A performance review cycle

Goal: everyone in the cycle knows what is asked of them a few days before it is due, managers hear first, and nobody gets more than two messages a week.

Time: about an hour to build; the campaign then runs for three and a half weeks.

You will end up with: one campaign, Mid-year reviews, with a reference date of the day the cycle opens and eight steps: three to managers, four to everyone, one to both, each with a button to the right page.

Before you start

You are a Power User, Admin or Owner, and an email sender exists.
Two groups exist: everyone in the cycle (for example Everyone) and People managers. See Employee Groups.
Your review tool’s links: the self-review form, the 360 request page, the manager review form and the calibration guide. If some of these are documents, publish them in Library first.
The cycle’s dates. The plan below uses day 0 as the day self-reviews open.

Create a review-cycle campaign and its first step on the Campaigns calendar.

1. Create the campaign

In Pyn, open Activity in the left navigation, then select Campaigns.
Select Create new. Title it Mid-year reviews, set the Date to the day the cycle opens, pick a colour and an emoji, and select Create.
In the sidebar the campaign appears with Add Step beneath it.

2. Tell managers first (day -1)

Select Add Step, then Send Email to Employee.
Set Scheduled date to the day before the cycle opens, at 09:00, in the Recipient Time Zone. Under From, choose your sender; under To, select People managers.
Write it:

Subject: Mid-year reviews open tomorrow

Hi @recipient.preferredName. Self-reviews open tomorrow and close in two weeks; manager reviews are due a week after that, and conversations happen in the final week. The calendar, the rating scale and what good looks like are in the guide below.

Two asks today: tell your team the dates in your next team meeting, and block an hour per report in week three for the conversation.
Select Insert widget, Link To Library Content, choose your manager guide, label it Read the manager guide, keep Track Action ticked, and Save.
Select Preview, Send a test to yourself, then set the state button to Automated.

3. Open the cycle for everyone (day 0)

Open the step you made, select its menu, then Duplicate. Set the Scheduled date to day 0, turn Keep Recipients off, and select Duplicate.
In the copy, set To to Everyone and rewrite it:

Subject: Your self-review is open

Hi @recipient.preferredName. Mid-year reviews start today. Your part is a self-review: three questions, about 30 minutes, due on [date]. Write about what you did, what you learned and what you want next; your manager reads it before they write theirs.

After you submit, you can ask up to three colleagues for feedback from the same page.
Replace the content button with a Link Button to the self-review form, labelled Start your self-review, with Track Action on. Set it to Automated.

4. Help managers write well (day 3)

Duplicate the day -1 step to day 3, keeping the recipients (People managers).
Rewrite it:

Subject: Writing reviews that land

Self-reviews are coming in. Before you write yours, two reminders: rate against the role, not against the strongest person on the team, and give one specific example for every rating. Managers who do this get fewer questions in the conversation.

Manager reviews are due on [date]. Here is the form.
Point the button at the manager review form, labelled Open the manager review. Set it to Automated.

5. Nudge before the deadlines (days 10 and 17)

Duplicate the day 0 step to day 10 (Everyone):

Subject: Self-reviews close on Friday

A reminder that self-reviews close on [date]. If yours is done, thank you; if not, 30 minutes this week is all it takes. Anyone you asked for feedback has until the same day.
Duplicate the day 3 step to day 17 (People managers):

Subject: Manager reviews due Friday

Manager reviews close on [date], and calibration is the following Tuesday. Please have every review submitted before then; a review that misses calibration cannot change afterwards.
Set both to Automated.

6. Prepare the conversations (days 20 and 21)

Duplicate a manager step to day 20:

Subject: Before your review conversations

Conversations start Monday. Open with their self-review, not your rating; spend most of the time on the next six months; and end with one thing you will do for them. The guide has a one-page plan for the hour.

Point the button at the calibration and conversation guide.
Duplicate an everyone step to day 21:

Subject: Your review conversation this week

Your manager will book an hour with you this week. Bring your self-review and one question about where you want to go next. Ratings are shared in the conversation, not by email.
Set both to Automated.

7. Close the loop (day 24)

Duplicate an everyone step to day 24 and set To to both Everyone and People managers:

Subject: Thank you, and what happens next

That is the mid-year cycle done. Thank you for the time you put in. Any pay changes that come out of it are confirmed in writing by [date] and take effect from [date]. If something in your review did not sit right, talk to your manager first, then to your HR partner.
Set it to Automated.

What you should see

On Activity, Campaigns, the campaign shows eight dots across three and a half weeks. Select a date to confirm which message sends that day and to whom. As the cycle runs, Activity, Actions lists each tracked button with Actioned, Clicked or Unactioned per person, which is your live picture of who has started their self-review. When the campaign reads Complete, duplicate it for the next cycle with Recalculate Step Dates on.

Next steps

Duplicate a campaign for the year-end cycle.
Add a button to a message for Link Button versus Link To Library Content.
Actions to export who has and has not submitted.

Create a campaign for the step panel in detail.
Library for publishing the guides the buttons point to.
Employee Groups for the People managers group.