling this situation for a bit, and it's now time to take action. The move: find the first big step. What is the thing that must be done to start? Put that accomplishment or task in your productivity system with a date you believe in.
BONUS: Put the next step in, too.