1. Performance Is Not a Score
Performance management·A continuous loop: set goals, track progress, review results, give feedback. It translates company goals into daily actions and corrects course along the way.
Goals should be stretchable: hard enough to pull, close enough to reach. Impossible targets only teach people to game numbers.
2. KPI, OKR, or Balanced Scorecard
| Tool | Strength | Watch out | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| KPI | Clear accountability, direct link to pay | Metric gaming, weak cooperation | Mature business, measurable output |
| OKR | Alignment and ambitious goals | Should not drive bonuses directly | Innovative work, high uncertainty |
| Balanced scorecard | Balances finance, customer, process, growth | Heavy to build, keep metrics few | Strategy deployment at group level |
3. Cascading Goals
Align first
Company goals flow to teams and individuals as one consistent story.
Keep few
Three to five goals per person; ten goals means no goals.
Make them verifiable
Define the measure and the data source up front.
Track monthly
Correct course early instead of debating at year-end.
Use results well
Reward contribution, coach gaps, and act on persistent underperformance.
4. Performance in the AI Era
- Real-time data replaces year-end recollection and impression-based ratings
- AI drafts reviews and flags rating biases such as halo and recency effects; humans decide
- Goals roll quarterly instead of yearly to keep up with change
- Feedback conversations remain human work; no system replaces the honest face-to-face
5. Feedback That Works
Good feedback states facts (data and behaviors), impact, and expectations, aimed at the work rather than the person. One rating talk per year changes nothing; short quarterly one-on-ones do. Warning signs of a broken system: ratings that rotate by turns, everyone marked fine, and review meetings that are pure ritual.