Miscommunication... it erodes trust, weakens leadership, and hinders progress. But you're a manager who wants more, you want to drive performance, enable your people, and knock your business goals out of the park. Good news: this isn't a pipe dream. It starts with adopting the right playbook.
In today’s fast-paced business world, traditional performance reviews and outdated leadership habits just don’t cut it. If you want to unlock your team’s full potential, you need a dynamic, modern approach to performance management, one that fosters open communication, builds trust, and enables growth.
Here are seven essential moves you can make to maximise team performance and energise your workforce.
1. Set Clear, Inspiring Goals
The most high-performing teams know exactly what they are working towards. Vague aspirations and abstract targets create confusion. Conversely, clearly defined goals aligned with your business vision empower employees.
Use proven frameworks like SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) or OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to give structure to expectations. These frameworks provide clarity, align team focus, and enable progress tracking.
Action Points:
Ensure individuals understand how their work connects to larger company goals.
Revisit goals regularly to reflect evolving business priorities.
SolasPerform’s Comms Author supports goal articulation within reviews, helping your team stay focused on what really matters.
2. Build a Culture of Continuous Feedback
Remember the dread of annual reviews? You’re not alone, and neither are your team members. One of the most effective ways to boost performance is to build a feedback-rich culture.
Real-time conversations about performance and development foster continuous improvement. They also reduce surprises and keep individuals aligned, motivated, and engaged.
Benefits of Ongoing Feedback:
Faster course correction
Stronger manager-employee relationships
Increased trust and motivation
Move from Performance Judge to Performance Coach. This reframing builds psychological safety, where feedback becomes a shared growth opportunity, not a critique.
3. Conduct Coaching-Oriented Performance Reviews
The modern performance review must be future-focused, developmental, and empowering. This is where tools like SolasPerform shine.
It helps structure reviews with:
Synthesised past feedback and data
AI-guided self-reflection prompts
Draft development goals that align with individual ambitions and company strategy
No more “blank page syndrome.” Instead, you enable deep reflection and meaningful conversations.
Pro Tip: Schedule check-ins quarterly, not annually. The high frequency keeps feedback fresh and momentum intact.
4. Delegate Strategically to Unlock Capability
Most leaders under-delegate. Why? Because they fear a drop in quality or distrust that the job will get done.
But strategic delegation allows your team to grow, builds confidence, and frees up your time for high-impact work.
Start by understanding each individual’s strengths, growth areas and career goals. Use performance discussions to map delegation opportunities that challenge and stretch team members in the right way.
Delegation isn’t offloading, it’s development.
Share responsibility, not just tasks
Explain the "why", help people see the purpose and impact
This practice ties directly into increased productivity and employee engagement.
5. Close Skill Gaps with Targeted Development
Skill gaps aren’t just capability issues, they’re missed revenue opportunities.
In SMBs, where teams are lean and agility is everything, upskilling existing employees is often the most strategic path to growth.
Use your performance conversations to:
Identify skills that align with future business needs
Spot underutilised strengths within the team
Provide tailored training, mentorship, or stretch assignments
This keeps your workforce future-ready and proactive, not reactive.
Solas clients leverage data-backed insights to pinpoint areas of development, ensuring training budgets are wisely invested.
6. Broaden Feedback through 360-Degree Insights
One manager’s view is narrow. People operate in teams, influence others, and collaborate across functions. A 360-degree feedback model captures this broader contribution.
Why use 360-degree feedback?
Illuminates blind spots
Provides richer, more objective assessment
Enhances team communication and mutual understanding
Leaders can use such data to make fairer decisions around promotions and development, and to guide more impactful performance conversations.
SolasOS captures multi-rater input and identifies the key themes, making feedback digestible and actionable.
7. Celebrate Success and Recognise Effort
Never underestimate the power of recognition. When employees feel seen and valued, motivation soars. Ignore contributions, and you risk disengagement.
Performance reviews shouldn’t just be about “what to improve.” They should also lift people up. Celebrate achievements, big and small, formally and informally.
Ways to recognise success:
Shout-outs in team meetings
Highlight wins in performance reviews
Promote peer-to-peer recognition
Recognition reinforces desired behaviours and builds a culture of positivity and appreciation.
Outcome: A Team That Performs, and Stays
Adopt these seven performance-enhancing moves, and here’s what you can expect:
Increased productivity across teams
Improved employee engagement & satisfaction
Lower turnover and better talent retention
Strong alignment with business goals
At SolasOS, we understand that performance conversations, when done right, are career-changing, trust-building, strategy-driving moments. That’s why our tools are built to make them easier, richer, and more valuable.
From communications planning to performance reviews, we help managers like you lead with clarity, care, and confidence.
Final Thoughts
Peak team performance isn’t achieved by chance, it’s created by design.
With this Manager’s Playbook, you’re not just keeping pace, you’re creating a high-trust, high-output culture where people thrive and businesses grow.
Reflect. Coach. Grow. Recognise. Repeat.
Are you ready to unlock your team’s performance potential?
Begin by trying SolasLite and let us know how it changes your game.