KEI&S

M24BuildPeople· Module 7

Performance Management

Reviews happen once a year, if at all. Good and poor performance are treated the same.

  • Manage
  • Stabilise
  • Institutionalise
  • People
  • Leadership
  • ~5 min · Template

The business problem

Many businesses have no regular performance conversation. Feedback is informal and usually negative. Strong performers leave because nothing distinguishes them; weak performance persists because no one addresses it until it becomes a crisis.

Why it matters

Regular, fair performance management raises standards, keeps good people and makes difficult decisions defensible and timely.

What you will learn

  1. Set expectations from the role card and measures
  2. Hold short, regular performance conversations
  3. Give specific, evidence-based feedback
  4. Handle under-performance fairly and promptly

Core questions

  1. Does each person know what good performance looks like?
  2. How often do they hear how they're doing?
  3. How do we recognise strong performance?
  4. What is our process when performance falls short?

Work through the module

CaseWhat is happening?

Call centre, 60 agents · Illustrative teaching case

A customer service centre measures only call volume. Agents rush calls, and repeat calls rise. Management adds first-contact resolution and quality scores, introduces monthly one-to-ones, and publishes team results. Repeat calls fall, and the best agents are identified for team-lead roles.

Full teaching case: The Family Employee Problem

DecisionWhat does the leader need to decide?

Keep one measure and an annual review, or introduce balanced measures and regular conversations?

FrameworkHow should they think about the problem?

Expect → observe → discuss → develop

Set expectations (role and measures), observe performance with evidence, discuss it regularly (monthly one-to-ones), and develop — through coaching, training, recognition or, where necessary, a formal improvement plan.

ToolWhat can they use?

One-to-one templateTemplate

  1. Results against measures
  2. What went well; what to improve
  3. Support needed
  4. Commitments for next month
ApplicationHow does it apply to their business?

Apply it to your own business:

  1. Hold a one-to-one with each direct report this month
  2. Use the same template for each
  3. Record commitments and review them next month
ImplementationWhat changes?

What should change in the business:

  1. Make monthly one-to-ones part of the management rhythm
  2. Link measures to role cards
  3. Define the process for under-performance
ReviewDid it work?

How to tell whether the change worked:

  1. Are one-to-ones actually happening monthly?
  2. Are results against measures improving?
  3. Has regretted staff turnover fallen?

After this module you should be able to decide

Keep one measure and an annual review, or introduce balanced measures and regular conversations?

And leave with: A simple, regular performance conversation built on clear measures.

Part of these learning paths

Next step

Start with what is actually happening.

Tell us what is happening in your business. We will help identify the appropriate next step.

Start With Your ProblemTake the Business Diagnostic
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