Perhaps the only people to dread performance reviews more than staff are the managers or Partners leading them. Both go through the motions at the end of each financial year, often repeating the same ambitions and promises from the year before, with both sides of the equation equally frustrated when nothing seems to have moved.
Performance reviews become stalled and repetitive. Revisiting the same development plan, discussing the same gaps, showing the same vague optimism for the future. This cycle isn’t just frustrating, it’s demotivating. Leaders feel like they are offering opportunities that aren’t being taken up. Employees feel like they’re being judged for not progressing down a path they might not even want.
The most common explanation is the trap of busy people – everyone has concentrated on delivering high quality work and regular development conversations have slipped through the cracks, so nothing has changed.
But often there’s a less obvious, and more important reason behind the lack of progress – the staff member simply doesn’t want the advancement. Not right now. Maybe never.
This happens more than people realise, particularly at the senior manager/director/senior associate level. That “almost executive” tier where people are highly competent, deeply experienced, and incredibly valuable to the firm. Partners and senior managers often assume that promotion is the logical next step, because that’s what they wanted themselves. The conversation is framed around how to get there, without stopping to ask whether it’s what the individual wants. They ‘agree’ that path, but the conversation ends up in a cycle of annual repetition.
Not everyone wants to be a Partner. Some professionals genuinely enjoy the work they are doing now. At this level, they can be an important anchor for the organisation. They are technical experts, supervise the work of junior staff, make important decisions, manage a budget, and carry much of the load for executives. For many this is rewarding, satisfying and complete in itself; they are content with their position, contribute significantly to their team and firm, and have no desire for further responsibility.
For some, the reluctance to move up is about what they believe they will have to sacrifice to move into an executive level role. For others it’s about not wanting to be competitive. For many, it’s simply because they like the work they do, and the next step looks less attractive. Whatever the reason, it’s valid. It doesn’t mean they lack ambition or commitment to quality, the firm, or the team. They just have a different vision of success.
If your performance reviews with your people are going round in circles, it’s a sign that the conversation has become too narrow. You’re not asking the right questions. There’s not enough honesty. And probably not enough listening. When it feels like the only option on the table is the promotion path, people will either nod along and later avoid the work or feel like a fraud for not wanting what they’re 'supposed' to want.
If this sounds like a conversation you’re in the middle of, consider reframing the review. What does the person really want for the future? If it’s not upward growth, maybe it could be lateral growth, learning something new, taking advantage of the skills and experience they have. Maybe it’s time to see the desire to stay put as stability, not a lack of ambition, and use the performance review to find a more appropriate source of growth, rather than wasting time and causing anxiety.
When done right, performance reviews are one of the most valuable conversations in a business. . They are an opportunity for much more than a conversation about the next promotion. As the name suggests, if implemented as part of a well-designed ongoing (and usually easier) program, they are a powerful and enjoyable way to improve both relationships and performance, as well as enhancing culture and implementing wider strategy.
Leadership can’t assume that managers are good at this. Managers really do fear the process as much as their staff, so they deserve specific support and training, not just templates and timelines. And besides, if we’re investing time in these reviews every year, we may as well make them meaningful and valuable – for everyone.
