Course description

Appraisals often go wrong in the same ways: vague objectives set in a hurry, one-to-ones that keep getting cancelled, a year judged on the last few weeks, ratings nobody can explain, and concerns saved up until the review, when it's too late to fix them. This course shows line managers how to run a review year that's clear, fair and useful, from the first objective to the pay letter, in plain English.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, and every lesson ends with a practical task for your own team or an example team. You follow Kirsty, a new team manager at a fictional leisure trust, through her first full review year with a team of seven: rewriting inherited objectives, keeping evidence, a calibration panel that changes one of her ratings, an appeal, an informal improvement plan, a subject access request and a careless comment about pay. You see what she did well and the eight mistakes she made. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, model answers, a cheat sheet and ready-to-use tools, including a review year planner, an objectives checker, an action tracker, an evidence log, a rating workbook, an improvement plan tracker and a pay progression calculator.

What you'll learn

• The performance review cycle: what reviews are for, the stages of the year, who does what, fairness and the law in outline, and how to plan your own review year.
• Setting objectives: linking objectives to team goals, writing objectives with an outcome, a measure and a deadline, objectives for routine, project, part-time and new roles, behaviours, and the objective-setting meeting.
• One-to-ones that support performance: rhythm, a five-part agenda, short fair notes and an action tracker, mid-year reviews, and changing objectives during the year.
• Feedback and evidence through the year: feedback as evidence, a simple evidence log, input from others, self-assessment, recognition and development conversations.
• Ratings and calibration: how rating scales work, bias and practical checks, reaching a fair overall rating, calibration panels, and checking patterns afterwards.
• The year-end review: preparing, running and writing the review, development plans and next year's objectives, and fair reviews after maternity leave, for part-time staff, for disabled people and after long sickness.
• Difficult reviews: disagreement and appeals, disappointing outcomes, strong reactions, when a review uncovers something else, and reviewing high performers, former peers and rivals.
• Underperformance and capability: spotting underperformance early and finding the cause, the first informal conversation, informal improvement plans and reviewing them, and when and how the formal stage begins.
• Records, law and pay: review records and data protection, subject access requests, pay progression and bonuses, explaining pay and equal pay basics, probation and the Employment Rights Act 2025.
• Putting it all together: a look back at a full review year, then a final project: a review, calibration notes and an informal plan at a fictional print company, and your own review year plan.

Who it's for

Line managers and team leaders in the UK who run appraisals and regular check-ins, whether you're doing it for the first time or want a more structured, fairer approach. It goes deeper on the review system than a general management course, and covers underperformance up to the point where the formal capability process begins. Sections 8 and 9 explain where UK employment law comes in, including the Acas Code, the right to be accompanied, reasonable adjustments, data protection and the Employment Rights Act 2025, as general information, not legal advice, so you know when to involve HR. Everyone in the course is fictional.

What will I learn?

• Plan a full review year, from objective setting through mid-year and year-end reviews to pay
• Write clear, measurable objectives for every kind of role, including part-time staff and new starters
• Run useful one-to-ones and mid-year reviews, and keep short, fair notes
• Keep an evidence log, gather input from others and use self-assessment well
• Reach fair ratings, check for bias, and prepare for and take part in calibration
• Prepare, hold and write year-end reviews, including for people on leave, part time or with a disability
• Handle disagreement, disappointing outcomes and strong reactions in reviews
• Spot underperformance early, hold the first conversation and run a fair informal improvement plan
• Recognise when to involve HR in formal capability, and know the UK law touchpoints: the Acas Code, the right to be accompanied, reasonable adjustments, data protection, subject access requests, equal pay and the Employment Rights Act 2025

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