Every year, performance review season arrives with a mix of dread, compliance, and if we’re lucky a few sparks of honest dialogue. But too often, reviews feel like a bureaucratic ritual rather than a meaningful conversation.
As a philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre argued that we are “condemned to be free.” Freedom is unavoidable, and with it comes responsibility for our choices. What if we applied this lens of existentialism to performance management? Suddenly, performance reviews aren’t just about goals and ratings, they become a mirror for freedom, authenticity, and growth at work.
Freedom and Responsibility in Performance
Sartre reminds us that even in constrained environments, we always have the freedom to choose our actions. In organizations, that freedom plays out daily:
- How employees take ownership of their work.
- How leaders create conditions for authentic contribution.
- How teams navigate challenges and choices.
A Sartrean approach to performance reviews asks deeper questions than “Did you hit your metrics?” Instead, it considers:
- Did you act authentically, in alignment with values?
- Did you take ownership of your choices and outcomes?
- How did you use your freedom to shape your role and impact?
Performance reviews, at their best, are an invitation to embrace responsibility… not just for outputs, but for the way we show up.
The Problem of Bad Faith in Organizations
Sartre warned about bad faith: the tendency to deny our freedom by hiding behind roles, systems, or rules. It’s a defense mechanism, but also a barrier to growth.
We see bad faith at work when:
- Employees disengage, saying “It’s not my job.”
- Managers excuse inaction with “HR requires me to do it this way.”
- Leaders deflect accountability onto “corporate policy.”
When bad faith drives performance management, reviews devolve into checkboxes and compliance tasks. Human beings are reduced to metrics, and the chance for authentic dialogue disappears.
Building an Authentic Review Culture
So, what would it look like to ground performance reviews in Sartre’s philosophy? Three principles stand out:
- Acknowledge Freedom
- Recognize employees as agents with the ability to shape their roles and decisions.
- Embrace Responsibility
- Hold both employees and leaders accountable—not only for results, but for the way choices were made.
- Cultivate Authenticity
- Create space for honest reflection and dialogue, even if it means confronting discomfort.
When reviews embody these principles, they move from being transactional to transformational.
Why This Matters for Engagement and Culture
Organizations are striving for engagement, retention, and high performance. But at the heart of these efforts lies a deeper need: meaning. Sartre would remind us that meaning is not handed down by HR policies, it is created in the choices we make every day.
Performance reviews, reframed through an existential lens, can become a space for meaning-making:
- Employees gain clarity about their choices and growth.
- Managers step into their responsibility as authentic leaders.
- Organizations move beyond metrics toward culture and purpose.
Final Thought
Sartre famously declared: “Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.”
The same could be said of organizations. Performance reviews don’t have to be dreaded rituals. They can be conversations where freedom meets responsibility, where authenticity replaces bad faith, and where meaning in work is actively created.
So, as you enter review season, ask not just “What did I accomplish?” but “How did I choose to show up?”
The Corporate Existentialist 