Employee writes their performance review with AI.
Manager reviews the review with AI.
Manager responds with an AI review of the AI-reviewed, AI-written review.
Employee responds to the response about the review of the review...
Stop. Put down your AI and come out with your hands up.
Please, I beg of you, don’t perpetuate this loop. We already live in a world of performance review theater, where everyone’s pretending to care while secretly trying to survive Q4. And now? You’re adding an AI wrapper on top like a little parsley garnish of detachment. It doesn’t make it better. It makes it hollow.
There are two sacred spaces where I implore you to keep the robots out: 1:1s and reviews.
These moments are personal. Human. Messy. They are not meant to be automated. You are responsible for the person sitting across from you. You owe them your actual, unfiltered thoughts about how they’re doing, not a prompt-engineered paragraph about “growth opportunities.”
“But it’s too much text! How can I read it all?!”
Really? The employee spent time thinking, writing, and sweating over this document. If you want something shorter, say so. If you only care about bullets, ask for bullets. Don’t make them write a novel you’re just going to feed to ChatGPT so you can pretend you read it.
Set expectations. Make it humane. Let people spend their brain space on real reflection instead of trying to come up with another synonym for “above and beyond.”
The Tax Analogy (And Why Everyone Hates It)
In most companies, reviews feel like filing taxes:
The employee fills out their best estimate of their worth.
The manager (a.k.a. the IRS) already knows the answer.
Then they tell you why your math is wrong, and you owe them another 10%.
We don’t need AI to solve this. We need honesty, clarity, and a shared understanding of what actually matters.
Make It Easy. Make It Human.
If you’re giving real, honest feedback in your 1:1s, the review should never be a surprise. It should feel like closing a book you’ve already read together. A few nods about the past. A bigger conversation about what’s next.
Here’s the simple 3-line template I swear by:
Reviews Made Simple For Employees
Write down three things you’re proud of from the past [X time period] and the impact they had. (celebrate these!)
Write down three areas you’d like to improve and why.
Write down three things your manager can do to support you in those areas.
Reviews Made Simple For Managers
Write down three things the employee did well in the past [X time period] and the impact they had. (celebrate these!)
Write down three areas you’d like to see them improve and what that looks like.
Work together to write down three goals the employee will aim for, and you will support. I tend to break this into one personal, one team, and one broader career goal. After all, we likely only have the employee for 1-3 years, so what can we do to prepare them for the future?
That’s it. Review? Done. Goals? Done. Support? Done.
No AI. No theater. Just two people having an honest conversation about work.
And if you’re not comfortable putting your review together? Reach out! I’d much rather we chat about how you can put together a great review experience than have you turn into one of those managers who fill their reviews with fluff.
Helpful Links
“Is performance management over?” [Hebba Youssef]
“Why the annual performance review is outdated” [Dominic Joyce]
“Rethinking the Review: Why We Are Getting Performance Evaluations All Wrong” [Inc.com]
“Workers Want Fair, Accurate Performance Reviews” [Business News Daily]
“The fairness factor in performance management” [McKinsey & Company]
“How Effective Feedback Fuels Performance” [Gallup]
“Preventing Surprises in Employee Performance Reviews” [WorkStory]
“The future of feedback: Motivating performance improvement” [PMC]
New format for links, are they more helpful?