Redesigning performance management is some of the most complex work a People team can take on. It is not simply a process change. It shapes how people experience feedback, development, promotion, pay, accountability and support.
In a consulting business, it also has a wider impact. Clear and effective people processes help build confidence, consistency and retention, supporting both individual and organisational performance.
That is why redesigning performance management became a strategic priority for us. We knew dissatisfaction with the previous approach had grown over time, affecting how people experienced fairness, clarity and progression. If we wanted an approach that reflected the kind of firm we aim to be- progressive, people-focused and performance-driven- we needed to redesign it thoughtfully rather than make a series of small fixes.
In this article, I want to share what changed, what we learned and where we still plan to improve.
How we redesigned performance management with our people
We began by reviewing how the existing approach was working. We considered employee survey results, feedback from performance discussions, exit interview themes and other internal evidence. We also asked a representative group from across the business to challenge our thinking and help us identify anything we might have missed.
We then agreed clear design principles with our leadership team. These principles gave us a shared view of what the new approach needed to achieve, not just what needed to change.
A particularly important decision was to create a cross-business design group of volunteers who could help make key decisions about the new approach. We wanted performance management to be shaped with our people, not simply done to them.
The project team developed proposals and gathered input, while the design group reviewed materials, raised risks, tested decisions from different perspectives and helped us move forward at pace. Its role went beyond decision-making. It helped us check that the approach was culturally appropriate, practical to deliver and likely to be adopted across the firm.
That balance matters. Performance management can be technically well designed but still fail if it does not fit the culture or the people who use it.
Why continuous feedback mattered before, during and after launch
Feedback was built into the work from the start. It informed the initial design, shaped decisions during development and continued after the new approach went live. We treated it as a design input, not a sign-off exercise.
We used a short follow-up survey to understand how people felt the process had worked against our design principles. We also asked about the clarity of the guidance, training, support sessions and launch communications. We combined this with more focused internal reflection to identify what was working and what needed to improve before the next review cycle.
If you are redesigning performance management, this is one of the clearest lessons: do not wait until launch to find out whether the process works. Build in ways to listen early, test assumptions and refine the approach after people have experienced it.
The first version was never intended to be perfect. A performance management approach needs to evolve as people use it and learn from it.
What changed in our performance management approach
We now have a clearer end-to-end approach, with stronger links between feedback, individual objectives, evidence of performance, development, pay and promotion.
We have also made the relationship between performance and pay transparent. Pay decisions are now more clearly connected to the skills and behaviours expected at each career stage, supported by a clearer philosophy, process and explanation of how progression works.
These changes make performance management easier to understand for employees, more useful for managers, and consistent across the firm. They help us move away from ambiguity towards a process that is evidence-based, scalable and credible.
The early feedback suggests we have made meaningful progress. People told us that conversations felt more focused, time was used more fairly, discussions were more grounded in evidence, and reviews benefited from a more consistent structure and clearer career-stage criteria.
There is still work to do. Feedback highlighted the need for clearer decision rules, better preparation materials, more practical guidance for certain situations and continued focus on trust, fairness and development.
We see that as a strength rather than a weakness. Listening only until launch would miss the point. A process like this should keep improving as we learn more about what people need.
What other organisations should keep in mind when redesigning performance management
If there is one lesson I would share with other People teams, it is this: redesigning performance management is not about replacing one form or meeting with another. It is about creating a clearer connection between expectations, evidence, development and decision-making.
That means involving people early, being open about what the new approach is trying to solve and treating feedback as part of the system rather than a one-off checkpoint. It also means accepting that version one will not be perfect. The real test is whether the process becomes clearer, fairer and more useful with each cycle.
A stronger foundation, not a finished job
Good performance management is not about creating a perfect system on paper. It is about building something clearer, fairer and more useful than what came before, then improving it as people experience it.
That is what makes me proud of this work. We made a difficult and important issue a strategic priority. We involved people from across the business in shaping the solution. We created a governance structure that helped us make better decisions, listened throughout the process and delivered tangible improvements.
The work is not finished, but we have built a stronger foundation and clearer direction. Our approach is now better positioned to help people grow, support managers, and enable the firm to thrive.
