Performance Management: It’s All Process, Forget the Purpose

I have spent the last two decades as Head of Talent inside large tech organizations, adapting, changing, removing, revamping, and rethinking performance review strategies. I have yet to find a company that doesn’t struggle with finding the ideal way to measure performance. In some ways, the fact that everyone struggles with the same process is reassuring.

​What I’ve found too often is that many organizations have a “process without a purpose.” The combination of anxiety-inducing ratings, lots of talking up “the power of feedback,” and the illusion of activity over outcome means a dreaded process that nobody looks forward to. But you have to have some kind of performance measurement tool because not having one is as confusing as trying to perfect one.​

Why Eliminating Performance Reviews Doesn’t Work

​Throughout my career, I’ve tried almost every way to make performance reviews work for all involved. I’ve even tried to eliminate them completely, and what I found was that removing those measurements failed because, in general, humans need clarity and accountability. When those indicators were suddenly removed, the question I heard constantly was: how do I know if I’m doing my job well enough?’

​What happened when I removed reviews was a collective sense of anxiety. With no real performance benchmark, teams weren’t sure if, why, or how their work was recognized and valued. Not knowing where you stand in a large organization can lead to insecurity, and team members who feel the pressure (however imaginary) of potentially losing their jobs don’t perform well. Measures of performance don’t tend to disappear in any case; they get assimilated into other processes like reward, talent reviews, etc… But it’s equally as treacherous to get caught up in perfecting the process.

What Does Work

​Resource teams can take weeks or months attempting to perfect review strategies. In almost every case, the performance reviews that were agonized over were out of touch with both the organizational goals and with the people they were meant to review. Overanalyzed, too detailed, oddly unspecific, and lacking accountability for the human dynamics within a corporation, left employees confused by overly polished reviews. It also remains to be seen whether “let’s use AI for feedback” cuts it or just delivers us more slop to an already fractious process. 

​There will always be human factors that make the carefully thought-out process of a performance review falter, and inflexible reviews can’t adapt to those nuances. On the other hand, they can’t account for every potential human dynamic either. I have seen so many avenues explored and have noticed that some things work much better than others when applied consistently:​

• Clear, transparent goals: Nothing matters more. If people know the goals and their personal role in helping reach them, you are already halfway there.
• ​Good Managers: The most sophisticated and well-thought-out process will never be realized without high-quality managers who can relate to employees one-on-one. A training course can help, but the right cultural fit is more important.
• ​Normalizing Differentiation: It must be communicated that a rating of ‘successful’ or ‘needs improvement’ is not a death sentence. There’s no such thing as a company that consists of 100% high performers (and those that proclaim this are lying or deluded). Every organization needs a mix of those who steady the ship, those who have fallen short, and those who have contributed the most. Unless employees see examples of realistic fluctuation, you are done for.
• Making feedback tolerable: A colleague once remarked that the most fear-inducing word in corporate life is ‘feedback”, and much research backs that up. You can’t change the human condition, but you can make it tolerable. I fear we will get distracted with “shiny AI feedback tools” that promise to solve this but do nothing to build trust and connection. Sometimes there just isn’t a shortcut.
• Live Discussions: Sending performance reviews via email, forms, or Slack doesn’t cut it. Those reviews create more work and will either leave people confused or be ignored.

Reviews can be a useful tool for helping team members understand their place within an organization. But they can’t be inflexible and will never be perfect. Getting it as good as it can be means a real understanding of the human side of reviews and having the people with the skillset and mindset to communicate goals and progress on them well.