I've seen performance reviews turn into a dreaded annual ritual where managers recycle vague phrases like 'needs improvement' without real examples. If we replaced these with continuous feedback loops—say, a bi-weekly 15-minute check-in focused on one specific deliverable—would that actually reduce anxiety and boost productivity, or would it just create more meetings and false urgency? Data suggests that 72% of employees find feedback more useful when it's timely, but I'm unsure if the average manager has the coaching skills to do this well. Could smaller, more frequent touches genuinely fix our performance management headaches?