Calibrations Performance Review Calibrations

Calibrations that are 3x faster and fairer

Pre-reads that highlight discrepancies and flag biases, so calibration meetings are grounded in truth, not politics.

AI-powered calibration pre-reads

Before calibration meetings, committee members receive comprehensive pre-reads that identify discrepancies, flag potential biases, and surface discussion areas. Each pre-read also grades manager feedback with a 1 to 5 actionability score, flagging vague or cliché feedback and surfacing development gaps for high performers.

Whoa the calibration reports! What an unexpected moment of delight 😅

Stas Johnson-Chyzhykov

COO @ Rho

Whoa the calibration reports! What an unexpected moment of delight 😅

Stas Johnson-Chyzhykov

COO @ Rho

Setting ratings is a breeze

Windmill's calibration grid keeps the whole committee on the same view while facilitators adjust ratings in real time.

Four views

One session, four ways to see it

Grid axes and table columns can be review questions, connected business stats like quota attainment or CSAT, or supplemental data your company loads, like comp band and tenure.

People

Review one packet at a time, with manager, self, peer, and upward responses side by side.

Grid

A 9-box or 25-box built from any two axes. Facilitators drag reviewees along editable axes and toggle between initial and adjusted placements.

Table

A sortable roster for scanning the whole session, with question, stat, and supplemental data columns.

Insights

Rating distributions before and after proposed changes, so the committee sees the impact of every decision.

Built for real committees

Runs live, async, or both

Some committees screen-share and decide in the room. Others review on their own schedule. Windmill supports both without losing the paper trail.

1. Discuss live or async

Committee members comment on packets on their own schedule in the Discussion panel, or walk the grid together in a live session.

2. Propose changes

Facilitators propose updates to ratings and other structured answers. Every comment and change stays attached to the reviewee.

3. Submit with control

Apply changes to manager reviews directly, or send recommendations that managers approve one by one.

How it works

Windmill continuously gathers performance context

throughout the year, then automatically generates calibration materials after reviews are submitted.

1. Continuous context gathering

Windmill collects performance data year-round from your tools, 1:1s, and team feedback.

2. AI detects discrepancies

Windmill instantly identifies similar performers with different ratings, manager rating patterns, and potential biases.

3. Pre-reads generated

Committee members receive comprehensive briefs with rating distributions, flagged outliers, and discussion areas.

4. Focused calibration meetings

Leaders spend time making data-driven decisions instead of debating, so calibration sessions run 3x faster.

Why traditional calibrations fail

Traditional calibration meetings are time-consuming, emotionally charged, and can introduce the biases they're meant to eliminate.

Time-consuming marathons

Organizations with 100+ employees spend entire weeks in calibration meetings, reducing time for real work.

Outdated data

By calibration time, performance data is often months old and no longer relevant to current performance.

Paradoxical bias introduction

Calibration can introduce new biases when persuasive communicators influence outcomes over data.

Manager defensiveness

Calibration becomes adversarial when managers fight for their team's ratings without data to back them up.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most important pain points you solve related to performance reviews?

The main pain points Windmill helps address are: 1) Reducing the time and effort for executives and managers to complete reviews, 2) Ensuring documentation is maintained, which is critical for performance management and compliance issues, 3) Making timely performance management possible, 4) Providing visibility at senior levels across teams and ensuring employees' work is recognized and managers know what their teams are doing.

Can Windy collect 360 or peer-to-peer feedback as part of performance reviews?

Yes, Windy can be deployed to collect self-reviews, peer feedback, and cross-team feedback as part of a formal performance cycle—all within Slack. Employees can even nominate peers for feedback through Slack, and Windy will manage the communication and collection of that feedback, making the process easy and lightweight for everyone involved.

How much time does it take for a manager to conduct a performance review with Windmill compared to traditional tools?

Windmill aims to allow managers to complete a full performance review in as little as six minutes, provided there is enough underlying data from system. The AI collects and organizes all needed information, making the process much faster than traditional, more manual methods.

Can the platform do ranking or ratings, or a nine-box grid for calibration and performance review?

Yes, the platform supports rating and calibration processes. Managers select ratings on a customizable scale which influence the tone of the performance review draft. The calibration view allows you to adjust employee placement and rating, justify changes, and see divergence between ratings and review text. Sentiment analysis and tone-matching in reviews are incorporated.

How customizable is the performance review process?

The review cycle timing is fully customizable—you can set start/end dates and deadlines. You can include or omit self-reviews, peer reviews, or upward feedback as needed, and customize all of the questions. The number and type of rating scales are also customizable, and company core values can be reflected and evaluated within the system.

How does Windmill approach the length and detail of performance reviews? Can there be controls over how much detail is included?

Our approach is to supplement data aggregation and AI summarization with human input; managers still must review, edit, and assign a rating to the data presented, so there's always a human layer in the process.

How does Windmill make performance management and feedback collection more efficient or effective than other tools?

By integrating deeply with tools like Slack and Google Calendar, Windmill makes it easy to build agendas, take notes, collect structured and unstructured feedback, and synthesize activity across different business systems. Its Slack-based AI agent suggests topics, organizes context, and saves managers from manual information-gathering, creating high manager and employee engagement.