The message arrives on the afternoon the reviews are released. Can we talk this week? It does not say why, and it does not need to. When you meet, they tell you the rating straight away. Lower than they expected, lower than last year, and lower than the work they believe they did.
Your first job is not to fix it, and not to judge it. You were not in the room where ratings were compared, you have not read the written review, and you have heard one side. Saying that sounds unfair, or I am sure it was a mistake, feels kind and does real harm. It puts you against their manager on evidence you do not have, and it can push them into a fight they cannot win.
Let them be upset first. Ten minutes of being properly heard does more than any advice.
Then ask to read what was actually written, together and slowly. People read a disappointing review the way they read a rejection, hunting for the worst sentence. Read every line. Separate three things: what the review says happened, what it says should have happened instead, and what it says about next year. The second and third are usually vaguer than the first, and that vagueness is where the useful work is.
Help them prepare one conversation with their manager, not a protest. The aim is to leave with specifics. Which piece of work weighed most? What would a higher rating have looked like, as an example? What should I do differently in the next three months? Rehearse it with them, including the moment the manager says something that stings, so they can stay curious instead of defending.
If the review still looks wrong after that, help them use the proper route. Most companies have one. Calm, written, factual, with dates. You can help them write it, and you can help them decide honestly whether it is worth it.
Watch for the slower damage. A low rating can quietly convince somebody they are worse than they are. Remind them of specific things you have seen them do well, with details, so the rating becomes one data point rather than a verdict on who they are.
Then check in again a month later. The first conversation handles the shock. The second is where they decide what to do with it.
– Asael Shinder
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