‘Tis the spooky season, y’all. The “Performance Cycle Season.” Whether this is the “mid-year” check-in point, or the year-end rack-and-stack exercise of deciding who gets a slice of the bonus pie, it’s that time of year when folks are doling out feedback and assigning ratings. The performance cycle is often viewed as a necessary evil: administrative, exhausting, and of low value. Something leaders try to survive rather than leverage.