Performance Review Academy

The Performance Review Academy is a free online course for HR managers, founders, and team leads at growing companies. You'll learn how to design a review process that fits the way your company actually works — from choosing the right format to running the conversation and making decisions afterward.

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About Academy

What Is the Performance Review Academy?

The Performance Review Academy is a free, practical course that teaches you how to build and run an employee review process in an SMB — without copying enterprise frameworks that weren't designed for your scale.

You'll cover the methodology (what's the difference between 90°, 180°, and 360° reviews, and which one makes sense for you), the practical side (what to actually say in a review meeting, how to build a form, and how to make sure you're not starting from scratch next year), and the tech (how to run the whole process without spreadsheets).

Developed in collaboration with Calamari — an HR tool used by over 130,000 employees worldwide.

Content is designed for real-world SMBs and mid-size organizations, not just large enterprises with dedicated HR departments.

What You Get from the Academy

Practical, not theoretical

No 40-page competency matrices. Only what actually works in companies with 15 to 300 employees.

Ready-to-Use Tools

Checklists, form templates, and review conversation guides from the first module. You can use them the day after the lesson.

Learn at your pace

Each module arrives in your inbox weekly. Or go through everything at once — it's up to you.

Modules

Learn How to Build an Effective Performance Review Process

Module 1

Get the Foundations Right

Before you design anything, you need to understand why performance reviews at SMBs work differently from what you see in large organizations. This module covers the key differences between 90°, 180°, 270°, and 360° reviews — and how to decide which format makes sense for your company right now.

Join waiting list to be notified when this module is ready.

In this module

Why reviews fail in SMBs (and how to avoid the most common traps)
What a review system actually costs and what it delivers
How to choose the right review format for your team size and structure

Lessons

Go to the module

Module 2

Building the System

You'll leave with a working process framework — goals you can measure and review forms that don't feel like a performance tribunal.

In a nutshell:

Setting goals that can be evaluated even in a company where everything changes
Preparing leaders for review conversations
How to run performance reviews in practice — step by step
Decisions after the review: compensation, development, promotions, corrective actions

Lessons

Go to the module

Module 3

Implementation and Repeatability

You'll design an annual review cycle that won't overload your leaders or turn the process into a one-off obligation. You'll learn how to turn conversation takeaways into concrete action plans, and which mistakes to avoid so you don't kill the whole process.

In a nutshell:

How to build an annual review cycle for a company of 30–50 people.
How to run development conversations and turn takeaways into action.
How to sustain follow-through on agreements after the review.
The most common mistakes founders and leaders make, and how to avoid them.

Lessons

Go to the module

Module 4

Building a Growth Culture

You'll make reviews stop being a once-a-year event and become part of teams' everyday work. You'll also learn how to measure the effectiveness of the entire system and make business decisions based on it.

In a nutshell:

How to build a culture of continuous feedback instead of a one-off event.
How reviews change the way leaders and teams work.
Which data is worth tracking to measure the effectiveness of reviews.
How to make business decisions based on reviews.

Lessons

Go to the module

Who is the Performance Review Academy for?

The course is designed for HR managers, founders, entrepreneurs, and team leaders in SMB companies with anywhere from a dozen to several hundred employees. It works whether your company has never had performance reviews at all, or has been running them in Excel or through informal conversations.

How does the course work and how can I join?

You can go through the Academy in two ways. If you prefer to learn at your own pace, you can jump directly into the modules and go through them whenever you want. If you prefer a regular rhythm, drop your email — you'll get a notification about a new lesson straight to your inbox once a week. Both options give you access to the same materials and downloadable tools.

Do I need to be a Calamari customer to access the Academy?

No. The Academy is open to everyone, regardless of what HR tools you use or whether you use any employee management system at all.

How do I implement a performance review system in a small company without an HR department?

The key is simplicity and repeatability. Instead of copying corporate processes, start with a basic review form and one conversation per year. Module 2 of the Academy shows you exactly how to build that framework from scratch — no specialized knowledge or major time investment required.

What's the difference between a 360-degree and a 180-degree review, and which one should I choose?

A 180-degree review is a mutual assessment between the employee and their manager. A 360-degree review additionally involves peers, direct reports, and sometimes clients. In SMB companies, a 180-degree or a simplified 270-degree review tends to work best — they're reliable enough without the administrative overhead. We cover the choice of method in detail in Module 1.

Where does Calamari's expertise in performance reviews come from?

Calamari is an HR tool used by over 130,000 employees in more than 100 countries. For over 10 years, we've been talking to companies about what challenges them most in people management. The Academy was created in partnership with Martyna Lempert from TeamBoost, who has implemented performance review systems in dozens of organizations.

Does Calamari have a tool for running performance reviews?

Yes. Calamari offers a Performance Review module that lets you run the entire review process in one place — from configuring forms, through collecting feedback, to manager summaries. It supports 90-, 180-, 270-, and 360-degree reviews, self-assessments, and peer reviews. The system automatically sends reminders and collects responses, so you don't have to manage anything manually.

The Academy teaches you how to design the process — Calamari's module helps you run it.

Calamari Product