Episode #266: More Frequent Performance Reviews Won’t Help If The Boss Is Still Clueless

Big companies are loudly abandoning annual performance reviews for more frequent reviews. Sounds revolutionary—but is it really? This shift is often just clever PR wrapped in buzzwords. The truth is, the actual issue remains untouched: leaders still don’t know how to lead performance conversations. Whether we do these reviews weekly, quarterly, or permanently doesn’t matter if the conversations are still awkward, unclear, and demotivating.

The root problem isn’t the calendar—it’s the communication. Poorly trained managers are being asked to give feedback more often, without fixing the actual skill gap. More bad conversations, more frequently – is that progress. That’s just corporate theatre. Engagement surveys consistently show these sessions do more harm than good. Both sides walk away frustrated. No one feels clearer, more inspired, more motivated or more aligned.

The fantasy that busy, overwhelmed bosses can suddenly make time for regular deep conversations is laughable. Normally, email tsunami, meeting deluge and reporting rampage combine in a perfect storm with poor time management skills and non-existent delegation capability to ensure the boss is maxed out. Poor or excellent conversations are simply not held, because the boss is too busy.
The new regime just adds another layer of reporting—more boxes to tick, less meaningful impact. AI won’t save this either. If we don’t upskill the humans, nothing changes.

What actually works? Proper training in time management, communication, and performance conversations. Not a two-hour workshop so HR can check a box. We’re talking real behavioural change—where we deal with the fear, build the skills, and make sure theory becomes actual practice. That kind of training sticks.

And it’s desperately needed. People are the most expensive, most important part of any operation. But we often treat performance reviews like a side project. We’ve recognised that annual check-ins don’t cut it anymore—great. But now we have to commit to doing it better, not just more often.

Until we fix the skills gap and address the time constraints, all we’ve done is rebrand the same bad experience. More frequent doesn’t equal more effective. If we want high-impact reviews, we need high-skill leaders. Unless this becomes a reality, this will be another fad that hangs around for a while and then is taken out the back and quietly garrotted.