6 Performance Review Mistakes That Kill Motivation (And How To Fix Them)

Performance reviews have a bad reputation.

Few managers love giving them, and even fewer engineers love getting them.

And with the end-of-year review season approaching, most teams are bracing for that familiar mix of anxiety, unwanted paperwork, and calendar overload.

They’re often treated as a corporate formality — a recurring meeting that everyone dreads and no one really learns from. You know the feeling: you see it on your calendar and grimace like you just bit into a lemon.

But performance reviews don’t have to be awkward or bureaucratic. I don’t run the big, corporate-style performance reviews — we have our own version. But the principles are the same. And whatever form these conversations take, they can be far more than a necessary evil.

Why have performance reviews in the first place?

In many larger organizations, these meetings are tied to promotions, salary adjustments, and stacks of paperwork.

But regardless of your company’s size or structure, performance reviews serve another important purpose: they make sure your team knows where they stand and what’s expected next. Without them, people are left guessing whether they’re…