What these skills are
A full performance review cycle, as installable Claude skills.
Think of it as performance review templates that come with the thinking: the review form, the self-review, the manager's prep and the growth memo, each built from your own framework.
Performance software charges you per seat to store forms nobody reads. This pack takes the opposite bet: the work of a review cycle is thinking and conversations, and both happen better in Claude than in a workflow tool.
There is one rule the whole pack is built on: Claude structures, humans judge. No skill in this set writes a performance assessment, assigns a rating, or makes a people decision. They organize evidence, sharpen language, prepare conversations, and remember what matters.
Install only the ones for your role: 6 for the founder or people lead who runs the cycle, 3 for managers, 4 for the people getting reviewed. Files travel between people the way trust does: by a human, on purpose.
Download all 11 skills. One zip, one folder per skill, plus templates and a README. Free, no signup. The same eleven skills are open on GitHub: polar-bear-org/claude-skills.
The 11 skills you get
The set is grouped by who installs it. Everyone starts with the same skill:
0. Cycle Setup (everyone)
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)
1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
Where to start
| Your situation | Skill to run |
|---|---|
| Review season is 8 weeks away and nothing exists | Cycle Planner |
| The team asks about career growth and you improvise | Growth Matrix Builder |
| Six reviews to write, notes everywhere | Review Prepper |
| A 1:1 in twenty minutes | One-on-One Companion |
| A self-review form and a blank mind | Self-Review Prepper |
| Something great happened at work today | Brag Doc Keeper |
The quality bar
Every skill in the pack holds the same standard, the one we hold in client work:
- 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
Who made this
Polar Bear is a people ops consultancy for human-size teams (20 to 200 people). Built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We design career frameworks and run review systems for our clients, and we run our own company on Claude. This pack is the free, self-serve version of how we work.
The matrix and the cycle this pack builds are a working v1. When promotions and salaries start hanging on them, the framework deserves real design, and that's what we do with clients.
Meet Pauline. Bring your review season, your framework question, or just your team's situation. Book a 30-minute call · Pauline on LinkedIn
Install in Claude Code
Two lines, and every skill in the pack loads at once.
/plugin marketplace add polar-bear-org/claude-skills /plugin install review-cycle-pack@polar-bear-skills
Using Claude on the web instead? Download the zip and upload each skill from its install folder under Customize → Skills.
How to use it: pick the workflow that matches your week
The skills run in the order a real cycle does. Install only the ones for your role and follow the calendar.
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
Install it in five minutes
In Claude Code
/plugin marketplace add polar-bear-org/claude-skills /plugin install review-cycle-pack@polar-bear-skills
In Claude.ai or Claude Desktop
- Download the pack and unzip it: its skills folder holds all 11 skills (https://meet-polar-bear.com/skills/review-cycle-pack.zip). In Claude, click your name at the bottom left, then Settings.
- Under Customize, choose Skills. Click Add, then Upload a skill.
- Drag the skill's file into the box, or click to browse. You can add several at once.
- In the pack folder, open skills, then the skill you want, and select its SKILL.md (cycle-setup is a good first one).
- Claude shows the skill's name and what it does. Click Upload.
- The skill opens on its own page. Its toggle should be on.
- Try it in a new chat: type / and the skill's name, then say what you need.
Then try one
Run cycle-planner for our next review cycle. Team and dates: [paste them here]Run self-review-prepper on my brag doc: [paste it here]Run review-prepper for [alias]. Their self-review and my notes: [paste them here]
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.