David Cummings on Startups

Updated Quarterly Check-ins

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David Cummings

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We’re mixing things up this quarter and doing quarterly check-ins instead of quarterly performance reviews. OK, so they are pretty much the same thing but we tweaked the naming to reflect that this is a conversation with your manager/direct report, it isn’t tied to an immediate raise/promotion, and is important for aligning goals. I’ve talked about performance reviews several times before. Here are the questions we ask now:

  1. What did you accomplish this quarter? (List top 5-10 accomplishments)
  2. What 3-5 goals will you focus on next quarter?
  3. How can you improve?
  4. How are you embracing the company values? (Please provide specific examples.)

The quarterly check-ins are frequent enough to remember what you accomplished and infrequent enough to not be burdensome. My recommendation is to do something similar to facilitate communication and feedback on a regular basis.

What else? What other ideas do you have about check-ins/performance reviews?

Comments

25 responses to “Updated Quarterly Check-ins”

  1. Charles Brian Quinn Avatar
    Charles Brian Quinn

    You probably already have a 360 mechanism in place, but in our performance reviews, we always ask: “What can we, the company (Highgroove) do to help you succeed, which is an easier way of finding out: “what are we doing wrong and right?” but in a more positive way….

    Reply
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  12. Eduardo Fernández Avatar
    Eduardo Fernández

    Do you use the same questions for managers and non-managers? How about managers of managers?

    Reply
    1. David Cummings Avatar
      David Cummings

      Yes, same questions for everyone

      Reply
      1. Eduardo Fernández Avatar
        Eduardo Fernández

        Thanks David, this is extremely useful. Another quick question: do you have managers answer questions in writing about their reports? Or is the written check-in one way only?

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