A step by step guide to running a successful annual review

1. / 1.© rogenSi IP limited
Running an
Exceptional
Annual Review /

2. / 2.© rogenSi IP limited
Set direction, enhance capability and re-energise
your team members – all in one meeting
When done right the annual review is a wonderful
opportunity for the team leader and the team member to
slow down and reflect before casting their thoughts to the
year ahead.
By slowing down we get a chance to extract the best
ideas from the year behind and also learn from those
things that didn't go so well.
We also get a chance to think about the year ahead
before it starts. We know that every year our customers,
our stakeholders and our team mates have higher
expectations of us. So we all need to re-set the dials on
what we do and how we do it to set ourselves up for
future success.
When done right your team members will feel energised
by the experience, more confident about working smarter
and ready to build on their capability knowing they have
your support.
Exceptional Annual Reviews
Purpose and Outcomes
The Purpose
The Outcomes
Take time to reflect
Lock in the best things from the past year
Identify areas for improvement
A list of new objectives
Modifications to our activities
Areas for development of our capability

3. / 3.© rogenSi IP limited
Things to do before
There are a few key activities that both the
leader and the team member should do
before a review. These activities relate to
building the most accurate picture of the
year just passed.
Team Member
Ask them to spend some time reviewing
their key activities, their achievements,
and reflect on the things could have been
better. Ask them to bring along anything
that will help shed light on the year just
gone such as reports, case studies,
awards or written feedback.
Manager
Invest some time in gathering and
reviewing as much information as you can
access on each team member. Source that
information from as many places and
people as you can, that way you should
get a good balance of data points and
points of view.
Three Key Stages
How to run the meeting
Our 5 Golden Rules for review meetings
are:
1. Make sure both of you have done your
homework.
2. Strike a balance between asking
questions and sharing your points of
view.
3. Make sure you get all the important
points written down, ideally by the
person you are reviewing.
4. Try as much as possible to take
everything at face value – that way
your existing biases will have less of a
chance to influence what you are
hearing.
5. Avoid making decisions about next
year until you have fully examined last
year.
What to do afterwards
Towards the end of the review you and
your team member should be getting
closer to agreeing the three critical drivers
of success for the year ahead:
Driver #1
Agree some goals and objectives for the
year ahead that are in line with the
strategy of the business but are tailored to
the team member’s role, experience and
strengths.
Driver #2
Based on the review, agree on the critical
activities that will consume the bulk of your
team member’s time.
Driver #3
Develop a list of capabilities to develop for
the year ahead. This could relate to skills,
knowledge, process or mindsets.
How to get the most from a review

4. / 4.© rogenSi IP limited
Team Member Focus
1. What are the achievements from last year that you are most proud of?
2. What are the areas of your work that you found most challenging?
3. What activities from last year helped you achieve the most?
4. What activities do you think consumed the most time but delivered the
least value?
5. Last year what did you learn about your capability that would benefit from
an upgrade this year?
6. If you asked your peers - What would they say are your greatest
strengths?
7. If other people you deal with in the business were to give you advice
about improvements for the year ahead - What do you think they would
say?
8. What aspects of your role give you the biggest buzz?
Great Review Questions
About the Previous Year
As a leader your job is listen out
for clues around four key
capability areas:
Knowledge
Things your team need to know more
about to excel in their role
Skills
Things your team need to be able to do
to excel in their role
Process
How your team can do their work more
efficiently and reduce errors
Mindset
Patterns of thinking that help your
team's energy levels and ability to cope

5. / 5.© rogenSi IP limited
Knowledge:
 I don't understand how my role contributes to our business
strategy
 There are aspects of what we do here that I don't understand
 I'm not sure how what we do connects with other parts of the
business
Skills:
 I am not very good at communicating with large groups
 I would like to be better at building cross functional teams
 I struggle to get other people to embrace my ideas and follow
through on their commitments
 I want to be better at identifying opportunities for development in
my team members
Process:
 I would like to plan for my meetings faster and more effectively
 I need a system for giving more constructive feedback
 I want a method for dealing with resistance to change
 We need a common language when planning for meetings with
suppliers, customers and stakeholders
Mindset:
 I wish I could see problems as opportunities
 I find everyday setbacks really drive down my confidence
 I get deflated after I experience challenging situations
 I struggle to maintain my concentration on difficult tasks
Common Challenges
Practical Solutions from rogenSi
Typically questions like this are the result of some
misalignment in the team or the wider organisation.
Our Vision to Results programs are a fast and effective way
to re-align the team.
These types of skill development opportunities can be
addressed in our programs that cover
Presentation Skills, Influencing Skills and Coaching.
Our Presentation, Influencing and Coaching programs
provide systems, processes, tools and templates to help
teams develop more efficient and effective approaches to
these kinds of activities.
Elements of mindset exist in all our programs but our Fortius
Mindset Assessment and our Breakthrough Mindset program
help create new patterns of thinking to underpin more
constructive ways of dealing with challenging situations.
K
S
P
M

6. / 6.© rogenSi IP limited
If the answer to more than 3 of these questions is yes, then there is a strong chance that you have
done a pretty good job on this review:
My team member has a better sense of how their role aligns with our business strategy
My team member has a better sense of their priorities for the year ahead
We have identified at least 2 or 3 areas for capability development in the year ahead
My team members seems more focused and energised through this process
I am more confident that this team member is better prepared to have a successful year
Exceptional Annual Reviews
A Checklist