Run the half-year performance conversation

When to use

The scheduled half-year cycle, or an owner asks for a review of one person outside the cycle. Not for someone still in probation — use people.probation-review, which has its own decision and deadline. Not for setting company goals — use growth.quarterly-okrs; this playbook reads those goals, it does not write them. If the outcome may be ending the employment, this playbook stops at the recommendation — the decision runs through people.dismissal-lv.

Before you start

• The rating scale is known and was not invented for this run.
• Every employee has goals for the closed period in the goals module; where they do not, that gap is recorded
• The manager for each person is named. An agent never reviews anyone.

What a run requires3

The trail8 steps

1. S1

   Build the fact pack per employeeagent

   Pull from the records: goals for the period with status, tasks closed, sick-leave days (facts, not judgement), prior review notes, salary and last change date.

   Done when each employee has one page of dated facts the manager can read in five minutes.

2. S2

   Pre-rate before talkingmanager

   Manager writes a proposed rating and two sentences of evidence per goal, before hearing the employee's side.

   Done when the draft rating exists in the review record with a timestamp.

   ⛔ Rating after the conversation, not before, is how the manager rationalises a decision already made.

3. S3

   Schedule the conversationagent

   Book 45–60 min per person, private, in advance; send the employee the fact pack and the questions (self-assessment, what blocked them, what they want next).

   Done when every conversation has a calendar slot and the employee has had the pack at least 48 h before the slot.

4. S4

   Hold the conversationmanagerneeds approval · owner

   Approval · S4 · owner — the run stops until a named person records the decision

   Manager and employee go through facts, the manager's draft rating, and the employee's view; they agree 2–3 goals for the next period.

   Done when the record shows the final rating, the employee's comment in their own words, and the agreed goals.

   ⛔ Do not promise a raise or promotion in the room unless it is written into the record in S5 as a decision with a date and an amount.

5. S5

   Record the outcomeagent

   Write the review record: rating, evidence, agreed goals (entered with bc goals add), any follow-up (bc tasks add — owner and due date each), any salary decision pending owner approval.

   Done when the employee can see their own record.

6. S6

   Decide the salary and role consequencesownerneeds approval · owner

   Approval · S6 · owner — the run stops until a named person records the decision

   Owner reviews the list of ratings and decides: changes, none, or further steps. Any salary change goes to payroll as a dated instruction; any dismissal path is routed to people.dismissal-lv, never started here.

   Done when each employee row has a decision: no change · change (amount, date) · further step (linked playbook).

7. S7

   Tell the employee what changesagentneeds approval · owner

   Approval · S7 · owner — the run stops until a named person records the decision

   Only after S6: the agent prepares and the manager delivers any change message (salary, role, plan).

   Done when the employee has received the outcome in writing where it changes money or role.

8. S8

   Close the cycle and reportagent

   Mark every review complete, chase the missing ones, and give the owner a one-page cycle summary: coverage %, rating distribution, goals without owners, salary decisions pending.

   Done when coverage is 100% or every gap has a named reason and a date.

Checks — how we know it worked

• Every employee has a review record dated within the cycle window — read the list back, not the intention.
• Every rating has at least two dated facts behind it; a rating with none is reopened.
• Every agreed goal for the next period exists in the goals module with an owner and a due date.
• Every salary decision from S6 appears in the payroll instruction for the correct month.
• No dismissal conversation happened inside this review without people.dismissal-lv being opened.

If it goes wrong

What each step leaves behind

1. S1each employee has one page of dated facts the manager can read in five minutes.
2. S2the draft rating exists in the review record with a timestamp.
3. S3every conversation has a calendar slot and the employee has had the pack at least 48 h before the slot.
4. S4the record shows the final rating, the employee's comment in their own words, and the agreed goals.
5. S5the employee can see their own record.
6. S6each employee row has a decision: no change · change (amount, date) · further step (linked playbook).
7. S7the employee has received the outcome in writing where it changes money or role.
8. S8coverage is 100% or every gap has a named reason and a date.

Evidence to keep

The fact pack per employee · the pre-rating with timestamp (S2) · the review record with the employee's own words · agreed goals and their ids · the owner's S6 decisions with dates · the cycle summary (S8). Prior reviews stay attached so the next cycle compares like with like.

How this playbook improves

After each cycle ask: did ratings shift after the conversation (S2 vs S4) — and was that evidence or pressure? How many goals from the last cycle were never checked off? Did any rating feed a dismissal that later failed for lack of evidence? A new version changes the step that produced the gap, and says so in its change note.