# 11 Claude Skills That Run Your Annual Review Cycle Free performance review templates as Claude skills: review forms, self-reviews, manager prep, a growth matrix and growth memos for a full review cycle. - Page: https://lantern.meet-polar-bear.com/skills/review-cycle-pack - Download: https://lantern.meet-polar-bear.com/skills/review-cycle-pack.zip - Source: https://github.com/polar-bear-org/claude-skills/tree/main/packs/review-cycle-pack - Price: free ## Install in Claude Code ``` /plugin marketplace add polar-bear-org/claude-skills /plugin install review-cycle-pack@polar-bear-skills ``` ## The 11 skills you get The set is grouped by who installs it. Everyone starts with the same skill: - **Cycle Setup** — use when: You've installed your skills and want your workspace ready in ten minutes. Output: Your Claude Project created, the right files in place, your first skill test-run. ### If you run the cycle (founder or people lead) - **Cycle Planner** — use when: Review season is coming and you need a plan people can actually follow. Output: A week-by-week cycle calendar, your team context file, and a one-page company direction everyone can read. - **Growth Matrix Builder** — use when: Your team keeps asking what “senior” means here and you keep improvising. Output: A two-part growth matrix: transferable competencies shared by everyone, craft competencies per role, pressure-tested against your real team. - **Review Form Builder** — use when: You need review questions people will answer honestly. Output: A self-review form and a manager form, 6 to 8 questions each, every question with a reader and a reason. - **Comms Drafter** — use when: You need to announce the cycle without sounding like an HR department you don't have. Output: The kickoff memo, manager briefing, reminders, and wrap-up note, in your voice, under 200 words each. - **Cycle Retro** — use when: The conversations are done and you never want to repeat this year's mistakes. Output: A shareable one-page retro and the corrected input next year's cycle starts from. ### If you manage people - **Review Prepper** — use when: You have reviews to write and a pile of notes, transcripts, and impressions. Output: An evidence sheet where every claim has an example, and a one-page growth memo built on three circles: what they want, what the company needs, where the market is going. - **One-on-One Companion** — use when: You're about to talk to one of your people, this Tuesday's 1:1 or the annual review. Output: A five-line brief with open threads, checkpoints due, and the right questions, or the full review conversation plan when it's the big one. ### If you're the one getting reviewed - **Brag Doc Keeper** — use when: Something worth remembering just happened. Output: A dated, concrete entry in your pinned Brag Doc chat, so December stops being archaeology. - **Self-Review Prepper** — use when: The cycle opened and the blank self-review form is staring at you. Output: A self-review in your words, built from an interview about your real year, with a pass against underselling yourself. - **Growth Navigator** — use when: You want to understand your level, your next one, or where you actually want to go. Output: A personal growth profile: where you are with evidence, your aspiration where what you want meets what the company needs and where the market is going. ## Workflows - **Run the cycle** (You are the founder or people lead who plans, equips and closes it.) Cycle Setup → Cycle Planner → Growth Matrix Builder → Review Form Builder → Comms Drafter → Cycle Retro - **Log and reflect** (You are the one getting reviewed.) Brag Doc Keeper → Self-Review Prepper → Growth Navigator - **Build your view** (You manage people and the conversations are coming.) Review Prepper → One-on-One Companion - **Keep it going all year** (Reviews fail in December when 1:1s failed in April.) One-on-One Companion → Brag Doc Keeper → Growth Navigator ## The quality bar - Claude structures, humans judge: no skill writes an assessment or makes a people decision - Evidence before claims: nothing goes in a document about a person without a concrete example - Full transparency: no manager-only questions, no hidden sections, everything passes the “could you say this to their face” test - Levels are scope of trust, not performance rankings - Growth conversations separated from money conversations - Files travel through humans, never automatically - Honest about limits: serious matters (legal, conduct, health) get pointed to humans, not processed ## Questions people ask ### What is in the Review Cycle pack? 11 Claude skills that run a performance review cycle without performance software: cycle planning, the growth matrix, review forms, self-reviews, the manager's prep, 1:1s and the end-of-cycle retro. Install only the ones for your role. ### How do I install these Claude skills? In Claude Code, two lines install all 11 at once. In Claude.ai or Claude Desktop, download the zip, open Settings, Skills, Add, and upload the skills you want. Either way it takes about five minutes. ### Do I need Claude Code to use them? No. The skills work in Claude.ai, Claude Desktop and Claude Code. In the app you upload them yourself; in Claude Code one command installs the whole pack. ### Do the skills work with ChatGPT or other assistants? They are built as Claude Skills, and installing them is a Claude feature. Each one is a plain Markdown file, so you can read it and reuse the method elsewhere, but it will not load and trigger by itself outside Claude. ### Will Claude write the reviews or rate people? No. Claude structures, humans judge. No skill writes an assessment, assigns a rating or makes a people decision. The skills organize evidence, sharpen language and prepare conversations. Serious matters, such as legal, conduct or health, are pointed to humans. ### Is the pack free? Yes. It is free to use inside your company and in client work, and not for resale. There is no signup: the download and the install command are on this page. ## About Written by Polar Bear (https://meet-polar-bear.com/). Published on Lantern (https://lantern.meet-polar-bear.com/), which turns your notes, documents and call transcripts into social post drafts you review and publish.