Mid-year reviews are designed to drive alignment, build momentum, and help employees course-correct for the rest of the year. Yet in many organizations, these reviews feel disconnected from reality—unproductive, one-sided, or worse, demotivating.
Despite the structure and time invested, mid-year reviews often fail to deliver meaningful impact. The process doesn’t just need better questions. It needs a deeper shift in mindset, method, and skill.
Here’s why traditional reviews fall short, and what organizations can do to make them more effective and future-focused.
Reviews Still Focus on Ratings, Not Growth
Many mid-year reviews are structured around evaluating past performance by checking off goals, assigning scores, and benchmarking progress against KPIs. While these components are important, they often dominate the conversation, leaving little room for development.
Research indicates that the majority of organizations still use performance ratings as the foundation of their reviews. As a result, employees receive a summary of how they did, but not enough insight into where they can grow next. The conversation becomes evaluative, not developmental.
Without a clear shift toward forward-looking development, these sessions become more about closure than clarity and miss the opportunity to spark real growth.
What to do instead
Turn feedback into feedforward conversations. Instead of focusing on what past performance was, ask:
- How can the past performance be a guide for the future
- What should the person stop doing or avoid doing
- What are the activities and tasks that are not yielding results, and what should be done instead?
- Which behaviorsare leading to results, and which ones are pulling a person down?
Feedback Comes Too Late to Make a Difference
Another issue is timing. Feedback that’s stored up for formal review cycles is often too delayed to be useful. Managers may reference behavior or outcomes from months ago, long after the opportunity to learn or improve has passed.
Studies have shown that feedback is most effective when delivered close to the event it refers to. When mid-year reviews become the primary vehicle for feedback, the result is often vague, generalized commentary rather than actionable insights.
Employees today expect continuous, in-the-moment feedback. Mid-year reviews can still play a role, but only if they’re part of a broader feedback rhythm that supports real-time development.
What to do instead
Turn feedback into feedforward conversations that happen closer to the moment. Instead of summarizing what happened months ago, ask:
- What event or project could we learn from right now
- What would you do differently if you were in that situation again
- What alternative approach might yield better results
- What new habit could you try in the coming weeks to improve outcomes
Many Managers Lack the Skills to Lead Impactful Conversations
Even when the intent is right, execution often falls short. Managers may struggle to navigate complex feedback conversations. They might avoid uncomfortable topics, or default to vague encouragement instead of specific, behavior-based feedback.
This isn’t a question of willingness, it’s a question of preparedness. Most managers are not trained to lead developmental conversations. Without practice or support, review discussions become transactional, leaving little room for reflection or growth.
This is where experiential learning becomes essential. Simulations that mimic real feedback scenarios give managers the space to practice, reflect, and build confidence. They learn to balance candor with care, ask open-ended questions, and listen actively, all of which are essential to a developmental review.
What to do instead
Turn feedback into feedforward conversations by building managerial capability. Instead of defaulting to generic praise or criticism, help managers ask:
- What specific behavior impacted the outcome
- What would you do differently to create a better result
- What support or resources might help you improve
- How will you know you’re making progress
Employees Feel Left Out of the Conversation
In traditional review formats, employees often play a passive role. The conversation is led by the manager, with little opportunity for the employee to share reflections, ask questions, or shape the conversation.
This one-way dynamic can lead to disengagement. Without psychological safety or space to speak freely, employees may choose to stay silent, even when they disagree with what’s being said.
Creating a more inclusive and reflective review experience requires intention. Managers need to invite participation, not just deliver feedback. Employees should be encouraged to bring their own data, examples, and aspirations into the discussion. A review should be a co-owned space, not a top-down evaluation.
What to do instead
Turn feedback into feedforward by co-owning the conversation. Encourage employees to shape their own development by asking:
- What have you learned about yourself this year
- What challenges do you want to take on next
- Where do you think you need support or feedback
- What future goals are important to you right now
The Review Ends, and Nothing Changes
Perhaps the clearest sign that mid-year reviews are ineffective is what happens afterward. Too often, there is no meaningful follow-up—no clear goals, no development actions, no coaching support. The review ends, and the routine resumes.
This gap between conversation and commitment is where many organizations lose momentum. Even when challenges or opportunities are identified, they aren’t translated into action.
To fix this, organizations must build structured follow-through into the review process. This means turning insights into small, focused next steps—whether it’s a skill to develop, a habit to change, or a behavior to practice. Development should be visible, ongoing, and owned by both manager and employee.
What to do instead
Turn feedback into feedforward with action at the center. Instead of ending the review with a summary, close with:
- What new behavior will you practice over the next month
- What specific outcome will indicate progress
- What support or coaching will help you stay on track
- How will you follow up and reflect on progress together
How Skills Café Builds Feedback Capability
At Skills Café, we address these challenges head-on by helping learners build the capabilities needed to have high-quality feedback conversations. We go beyond theory to create simulation-based experiences that let managers and team members practice feedback in safe, realistic settings.
A key part of our approach is introducing the concept of feedforward—a future-focused complement to feedback. Instead of dwelling solely on past performance, feedforward shifts the conversation toward alternative actions, future goals, and intentional behavior change. It encourages reflective questions like:
- What would you do differently next time?
- What alternative actions might lead to better outcomes?
- What short-term and long-term goals will help you move forward?
We also equip managers to create the right environment for these conversations. This includes preparing the team member in advance, sharing an agenda, and ensuring psychological safety. Managers learn to move beyond transactional check-ins and lead reflective, open-ended discussions. Employees, in turn, are coached to bring their perspective, own their development, and ask for feedback proactively.
By practicing these skills in simulations—rooted in real workplace scenarios, participants gain not just awareness but readiness. They develop the tools to lead and participate in conversations that are respectful, action-oriented, and aligned with growth.
Turning Reviews into Real Development Moments
Mid-year reviews don’t fail because of bad intent—they fail because of outdated structures and missing skills. When the process is rushed, backward-looking, or top-down, it loses its potential to drive learning and transformation.
But with a few key shifts—from feedback to feedforward, from ratings to reflection, from isolated events to ongoing development—organizations can turn reviews into moments of genuine progress.
The solution isn’t more structure. It’s more skill. And building that skill starts with giving people the tools to have better conversations—starting with the feedback moments that matter most.
Sources
- Gartner, “Reengineering Performance Management,” 2023
- Gallup, “State of the Global Workplace,” 2022
- McKinsey & Company, “Reimagining Performance Management,” 2021
- Qualtrics, “Employee Experience Trends,” 2022
- PwC, “Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey,” 2023
- Harvard Business Review, multiple articles on feedback and coaching
Marketing Manager | Skills Cafe