🏚️Renovating Performance Management🏚️

Last week, my post was about performance and accountability, and how it is often the missing piece of the employee experience.

I felt like this topic deserved a second week, as it is a big problem in many (if not most) organizations.

Let’s just say the quiet part out loud: performance management has a branding problem.

The phrase itself makes people tense up. Employees hear judgment. Managers hear paperwork. HR hears compliance. And nobody hears growth.

Yet at its core, performance management is supposed to help people do great work, understand expectations, and feel supported, not dread an annual meeting or brace for bad news.

Somewhere along the way, we turned what should be an ongoing, human process into a once-a-year administrative event. And it shows.

So, What Is Performance Management—Really?

At its best, performance management is the continuous process of setting clear expectations, providing feedback, developing skills, and aligning individual work to organizational goals.

Notice what’s missing from that definition:

• It’s not a form

• It’s not a rating

• It’s not an annual review

  
  

Performance management should be happening all the time—in one-on-ones, quick check-ins, coaching conversations, recognition, course corrections, and yes, sometimes hard conversations.

When it’s done well, people know:

• What success looks like

• How they’re doing

• Where to focus

• How to grow

  
  

When it’s done poorly, people are confused, frustrated, and disengaged. And leaders are left wondering why accountability feels so hard.

Why We Need a New Term

Words matter. And performance management sounds cold, controlling, and outdated.

It implies that leaders “manage” performance to people instead of with them.

I’ve been experimenting with some new terms. My favorite so far is Performance Enablement. However, the specific term matters less than the mindset behind it. The shift we need is from evaluation to evolution.

From:

“How did you do last year?”

To:

“How can we help you succeed going forward?”

What’s Actually Broken in Most Organizations

The problem isn’t that managers don’t care. It’s that most were never taught how to lead performance.

They’re expected to:

• Set expectations clearly

• Give meaningful feedback

• Document issues

• Coach for improvement

• Hold people accountable

• Avoid legal risk

• Preserve trust

  
  

That’s a lot. And without training, tools, and support, many managers default to avoidance. Feedback gets delayed. Issues fester. High performers pick up the slack. And by the time performance is addressed, it feels punitive instead of supportive. I sound like a broken record as I wrote about that last week, but it’s true.

How to Improve It (Without Overhauling Everything)

You don’t have to have a shiny new system to fix performance management. You need better habits.

Here’s where I recommend starting:

1. Make Expectations Explicit - If you can’t clearly describe what “good performance” looks like, don’t be surprised when people miss the mark. Job descriptions, goals, and priorities need to be current and clear.

2. Shift to Ongoing Conversations - One annual review can’t carry twelve months of feedback. Encourage regular check-ins focused on progress, obstacles, and support—not just results.

3. Teach Managers How to Give Feedback - Feedback is a skill, not a personality trait. Managers need practical guidance on what to say, when to say it, and how to say it without damaging trust.

4. Balance Accountability with Care - Accountability and empathy are not opposites. The best leaders do both. They hold the bar high and support people in reaching it.

5. Document as You Go - Documentation shouldn’t be a scramble at review time. When notes are kept throughout the year, performance conversations become clearer, fairer, and less emotional.

In Conclusion

Performance management isn’t broken because people are lazy or resistant. It’s broken because we’ve overcomplicated the process and underinvested in leadership capability.

When performance conversations are clear, frequent, and human, something powerful happens:

• Trust increases

• Engagement improves

• Accountability becomes normal—not scary
  

Call it performance management, performance enablement, or something else. Just don’t let it stay what it’s been.

Because when people know what’s expected, get feedback that helps, and feel supported along the way, performance takes care of itself.

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If you are interested in help or support around "performance management", check out the Performance Management Redesign solution.

#performancemanagement #coaching #feedback #accountability #employeeexperience #hr