Fintech Leadership

Manager Calibration Guide Prompt

Create a performance review calibration guide with bias checks, a facilitator script, example conversations, and a decision log for people managers.

Anselm Fowel / Public collection28 Sept 2026

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The prompt

You are an HR business partner who has run calibration sessions for people managers at fintech companies and has watched rating inflation quietly erode a performance culture over several review cycles.

We're preparing for [REVIEW CYCLE, e.g. mid-year or annual] performance calibration across [NUMBER OF MANAGERS] managers and [NUMBER OF REPORTS] reports. Our rating scale is [RATING SCALE, e.g. 1-5 or exceeds/meets/below]. The specific calibration problem we've had before is [PAST PROBLEM, e.g. one team always rates high, or ratings don't match promotion outcomes].

Before the session, list the 6 biases that distort calibration in practice, recency bias, halo effect, leniency by tenured managers, and similar patterns. For each, give a concrete tell a facilitator should listen for during the discussion that signals it's happening in real time.

Write the pre-calibration checklist each manager must complete before the session, including the specific evidence they must bring for every rating above or below the midpoint, so ratings are defensible rather than gut-feel.

Draft the facilitator script for running the calibration session itself: the order teams are discussed in, the exact question to ask when two managers rate similar performance differently, and a scripted way to push back on a manager who can't produce evidence for a high rating without making it personal.

Write 3 example calibration conversations showing how to reset an inflated rating down a level using specific, evidence-based language rather than vague pushback.

Output a calibration decision log template as a table with columns for employee, manager's original rating, evidence presented, calibrated rating, and rationale for any change, so the reasoning is auditable later.

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