April 10, 2025 • 13 mins
Employee Reviews That Don’t Suck (And Actually Grow Your People)
Let’s be honest: most employee reviews suck. They’re vague, awkward, once-a-year rituals that everyone dreads—and nobody grows from.
But they don’t have to be.
In this episode of Things Leaders Do, Colby Morris breaks down how to build employee development plans that actually work—with SMART goals that connect to your team’s real career aspirations, and a system to track progress month after month.
You’ll learn:
✅ How to ditch the checkbox review culture
✅ How to build SMART goals your team actually cares about
✅ How to break annual goals into quarterly and monthly wins
✅ How to create a simple, powerful one-page development plan
✅ And why most reviews feel like punishment—but don’t have to
If you want to stop phoning it in and start building a culture where reviews lead to real growth, this episode is your roadmap. Plus, Colby shares real-life stories (yes, even the ones where he learned the hard way), so you can skip the mistakes and level up your leadership game faster.
🔔 Subscribe. Share it with the leader who’s still using last year’s copy-paste review template.
And if you’re looking for keynote speakers, workshops, or coaching that doesn’t suck either—Colby’s your guy.
Connect with Colby on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/colbymorris/)
or at his webpage: nxtstepadvisors.com (no "E" in NXT)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Things Leaders Do, the podcast that
uncovers the secrets of becomingan extraordinary leader.
If you're a leader who'sconstantly seeking growth,
inspiration and tangible ways tolevel up your leadership, then
you've come to the right place.
Remember, the world needsexceptional leaders, and that
leader is you.
Now here's your host, colbyMorris is you?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Now?
Here's your host, colby Morris.
What if I told you that yournext annual review didn't have
to be terrible?
What if your next annual reviewcould be a conversation?
It could be the most energizing, goal-focused meeting of your
entire year.
Sounds impossible, let's not.
(00:51):
Hello leaders and welcome backto the TLD podcast.
I'm Colby Morris and I have ledfrom just about every seat
frontline manager, middlemanager just about every seat
frontline manager, middlemanager, executive.
I've sat on both sides of thereview table and I've learned
that when you do this right,when you build your reviews with
(01:16):
purpose and intention, it stopsbeing a formality.
It starts being a catalyst.
Today is part one of a two-partseries on employee development
and annual reviews.
This episode is all aboutbuilding how to craft reviews
(01:37):
with intentional goals, how totie those goals to employees'
dreams and how to break it alldown into quarterly and monthly
wins that keep momentum goingall year long.
Next week, we'll dive into howto actually conduct the review
and why spoiler alert no oneshould ever walk into a review
(01:58):
surprised, but for now.
But for now, let's buildsomething worth reviewing.
Now let's talk about whyreviews matter and why currently
most don't.
We've all been there thatawkward review meeting.
You're pulling performance outof thin air, your employee is
(02:21):
trying to decode your tone andeveryone is just praying for it
to end without a scene.
The problem Too many reviewsare based on memory and vibe
instead of clear, sharedprogress.
But when you flip the scriptand focus your review on
development, everything changes.
(02:42):
You need three things you needconnection, which means you need
to know your people, not justtheir tasks.
You need clarity.
You have to set goals that arespecific and meaningful.
And you need consistency.
You have to break them intobite-sized pieces and check in
(03:02):
often.
So let's start with clarity.
That means goals, real goals,not try harder stuff.
All right, step one to writebetter SMART goals.
Look, we're not handing outparticipation trophies here.
We're building growth plans.
That means SMART goals.
(03:23):
Many of you already know this.
Smart stands for specific,measurable, achievable, relevant
and time-bound.
Let's look at a basic example.
Someone said they want toimprove team communication.
That's a wish, not a goal.
Okay, so let's try this Host a15 minute daily team huddle to
(03:48):
increase cross departmentcollaboration by 25% over the
next quarter.
That is specific.
A daily huddle, it's measurable.
25% increase in collaborationit's achievable.
It doesn't require that personto reinvent the wheel.
And it's relevant.
It directly impacts their roleand it's time bound One quarter.
(04:11):
It's clear, it's ownable, itsets the stage for tracking and
feedback.
All right.
Step two You're going to tie thegoals to what they want, not
just what you want.
See, this is where a lot ofleaders miss it.
We set goals for people, notwith them, and while performance
(04:35):
matters, development ispersonal.
Here's what I've learned whenpeople feel seen, they lean in.
So before you assign a goal,start with curiosity.
Ask things like what would makeyou more proud of your work
this year?
Or what skill do you wish youhad more time to develop?
(04:58):
What role do you want to be in,let's say, 18 months from now?
Okay, let me give you a realworld story.
I had a team member.
Let's call her Jessie.
Jessie was a strong operationslead.
Like she crushed her number.
She managed projects like amachine, but she always avoided
(05:21):
leadership responsibilities.
I assumed she just didn't wantto manage people.
But in one of our one-on-ones Iasked her what's one thing
you've never had the chance totry at work, but maybe that
you've always wanted to?
She paused and she said I'vealways wanted to build a
(05:41):
training program for new hires.
I just never thought I'd getthe chance.
Boom, at one moment shiftedeverything.
So her SMART goal for the yearDesign and pilot a new hire
(06:01):
onboarding program for theoperations team, rolling it out
by Q3.
Right, we broke it down byquarter and checked in monthly.
By the end of the year, notonly had she built the program,
but she gained the confidence totake on a mentorship role, and
now she leads a team of five.
You don't get that kind ofengagement by assigning goals.
You get it by listening,aligning and supporting.
(06:27):
All right, let's move to stepthree.
We're going to break goals downinto manageable wins.
What does that mean?
Here's the thing about annualgoals.
They feel like a new year'sresolution in July.
Okay, they're kind of distant,kind of blurry, usually
forgotten.
So what's the fix?
We're going to break it down.
Okay, goals need a quarterlymilestone and a monthly action
(06:50):
in order to stay alive.
Okay, I'm going to give you afew examples.
Let's say, let's give you asales example your annual goal
is to close 34 deals.
Well, if we do the math, thatquarterly milestone is to close
eight to nine deals everyquarter.
Break that math down a littlebit more.
That means you need to closetwo to three deals every month.
(07:12):
Okay, it's easy math, it'spredictable.
Pacing Okay, it's built insuccess checks.
Let me give you a non-salesexample An administrative role
Okay, that annual goal reducescheduling errors by 80% that
quarterly milestone.
Implement scheduling software,train staff, monitor accuracy
(07:38):
rates.
What would your monthly actionbe?
Well, we're going to auditschedules weekly.
We're going to gather stafffeedback and refine the workflow
.
Okay, that's leadership level,clarity and it works for any
role support staff, creativeroles, even HR.
Okay, let me give you askills-based example.
(07:58):
Say someone says I want toimprove my leadership skills to
prepare for a management role.
Okay, well, we need to breakthat down into what that
actually looks like.
Okay, so I'm going to give thatperson a quarterly milestone.
I'm going to say something likeI want you to complete a
leadership course and lead oneinternal project.
(08:19):
You, to complete a leadershipcourse and lead one internal
project.
Okay, that's every quarter yourmonthly action.
I want you to read oneleadership book and shadow a
senior manager in one meetingper month.
Okay, so you start doing themath on this.
Okay, that's a lot ofleadership books, that's a lot
of shadowing a senior manager,that's a lot of leadership
(08:41):
courses, a lot of leadinginternal projects Okay.
When you break it down like this, you're giving your team a
roadmap Okay, it's one they canfollow without like getting
overwhelmed or off track.
Plus, it gives you a reason tocheck in monthly okay, Not just
(09:05):
at the end of the year when it'stoo late.
All right, let's talk about atool, the one-page review
planner and I do have a PDF onthis if you'd like it, but it's
really simple.
You can actually create yourown.
I'd love to send you one, butit's not that deep.
All right, it's a simple onepage template.
At the top, you write two orthree smart goals that's tied to
that employee's aspirationsOkay.
(09:27):
In the middle, you writequarterly milestones Okay, with
room for taking notes or how areyou going to score that
tracking piece.
And then at the bottom, monthlyactions Okay, just small
practical steps that you canreview together every month.
And then take that page andstick it in your one-on-one
folder.
(09:47):
Use it during your one-on-onecheck-ins.
That's what helps keep youaligned and focused all year
long.
Okay, so here's your leadershipmove for this week.
I want you to kind of see whatthis looks like in action.
(10:07):
I'm going to kind of shift here.
I once had an operations managerlet's call him Chris.
He was phenomenal at puttingout fires.
He could literally troubleshootanything, but he was always
reactive and not reallyproactive.
So I sat him down and said,chris, if you didn't spend your
(10:28):
whole week responding toproblems, I call it being a
fireman.
Okay, what's one thing you wishyou had the time to build?
He laughed and he said I'vealways wanted to design a
playbook so our team knows whatto do instead of having to ask
me every time.
Awesome.
So we turned that into a smartgoal.
What did it look like?
(10:49):
Build a team operationsplaybook with all the SOPs for
all repeatable tasks by Q3.
Now for those of you who arenew to leadership management,
sops, standard operatingprocedures Okay, let's break
that in quarterly.
Okay, outline the SOPs and justgather information in Q1.
(11:11):
Okay, in Q2, I want you towrite and test the content.
In Q3, I want you to launch itand train the team.
Okay.
So what do we do monthly?
How do we make that happen?
I want you to launch it andtrain the team, okay.
So what do we do monthly?
How do we make that happen?
I want you to choose two, maybethree processes per month to
document.
Okay.
Hold weekly feedback sessionswith those team leads.
(11:32):
Okay, by the time review seasonrolled around, chris had
eliminated half his owninterruptions.
The team was running smootherthan ever.
Okay, you don't get that resultwith vague goals.
You get it by asking the rightquestions and building
intentional plans.
So again, here's your move thisweek.
(11:55):
I want you to pick one personon your team Okay.
Ask them about their future,find out what they want, and
then build at least one smartgoal with them.
Okay, break it into monthly andquarterly chunks.
Okay, that's not just goodleadership, that's great
(12:15):
development.
Next week, we're talking abouthow to deliver the review, how
to make it a conversation, not asurprise party with bad
lighting.
We're going to talk cadenceprep how to make sure even tough
reviews build trust instead ofbreaking it Make sense.
(12:37):
I hope you listened that weektoo.
Hey, if this episode helped you, I have two asks.
Please subscribe to the show soyou never miss an episode, and
please share it with anotherleader who's ready to build a
stronger team and a betterculture, because we grow faster
when we grow together.
And, hey, if you want toconnect, keep the conversation
(12:59):
going.
Ask a question.
I'm pretty active on LinkedInand I'd love to hear from you.
Okay, that link is in the shownotes.
If your organization is lookingfor leadership coaching,
keynote speakers or workshopfacilitation, I'd love to help.
I've worked with leaders atliterally every level and I
bring actionable strategies tothe table, not fluff.
(13:19):
Okay, so let's talk.
So this week, remember, don'tjust evaluate, elevate, and you
know why?
Sure, you do, because those arethe things that leaders do.
Welcome to Things Leaders Do, the podcast that
uncovers the secrets of becomingan extraordinary leader.
If you're a leader who'sconstantly seeking growth,
inspiration and tangible ways tolevel up your leadership, then
you've come to the right place.
Remember, the world needsexceptional leaders, and that
leader is you.
Now here's your host, colbyMorris is you?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Now?
Here's your host, colby Morris.
What if I told you that yournext annual review didn't have
to be terrible?
What if your next annual reviewcould be a conversation?
It could be the most energizing, goal-focused meeting of your
entire year.
Sounds impossible, let's not.
(00:51):
Hello leaders and welcome backto the TLD podcast.
I'm Colby Morris and I have ledfrom just about every seat
frontline manager, middlemanager just about every seat
frontline manager, middlemanager, executive.
I've sat on both sides of thereview table and I've learned
that when you do this right,when you build your reviews with
(01:16):
purpose and intention, it stopsbeing a formality.
It starts being a catalyst.
Today is part one of a two-partseries on employee development
and annual reviews.
This episode is all aboutbuilding how to craft reviews
(01:37):
with intentional goals, how totie those goals to employees'
dreams and how to break it alldown into quarterly and monthly
wins that keep momentum goingall year long.
Next week, we'll dive into howto actually conduct the review
and why spoiler alert no oneshould ever walk into a review
(01:58):
surprised, but for now.
But for now, let's buildsomething worth reviewing.
Now let's talk about whyreviews matter and why currently
most don't.
We've all been there thatawkward review meeting.
You're pulling performance outof thin air, your employee is
(02:21):
trying to decode your tone andeveryone is just praying for it
to end without a scene.
The problem Too many reviewsare based on memory and vibe
instead of clear, sharedprogress.
But when you flip the scriptand focus your review on
development, everything changes.
(02:42):
You need three things you needconnection, which means you need
to know your people, not justtheir tasks.
You need clarity.
You have to set goals that arespecific and meaningful.
And you need consistency.
You have to break them intobite-sized pieces and check in
(03:02):
often.
So let's start with clarity.
That means goals, real goals,not try harder stuff.
All right, step one to writebetter SMART goals.
Look, we're not handing outparticipation trophies here.
We're building growth plans.
That means SMART goals.
(03:23):
Many of you already know this.
Smart stands for specific,measurable, achievable, relevant
and time-bound.
Let's look at a basic example.
Someone said they want toimprove team communication.
That's a wish, not a goal.
Okay, so let's try this Host a15 minute daily team huddle to
(03:48):
increase cross departmentcollaboration by 25% over the
next quarter.
That is specific.
A daily huddle, it's measurable.
25% increase in collaborationit's achievable.
It doesn't require that personto reinvent the wheel.
And it's relevant.
It directly impacts their roleand it's time bound One quarter.
(04:11):
It's clear, it's ownable, itsets the stage for tracking and
feedback.
All right.
Step two You're going to tie thegoals to what they want, not
just what you want.
See, this is where a lot ofleaders miss it.
We set goals for people, notwith them, and while performance
(04:35):
matters, development ispersonal.
Here's what I've learned whenpeople feel seen, they lean in.
So before you assign a goal,start with curiosity.
Ask things like what would makeyou more proud of your work
this year?
Or what skill do you wish youhad more time to develop?
(04:58):
What role do you want to be in,let's say, 18 months from now?
Okay, let me give you a realworld story.
I had a team member.
Let's call her Jessie.
Jessie was a strong operationslead.
Like she crushed her number.
She managed projects like amachine, but she always avoided
(05:21):
leadership responsibilities.
I assumed she just didn't wantto manage people.
But in one of our one-on-ones Iasked her what's one thing
you've never had the chance totry at work, but maybe that
you've always wanted to?
She paused and she said I'vealways wanted to build a
(05:41):
training program for new hires.
I just never thought I'd getthe chance.
Boom, at one moment shiftedeverything.
So her SMART goal for the yearDesign and pilot a new hire
(06:01):
onboarding program for theoperations team, rolling it out
by Q3.
Right, we broke it down byquarter and checked in monthly.
By the end of the year, notonly had she built the program,
but she gained the confidence totake on a mentorship role, and
now she leads a team of five.
You don't get that kind ofengagement by assigning goals.
You get it by listening,aligning and supporting.
(06:27):
All right, let's move to stepthree.
We're going to break goals downinto manageable wins.
What does that mean?
Here's the thing about annualgoals.
They feel like a new year'sresolution in July.
Okay, they're kind of distant,kind of blurry, usually
forgotten.
So what's the fix?
We're going to break it down.
Okay, goals need a quarterlymilestone and a monthly action
(06:50):
in order to stay alive.
Okay, I'm going to give you afew examples.
Let's say, let's give you asales example your annual goal
is to close 34 deals.
Well, if we do the math, thatquarterly milestone is to close
eight to nine deals everyquarter.
Break that math down a littlebit more.
That means you need to closetwo to three deals every month.
(07:12):
Okay, it's easy math, it'spredictable.
Pacing Okay, it's built insuccess checks.
Let me give you a non-salesexample An administrative role
Okay, that annual goal reducescheduling errors by 80% that
quarterly milestone.
Implement scheduling software,train staff, monitor accuracy
(07:38):
rates.
What would your monthly actionbe?
Well, we're going to auditschedules weekly.
We're going to gather stafffeedback and refine the workflow
.
Okay, that's leadership level,clarity and it works for any
role support staff, creativeroles, even HR.
Okay, let me give you askills-based example.
(07:58):
Say someone says I want toimprove my leadership skills to
prepare for a management role.
Okay, well, we need to breakthat down into what that
actually looks like.
Okay, so I'm going to give thatperson a quarterly milestone.
I'm going to say something likeI want you to complete a
leadership course and lead oneinternal project.
(08:19):
You, to complete a leadershipcourse and lead one internal
project.
Okay, that's every quarter yourmonthly action.
I want you to read oneleadership book and shadow a
senior manager in one meetingper month.
Okay, so you start doing themath on this.
Okay, that's a lot ofleadership books, that's a lot
of shadowing a senior manager,that's a lot of leadership
(08:41):
courses, a lot of leadinginternal projects Okay.
When you break it down like this, you're giving your team a
roadmap Okay, it's one they canfollow without like getting
overwhelmed or off track.
Plus, it gives you a reason tocheck in monthly okay, Not just
(09:05):
at the end of the year when it'stoo late.
All right, let's talk about atool, the one-page review
planner and I do have a PDF onthis if you'd like it, but it's
really simple.
You can actually create yourown.
I'd love to send you one, butit's not that deep.
All right, it's a simple onepage template.
At the top, you write two orthree smart goals that's tied to
that employee's aspirationsOkay.
(09:27):
In the middle, you writequarterly milestones Okay, with
room for taking notes or how areyou going to score that
tracking piece.
And then at the bottom, monthlyactions Okay, just small
practical steps that you canreview together every month.
And then take that page andstick it in your one-on-one
folder.
(09:47):
Use it during your one-on-onecheck-ins.
That's what helps keep youaligned and focused all year
long.
Okay, so here's your leadershipmove for this week.
I want you to kind of see whatthis looks like in action.
(10:07):
I'm going to kind of shift here.
I once had an operations managerlet's call him Chris.
He was phenomenal at puttingout fires.
He could literally troubleshootanything, but he was always
reactive and not reallyproactive.
So I sat him down and said,chris, if you didn't spend your
(10:28):
whole week responding toproblems, I call it being a
fireman.
Okay, what's one thing you wishyou had the time to build?
He laughed and he said I'vealways wanted to design a
playbook so our team knows whatto do instead of having to ask
me every time.
Awesome.
So we turned that into a smartgoal.
What did it look like?
(10:49):
Build a team operationsplaybook with all the SOPs for
all repeatable tasks by Q3.
Now for those of you who arenew to leadership management,
sops, standard operatingprocedures Okay, let's break
that in quarterly.
Okay, outline the SOPs and justgather information in Q1.
(11:11):
Okay, in Q2, I want you towrite and test the content.
In Q3, I want you to launch itand train the team.
Okay.
So what do we do monthly?
How do we make that happen?
I want you to launch it andtrain the team, okay.
So what do we do monthly?
How do we make that happen?
I want you to choose two, maybethree processes per month to
document.
Okay.
Hold weekly feedback sessionswith those team leads.
(11:32):
Okay, by the time review seasonrolled around, chris had
eliminated half his owninterruptions.
The team was running smootherthan ever.
Okay, you don't get that resultwith vague goals.
You get it by asking the rightquestions and building
intentional plans.
So again, here's your move thisweek.
(11:55):
I want you to pick one personon your team Okay.
Ask them about their future,find out what they want, and
then build at least one smartgoal with them.
Okay, break it into monthly andquarterly chunks.
Okay, that's not just goodleadership, that's great
(12:15):
development.
Next week, we're talking abouthow to deliver the review, how
to make it a conversation, not asurprise party with bad
lighting.
We're going to talk cadenceprep how to make sure even tough
reviews build trust instead ofbreaking it Make sense.
(12:37):
I hope you listened that weektoo.
Hey, if this episode helped you, I have two asks.
Please subscribe to the show soyou never miss an episode, and
please share it with anotherleader who's ready to build a
stronger team and a betterculture, because we grow faster
when we grow together.
And, hey, if you want toconnect, keep the conversation
(12:59):
going.
Ask a question.
I'm pretty active on LinkedInand I'd love to hear from you.
Okay, that link is in the shownotes.
If your organization is lookingfor leadership coaching,
keynote speakers or workshopfacilitation, I'd love to help.
I've worked with leaders atliterally every level and I
bring actionable strategies tothe table, not fluff.
(13:19):
Okay, so let's talk.
So this week, remember, don'tjust evaluate, elevate, and you
know why?
Sure, you do, because those arethe things that leaders do.
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