Latest / New Manager Conversations with Fexingo: First 90 Days, Managing Former Peers, and Leadership Basics / How New Managers Can Navigate Their First Performance Review Cycle
Transcript
- Lucas: So, June is mid-year review season for a lot of companies, and if you are a new manager going through this cycle for the first time, I think it's one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of your first year. Luna: Absolutely. You're not just grading work—you're being graded on your judgment in real time. Lucas: Right. And the stakes feel huge because your reviews affect people's comp, their career trajectory, and your relationship with them. I want to talk about a specific case. A friend of mine—let's call her Sarah—became a manager at a mid-sized SaaS company about eight months ago. She had a team of five, including one former peer who was also up for promotion. Luna: Oh, that's a tough dynamic. She used to be equals with this person, and now she's evaluating them. Lucas: Exactly. And on top of that, she had a star performer who she felt was being undervalued by the rest of the leadership team. So she had to fight for one person while being hyper-aware of not playing favorites with the other. She told me she felt like she was walking a tightrope. Luna: What did she do? I imagine the standard advice—'just be honest and fair'—isn't super helpful when you're in the thick of it. Lucas: Yeah, 'just be honest' is almost dangerous because it ignores the context. What she did was break the process into three concrete moves. First, she pre-wrote what she called 'calibration cards' for each person. These were one-page summaries with three sections: key accomplishments, growth areas, and a specific trajectory statement—like where she sees this person in six months. Luna: That's smart. It forces you to articulate your thinking before you get into the messy group conversation. Lucas: Exactly. And she did this two weeks before the calibration meeting with HR and other managers. That gave her time to sit with her own assessments and refine them. Second move: she scheduled a pre-meeting with her HR business partner—just her and the HR person—to walk through her cards. She wanted to know if any of her ratings were going to be outliers compared to the org. Luna: So she was testing her calibration before the real calibration. That's a pro move. Lucas: Totally. And the HR partner told her that her star performer was actually being considered for a 'solid meets expectations' by another manager who didn't see the day-to-day impact. Sarah had evidence—specific numbers—to push back. She came prepared with data on how that person had turned around a key client account. Luna: That's the kind of advocacy that builds trust with your team. They never know you fought for them, but they feel the result. Lucas: Right. And the third move was about the former peer. Sarah wrote the calibration card, but she also did something else. She scheduled the performance conversation as a two-part meeting. First part: evaluation—here's where you stand, here's the rating, here's why. Second part, scheduled for the next day: development—here's what we're going to work on together to get you to the next level. Luna: Oh, I love that. Because if you try to do both in one sitting, the person is still processing the rating and can't hear the development part. Lucas: Exactly. She said the former peer was initially defensive during the evaluation part, but the next day, he came in ready to problem-solve. She framed it as 'here's the gap, and here's how I'm going to help you close it.' That made him feel coached, not punished. Luna: And she preserved the relationship. That's huge when you've just transitioned from peer to boss. Lucas: Yeah. And I think there's a broader lesson here for any new manager going through their first review cycle. The review itself isn't the conversation—it's the end of a conversation you've been having all year. If you're only talking about performance once every six months, you're setting yourself up for a painful surprise. Luna: That's the thing. A performance review should never be the first time someone hears that they're not meeting expectations. If it is, that's a manager failure, not an employee failure. Lucas: Totally. And I think that's where new managers get tripped up. They avoid the tough conversations because they don't want to be the bad guy, and then they end up being the bad guy in a formal meeting with HR present. Luna: So what about the opposite scenario? What if you have a team member who's doing great, but you're not sure how to advocate for them effectively in a calibration meeting full of more senior managers? Lucas: Great question. Sarah's approach with her star performer is the playbook. You need specifics—not 'she's great,' but 'she increased net retention by 12 percent quarter-over-quarter by redesigning the onboarding flow.' And you need to know the business context. If the company is prioritizing retention this year, that's your hook. Luna: So you're connecting their achievement to a strategic priority. That makes it harder for other managers to dismiss. Lucas: Exactly. And you should also pre-brief a couple of allies in the room. If there's another manager who's seen that person's work, ask them to chime in during the calibration. It's not gaming the system—it's making sure the full picture is visible. Luna: That reminds me of something I read about how Pixar does feedback. They have this concept of 'plussing'—where you build on someone's idea without criticizing it. But in a calibration, you're literally evaluating people. How do you keep it constructive? Lucas: I think the key is to separate the person from the performance. You're not saying 'you are a problem,' you're saying 'this behavior had this impact, and here's what we can do differently.' Sarah used that language even with her former peer. She said 'in the last quarter, the client handoff was delayed twice. Let's figure out what support you need to hit the timeline consistently.' Luna: That's a coaching frame, not a judgment frame. It's still honest, but it's forward-looking. Lucas: Right. And I think that's the mindset shift new managers need to make. You're not a judge—you're a coach with a grading rubric. And the rubric exists to help people grow, not just to sort them. Luna: You know, speaking of growth, something that helps us keep this show ad-free and focused on real, practical advice for people like Sarah is listener support. If you've gotten value from an episode like this, you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small gesture that helps us keep doing deep dives like this without any sponsors. Lucas: And we really appreciate it. It means we can spend time researching cases like Sarah's instead of worrying about ad reads. Okay, back to the review cycle. One thing we haven't talked about is how to handle the situation where you disagree with your own manager's assessment of one of your team members. Luna: Yeah, that's a delicate one. You have to advocate without seeming like you're protecting your team at all costs. Lucas: Right. Sarah actually faced that too. Her VP thought her star performer was 'just doing their job' and didn't deserve a top rating. Sarah had to respectfully push back by framing it in terms of business impact. She said 'I hear you, and I want to make sure we're not normalizing exceptional work. If this person leaves, we'd have a hard time replacing that 12 percent retention lift.' Luna: That's a great reframe. You're not being emotional—you're making a business case. Lucas: Exactly. And she also asked her VP: 'What would it take for this person to be a top performer in your eyes?' That opened a conversation instead of a fight. The VP ended up agreeing to a six-month check-in to reassess. Luna: So she bought time and set a clear bar. That's a win. Lucas: Yeah. And I think that's the through line for this whole episode. As a new manager, your job in the review cycle is to be the bridge between your team and the broader organization. You need to translate their work into business language, and you need to translate the organization's expectations into clear, coachable feedback. Luna: And to do that, you have to prepare. You can't wing a calibration meeting or a performance conversation. Lucas: No. Sarah's three moves—calibration cards, HR pre-meeting, two-part conversation—are all about preparation. And the result was that her team came out of the cycle feeling like they were seen and treated fairly, even the former peer who didn't get the promotion. He's now actively working on the development plan she laid out. Luna: That's the dream outcome. No surprises, no resentment, just a clear path forward. Lucas: Exactly. And if you're a new manager heading into your first mid-year review in the next few weeks, I'd encourage you to take a page from Sarah's book. Start writing your calibration cards today. Schedule that HR pre-meeting. And think about how you can separate the evaluation from the development conversation. Your team will thank you for it. Luna: And if you have a specific challenge you're facing, send it our way. We might cover it in a future episode. Lucas: Yeah, we love hearing from listeners. Until next time, take care of your team and yourself.