First-Time Manager Performance Review Guide for 2025

Your first performance review cycle as a manager can feel overwhelming. You’re evaluating people’s work, delivering career-impacting feedback, and ensuring fairness—all while juggling your own deadlines. According to Workhuman research, fewer than half of respondents agree that managers effectively assess performance, and the stakes feel higher when it’s your first time.

This guide walks you through avoiding common mistakes, handling difficult conversations, verifying claims, and getting reviews done efficiently.

Before the review cycle: Build your foundation

Document continuously, not just during review season

The biggest mistake first-time managers make is waiting until review season to gather information. Recency bias causes managers to overweight recent events while forgetting earlier contributions.

Create a tracking system:

Jot down wins, challenges, and feedback after 1:1s
Note what each person is working on regularly
Save links to completed projects and positive customer feedback

Tools like Windmill automate this by integrating with GitHub, Jira, Asana, and Salesforce to continuously track contributions. When review time arrives, you already have a comprehensive record.

Give feedback in real-time

Performance reviews should never surprise anyone. If someone is underperforming, they should know months before the formal review.

In your 1:1s:

Discuss whether work meets expectations
Mention excellent work and areas for improvement as they happen
Ask direct reports how they feel about their own performance

Don’t save feedback for the review. This creates a culture where employees feel blindsided.

Learn your company’s review standards

Every organization has its own framework—5-point scales, competency rubrics, or narrative evaluations.

Before writing reviews:

Study your company’s evaluation criteria
Understand what each performance level means at your organization
Ask experienced managers about the calibration process

Calibration is where managers align on ratings to ensure consistency. Your “above average” should match everyone else’s definition.

Don’t assume your personal standards align with company standards.

Gathering and verifying information

Collect data from multiple sources

You don’t see everything—especially in remote environments. Gather:

Quantitative metrics: Project completion rates, sales numbers, customer satisfaction scores, code quality metrics
Peer feedback: Employees who receive peer feedback are 2.5 times less likely to report bias
Self-assessments: These surface accomplishments you might have missed
Cross-functional input: Ask other teams about your direct reports’ impact

Windmill’s AI assistant, Windy, collects self-reviews and peer reviews through Slack prompts, then creates comprehensive pre-reads for managers—shifting hours of work into minutes.

Verify claims with evidence

Your direct reports will highlight achievements in self-reviews. Your job is to verify accuracy.

Cross-reference with objective data from project management tools
Assess quality and impact, not just quantity
Ask clarifying questions about specific contributions
Look for patterns between claims and observations

Focus on facts and documentation. Objective data provides the strongest foundation for fair evaluations.

Watch for unconscious bias

Common biases affecting first-time managers:

Recency bias: Overweighting recent performance
Halo effect: Letting one strength overshadow weaknesses
Horns effect: Letting one mistake color everything
Similarity bias: Favoring people like you
Contrast effect: Comparing employees to each other instead of standards

To mitigate bias:

Use the same criteria for everyone
Ground assessments in specific examples
Ask: “Would I evaluate this behavior the same way for someone else?”
Leverage AI bias-detection features if available

Everyone has biases. What matters is actively working to reduce them.

Writing the reviews

Block focused time

Writing thoughtful reviews requires deep focus. Block full mornings or afternoons on your calendar. Aim for 1-2 hours per review if writing from scratch. Turn off Slack and email. Write when you’re mentally fresh.

AI can dramatically reduce time. According to Windmill’s customer data, managers complete comprehensive reviews in 6 minutes instead of 3+ hours because the system drafts reviews based on year-round data.

Don’t write multiple reviews back-to-back. Quality declines.

Use the situation-behavior-impact framework

Generic feedback like “needs to improve communication” doesn’t help. Be specific:

Situation: Describe the context (“During the Q3 product launch…”)
Behavior: State what they did (“You reached out to design to align on timelines”)
Impact: Explain the result (“This prevented scrambling and helped us ship on time”)

This framework works for positive and constructive feedback. It grounds evaluation in facts, not feelings.

Don’t use vague language about personality. “You’re not a team player” is unhelpful. “In three projects, you didn’t attend planning meetings, which left teammates unclear on your availability” is actionable.

Balance strengths and development areas

Everyone has both strengths and growth areas.

Start with genuine strengths and how they benefit the team
Be specific about development areas as growth opportunities
Offer concrete improvement suggestions
End forward-looking: where can this person grow?

Don’t force the “feedback sandwich.” Employees see through it.

Use AI but personalize

AI-generated drafts can jumpstart writing.

Use AI to generate initial drafts, then refine
Add specific examples only you would know
Adjust tone to match your relationship
Include context AI can’t capture

Windmill generates drafts by analyzing self-reviews, peer feedback, and work data. Managers select key wins, edit development areas, and add personal touches—saving hours while maintaining quality.

Don’t copy-paste AI reviews verbatim. Employees can tell when feedback is generic.

Handling difficult conversations

Address underperformance directly

Avoiding critical feedback makes things worse. Be direct but compassionate:

Focus on behavior and outcomes: “The reports had multiple errors” not “You’re careless”
Understand root causes: Ask “What’s getting in the way?”
Create an improvement plan with specific 30-60-90 day goals
Schedule weekly check-ins to monitor progress

Don’t sugarcoat serious issues. False encouragement prevents improvement.

Manage emotional reactions

Some employees will take feedback hard.

Acknowledge emotions: “I can see this is hard to hear”
Give space: “Let’s continue tomorrow if you need time to think”
Emphasize growth: “I believe you can improve, and I want to support you”
Document the conversation

Don’t get defensive. Stay calm and focused on facts.

Handle disagreements

When employees push back on ratings:

Listen fully before responding
Ask for specific examples supporting their view
Acknowledge valid points: “You’re right—let me revise”
Stand by fair assessments with evidence
Escalate to HR if disagreement persists

Ensure fairness

Calibrate with other managers

Share examples of different performance levels with fellow managers. Ask if your ratings match company standards. Participate actively in calibration meetings with evidence.

Windmill’s calibration dashboard highlights discrepancies and generates pre-reads with flagged areas, making the process faster and fairer.

Audit your ratings

After drafting reviews, check for patterns:

Are you rating everyone the same?
Do demographic patterns exist?
Were standards consistent across team members?

More than half of employees rank fairness as the most important factor in reviews.

After the review

Follow up continuously

The review meeting is just the beginning.

Set specific goals for the next period
Schedule 30-day and 60-day check-ins
Document your commitments as a manager

Don’t treat reviews as one-and-done events. Continuous feedback makes next cycles easier.

Reflect on your process

What went well? What would you do differently?
Where did you feel uncertain?
Ask your manager or HR for feedback
Consider tools to make next cycles smoother

Most managers find their second cycle significantly easier.

Key takeaways

Document continuously. Track contributions throughout the year, not just during review season.
Be specific. Use the situation-behavior-impact framework for actionable feedback.
Gather multiple inputs. Combine quantitative metrics, peer feedback, and self-assessments.
Watch for bias. Everyone has biases—actively work to reduce them.
Use AI wisely. Let tools draft reviews, but personalize them.
Handle tough conversations early. Don’t save feedback for formal reviews.
Ensure fairness. Calibrate with other managers and audit your own ratings.
Follow through. Schedule check-ins and provide ongoing support.

Your direct reports have careers and livelihoods on the line. Approach reviews with seriousness, empathy, and fairness. With preparation, the right systems, and genuine support, you’ll build trust and help your team grow.

Windmill automates the review cycle—from gathering feedback to generating drafts—reducing manager time from 3+ hours to 6 minutes per review while maintaining quality and fairness.