performance and  development review (PDR)

Whatever you do at Leeds Beckett and whatever you aspire to, your PDR is your time to have a meaningful conversation.  It’s an opportunity to make a difference to your world at work.  

PDRs focus on you; what you have achieved; where you are heading and how you can contribute to strategic goals.

Black square used for background
Female colleague smiles whilst in meeting

pdrs at lbu

Our guiding principle for PDRs is that PDR discussions between you and your reviewer take place in a way that suits you both, exploring how your role connects to our organisational values and strategic objectives.

The steps below outline our suggested approach to the conversation:

male colleague smiling at another colleague

As with any conversation, prior thinking about the required outcomes can make your PDR discussion even more valuable.  Using the structure of the PDR as a helpful framework (looking back and looking forward), what preparation would help you to make the most of your PDR?  What would you like to focus on this year?

Our Preparing for my PDR Guide is aimed at helping you get the most out of your PDR.

Male and Female colleagues smile whilst sat at laptop / taking notes

PDRs require us to review our progress against objectives that were set last year, both in relation to work and our development. Consider the areas that you want to discuss and reflect upon. What are you particularly proud of? What values have you demonstrated or found challenging? What did you achieve in last year’s objectives? What feedback would you like to share?

Colleagues enjoy a coffee in social space

A set of objectives that are connected to current and future team/service or school aims should be agreed at PDRs.  What do you see your main areas of work being for next year?  How do these connect to your school/service plan?  What might be changing next year?  How can our values help to shape how we do things? This is also an opportunity to discuss what needs to happen to continue to support and enhance your wellbeing.

PDRs also focus on development needs and career aspirations.  What needs to happen to support and enhance both performance in your current role and also future career aspirations?

Three colleagues chat around a small table whilst taking a meeting

PDRs are more effective when regular meetings are scheduled to review your progress, or check-ins connected to your objectives are built into your more regular one-to-ones.

You should also continue researching your options for meeting development needs and keep your personal development plans up to date throughout the year.

Student smiling toward the camera

Our values influence how we plan, deliver, and review our work. The 2023 PDR cycle is an ideal opportunity to connect individuals with the values and the associated behaviours that are important to how we work at Leeds Beckett. This could enhance conversations around your wellbeing, reflecting on achievements, giving or receiving feedback, or how objectives are shaped.

To support you, we’ve built guidance throughout our resources to make our values a helpful – not pedantic - part of your PDR discussions.

As with any conversation, prior thinking about the required outcomes can make your PDR discussion even more valuable.  Using the structure of the PDR as a helpful framework (looking back and looking forward), what preparation would help you to make the most of your PDR?  What would you like to focus on this year?

Our Preparing for my PDR Guide is aimed at helping you get the most out of your PDR.

male colleague smiling at another colleague

PDRs require us to review our progress against objectives that were set last year, both in relation to work and our development. Consider the areas that you want to discuss and reflect upon. What are you particularly proud of? What values have you demonstrated or found challenging? What did you achieve in last year’s objectives? What feedback would you like to share?

Male and Female colleagues smile whilst sat at laptop / taking notes

A set of objectives that are connected to current and future team/service or school aims should be agreed at PDRs.  What do you see your main areas of work being for next year?  How do these connect to your school/service plan?  What might be changing next year?  How can our values help to shape how we do things? This is also an opportunity to discuss what needs to happen to continue to support and enhance your wellbeing.

PDRs also focus on development needs and career aspirations.  What needs to happen to support and enhance both performance in your current role and also future career aspirations?

Colleagues enjoy a coffee in social space

PDRs are more effective when regular meetings are scheduled to review your progress, or check-ins connected to your objectives are built into your more regular one-to-ones.

You should also continue researching your options for meeting development needs and keep your personal development plans up to date throughout the year.

Three colleagues chat around a small table whilst taking a meeting

Our values influence how we plan, deliver, and review our work. The 2023 PDR cycle is an ideal opportunity to connect individuals with the values and the associated behaviours that are important to how we work at Leeds Beckett. This could enhance conversations around your wellbeing, reflecting on achievements, giving or receiving feedback, or how objectives are shaped.

To support you, we’ve built guidance throughout our resources to make our values a helpful – not pedantic - part of your PDR discussions.

Student smiling toward the camera

The positive impact of pdr on colleagues

  • Our 2022 Colleague Survey highlighted that colleagues who have had a PDR in the last 12 months are more likely to hold positive views:

  • Colleagues who have had a PDR are 41% more likely to say they receive regular and developmental feedback on their performance than those who have not had a PDR (60% who’d had a PDR agreed vs just 19% of colleagues who’d not had a PDR).

  • Colleagues who have had a PDR feel more supported to develop in their role (63% vs 33%) and informed about what is happening in their School/Service (67% vs 44%), feeling a stronger sense of belonging to their School/Service (63% vs 42%) and team (79% vs 59%).

  • Our overall colleague engagement score for those who’d had a PDR was 72%, compared with a 66% score for those who had not, indicating that colleagues who have had a PDR are more engaged.

Online PDR System

All colleagues are expected to use iTrent Employee and Manager Self-Service to document their PDR outcomes.

You will notice that the PDR form and objectives are recorded separately in iTrent.  The simple form, called ‘PDR Lifecycle’, is used annually to record the PDR discussion date and capture a summary of your conversation.  The separate Objectives section then provides the ability to set, share and update progress on objectives throughout the year.

A range of short video guides and written guides are available below.

I found the PDR online module thought provoking and will reflect on the approach. I would absolutely recommend this as a refresher for any colleague.

Reviewer, Carnegie School of Education

Word document PDR form

This Word document PDR form can be used where your reviewer is not your manager. Once complete, the form can be uploaded into iTrent - please refer to the 'How to Attach Documents to your Review Form' for guidance.

PDR Form

The additional user guides and videos below relate to a specific PDR form/lifecycle process for colleagues in CARES. 

The process for recording and updating objectives is the same for all colleagues, so the Objectives user guides and videos that can be accessed via the tab above and videos section of this webpage are still relevant to colleagues in CARES.

PDR system support

all other pdr enquiries