Read Time: 3 minutes 33 seconds

Work has rhythm. Seasons. The tide comes in, and it recedes.

Sports too. In the pre-season, everyone has championship dreams. By the trade deadline, that dream has died for many clubs. But those that make a deep run into the playoffs?

They’re harvesting fruit planted during the long grind of the season. They’re developing talent. Upgrading their roster. Staring clear-eyed at problems.

As a kid growing up, the Major League Baseball All-Star break represented two things for me:

Baseball was on break. Basketball and hockey had just crowned champions. Football and soccer were yet to hit training camp. It was so bad that ESPN invented an award show for sports because no athlete could claim they had a conflict (at least we got a couple of iconic speeches).

The beginning of summer marks a similar inflection point for most businesses too. It's the halfway point. Numbers start to take shape. And you can't help but ask yourself, "What's working? Where are we coming up short? Are we set up to win?"

And the answer to that question always comes down to one thing:

People.

And while uttering the phrase "performance management" often gets a visceral reaction from leaders, it is a natural time to reflect on how people are performing.

And if the answer is "not so good," you're still at a point in the year when you can do something about it.

So how can you get a high-fidelity view without imposing more administrative tax on your team?

Run a Minimum Viable Performance Review.

Let's start with what this isn’t. This is not an in-depth performance review. No 360's. No long debates. No stack ranking or cross-team calibration.

When done well, this process accomplishes two things:

This process is about generating different data than you get day-to-day so you can lead more effectively. This can (and should) lead to a few follow-up conversations and adjustments, but that follow through is just good leadership.

I understand and am motivated by our mission: (1 - strongly disagree; 3 - neutral; 5 strongly agree). I start here because even strong performers who aren't mission-aligned will burn out.

What percentage of your work in a typical week directly impacts that mission: (0%-100%). Any score below 80% is a red flag. Either the work is inefficient, or the leader isn't connecting it to the mission clearly.

I understand and am aligned with my manager on my individual expectations: (Y/N). The 80/20 of leadership is setting clear expectations. How can people do their best work if they don't know how to win?

Over the first half of the year, I would self-assess my performance vs. those expectations as: (1 - well below; 3 - at expectations; 5 - well above). I'd expect my managers to have good answers for any below and good evidence for any above. Speaking of...

Please briefly highlight notable examples above or below (2-3 bullet points max): (Free form w/ character limit). This question helps calibrate at the individual level while shining a light on thematic problems and bright spots.

I am clear and aligned with my manager on how I need to develop to exceed expectations in the second half: (Y/N). One part personal development, one part clear expectations. I want to step in if either element is missing.

The only thing worse than not asking the questions is asking them and then doing nothing about it.

Build Some Heat

Plotting the answers on a heat map with conditional formatting lets you easily see which areas have problems. I prefer a column for each question and a row for each employee, grouped by manager, then department.

When I see a problem down a column, I know I must address it top-down. When I have a problem horizontally, I know I have a management problem, and that's where I probe to learn more.

Seek to Understand

The data will tell you "What," but it won't tell you "Why." That requires at least a conversation and possibly a more formal diagnosis.

If I'm surprised by any answers from my direct reports, I will run those to ground in out next 1:1 check-in. If a manager shows a surprising pattern across their team, I expect them to show me command of their area via a thoughtful plan to address the gaps.

Again, this is just managing. It should take no more than 30 minutes to understand the problem and agree on the path to address it.

Commit to Action

This will make most of you nervous, but publish the heatmap and the plan. If your culture supports transparency and ownership, leave the names on there. If that'll cause too much angst or prevent people from being honest, roll up the answers and publish at the team level.

But close the loop.

Now do it. See the changes through and circle back to tell them you did it. Shine a light on anyone you catch winning along the way.

If you decide to implement this, drop me a note to let me know how it goes. I suspect your worst case is nudging people back into alignment. For me, I almost always found a problem I was grateful to uncover sooner rather than later.

Break’s over. Let’s win the second half.

The perfect companion to the MGMT Playbook is One Thing Better. It's one of the four newsletters that's on my weekly must-read list. Jason Feifer (who happens to be the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine) is just as obsessed with practical progress as I am. I can't recommend it enough.

PS - This is not sponsored. He has no idea I'm plugging him this week.

Some people think management and leadership are two different things. I increasingly believe that leadership is just management done well.

What do you think?

We’re going to do a Live session with the community again in the next couple of weeks. While it will mostly be an “Ask Me Anything,” what pressing topic do you want us to kick off with?

Hit reply and let us know.

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Thank you for reading. Appreciate you!

Dave