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Performance Management in the Age of AI: the new 3‑Dimensional Model For decades, the 9‑box grid shaped how organizations assessed talent—mapping individuals along two familiar axes: ✔ Business performance (“what”) ✔ Behaviors or potential (“how”) Over time, many companies moved away from this model, concluding it oversimplified the complexity of human performance and sometimes reinforced bias more than it reduced it. AI is fundamentally reshaping work, shortening the lifecycle of skills and creating new capability demands at a pace conventional frameworks were never designed to keep up with. As a result, a new paradigm for performance management is emerging. Organizations are starting to consider a three‑dimensional approach to performance—one that integrates not just what people deliver and how they behave, but also how they grow. The new 3D model consists of three axis: 1. Business Results: Measures impact, delivery, and contribution to outcomes. 2. Behaviors / Ways of Working: Captures collaboration, leadership etc. and.. 3. Skills Development: Assesses capability building, learning velocity, and readiness for future roles. The third axis reflects a simple reality: In an AI‑driven workforce, continuous skills development is no longer optional—it’s strategic. IBM has begun to formalize this multidimensional view in its talent and rewards model. Their approach includes: 1. Integrating skills into pay: Base pay and equity linked to skill progression. 2. Balancing objectives: Business and skills goals carry equal weight 3. Future skills visibility: Regular communication on evolving skill requirements see: https://lnkd.in/eTDE-XmE Not every organization can replicate this model at scale, but it illustrates where performance management is heading. The central questions are shifting. Not just: “Did someone deliver results?” But also: “Are they developing the skills the organization will need next?” and “Are they learning at the speed the environment requires?” The move from a 2D grid to a 3D, capability‑driven framework may become one of the most consequential shifts in performance management in the age of AI—signaling a future where growth, adaptability, and skill relevance stand on equal footing with results.

The most valuable private tech company out of Europe right now published its performance management playbook. And IMO every entrepreneur should read it. There’s a lot out there about what Revolut has accomplished ($428m in net profit last year, with $2.2bn in revenue and a global customer base of 45 million for starters). There’s a lot less written about how the Revolut team achieved this level of success. Which makes Nik Storonsky’s “Driving High Performance” playbook so valuable. It was co-written by Nik and the team at QuantumLight and somehow manages to condense nearly a decade of Nik’s best practices from growing Revolut into a 30-minutes read. What I find most notable about Nik’s playbook: 🥷 𝐀 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐇𝐑 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐄𝐎 Nik believes performance management is a science, not an art. It can be standardized and it should be a top CEO priority. At Revolut, this looks like a team of smart operators that can build the process for performance management and constantly fine-tune evaluations and incentives. 🧮 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 Performance is delivered over three dimensions — deliverables, skills and culture — and scorecards are used to describe ideal behavior. Assessment is standardized through yes/no answers. For each seniority level, the performance team sets a bar for expectations and goes through a quarterly process to gather performance reviews, calculate grades, calibrate results, and share those results with managers to deliver feedback. There’s no exception to this process, no matter how junior or senior someone is. The result of such a mathematical approach? Employees get evaluated on outcomes, not intuition. Which means they spend less time focused on positioning themselves positively and more time improving their metrics. 🥇 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 When everything that matters gets measured across functions, both A-players and under-performers are easy to spot. Revolut doesn’t shy away from giving its top 15-25 percent of employees disproportionate compensation. On the other side of the performance coin, they focus on exiting the bottom 0-10% of performers as quickly as possible. At a time when all the talk is about founder mode, here is a concrete, actionable playbook for maintaining peak performance at a large scale. Is Nik’s approach for everyone? No. Can it lead to incredible results for founders that adapt this model to their own culture? Absolutely. Nik Storonsky and QuantumLight, thanks for sharing your secrets - hopefully it will inspire and help a lot of entrepreneurs.

Many managers avoid difficult performance conversations because they lack the tools to make them productive. The result is that talented people underperform while their potential goes unrealized. Work ends up being allocated unevenly, leading to frustration across the team. Over the past ten years, I have delivered performance management training to thousands of leaders. I teach a systematic approach that transforms these conversations from confrontational to collaborative: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲. Instead of assuming poor performance is about motivation, we use root cause analysis across four domains: Motivation, Environment, Knowledge, and Ability. Often the "problem employee" just needs clearer expectations or better resources. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀. Managers learn to structure conversations that minimize threat responses and keep people in a learning state. When someone feels psychologically safe, they're more likely to engage in problem-solving. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁. Global leaders need different approaches for different team members. What works in direct communication cultures can backfire in high-context environments. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲. The shift from "correcting" to "developing" changes everything. When managers approach performance conversations as partnerships, they see dramatically better outcomes. The leaders I work with report that their team members actually start seeking feedback rather than resisting it. They move from dreading these conversations to seeing them as opportunities to unlock potential. Performance management isn't about fixing broken people. It's about creating conditions where capable people can thrive. What support does your organization provide to help you handle performance conversations skillfully? What tips would you offer to a new team leader to make the most of their team's potential? 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.

I think I know why only “22% of employees strongly agree their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work” - Gallup. Frankly…people don’t like being told what to do. We need to shift the roles when it comes to performance and put accountability back in the hands of the individuals, the employees or team members who are actually doing the work. What I’ve done for clients is create a template that helps the team member identify how they're going to improve their performance. It’s all based on evidence from peak performance, flow, and performance psychology. Instead of relying on external direction, employees are taking ownership of their growth. Then I train managers on how to coach their people based on what the employees have defined, so they can perform at their best. It’s no longer the manager telling them what to do but guiding them in how to achieve what they themselves want to achieve. And guess what? It works. That's what that graph represents, we need a different approach rather than the usual top-down method. Empowering individuals to own their performance creates real, lasting improvements. What do you think? #employeeperformance #managers #leadership #greatleadership #organisationperformance

This conversation is not rare in the world of HR And it's frustrating for everyone Managers want to move fast HR needs data The employee is sitting in limbo Nobody's happy But here's what needs to be said Bad leaders start documenting when they have already decided someone needs to go Which means building a case, not managing performance Good leadership and real performance management looks different Regular feedback in the moment Clear expectations set upfront Documentation of conversations (good and bad) ongoing Performance improvement as a genuine attempt to help Not a paper trail to termination When documentation only happens at the end Everyone knows what it means The employee knows they're being managed out The manager is just going through motions HR is playing CYA What I'm seeing work better Train managers to document ongoing (wins and concerns) Normalize feedback conversations before things are critical Use performance check-ins as real coaching, not gotcha moments Make documentation part of management, not part of firing If the first time something is documented is when we're already building an exit plan We've failed that employee Document to help people succeed Not just to protect yourself when they don't :) #PerformanceManagement #Leadership #HumanResources #ManagerTraining #EmployeeDevelopment

In this video I’m walking at the American Fork City Dog Park, reflecting on #performancemanagement and #developingpeople. Most leaders think from a fixed mindset, judging their team as good or bad at selling or any other skill. Let’s flip that to a growth mindset. Here’s what I’ve learned: Stop Single Events: Major training events held once at a sales kickoff don’t work without consistent follow-up. A one-day seminar isn’t enough. Follow Up with Action: After teaching, show how it’s done in real-world scenarios. Then, let the learners practice it while you watch. Measure Success: Use measurable outcomes to track progress. If the learning isn’t sticking, reteach until it does. My four-step model—Teach, Show, Do, Review—can transform your team’s development. Embrace consistent learning and become a true developer of people. 🚀 #Leadership #PerformanceManagement #GrowthMindset Watch the full video on YouTube where I get into the details https://lnkd.in/gdArnfz4 Let me know what other experiences you've had in getting training to have a meaningful impact on your teams.

🔴 Knowledge isn’t the goal — performance is. If training doesn’t change what learners do, it’s useless information. To design learning that drives real behavioral change, focus on performance-based outcomes. Here’s how: 1️⃣ Define the desired behavior. Before you create content, ask: "What should learners be able to DO after this training?" ✅ Instead of “Understand conflict resolution” → “De-escalate workplace conflicts using a 3-step framework.” ✅ Instead of “Know safety procedures” → “Complete a safety check before each shift without missing a step.” 2️⃣ Align content to real-world tasks. Cut anything that doesn’t directly impact performance. ✅ Teach skills, not just concepts. ✅ Show learners how to apply the information. ✅ Use realistic examples, not just definitions. 3️⃣ Make practice the priority. If learners only consume content passively, they won’t be ready to act. ✅ Use scenario-based activities. ✅ Have them make decisions and see consequences. ✅ Design realistic practice opportunities. Example: Instead of listing customer service principles, let learners handle a simulated customer complaint -- and refine their approach. 4️⃣ Measure success by actions, not completion. ✅ Set clear, observable performance goals. ✅ Assess what learners can do, not just what they remember. ✅ Provide feedback that helps them improve. Learning should change behavior, not just transfer knowledge. 🤔 How do you design training with performance in mind? ----------------------- 👋 Hi! I'm Elizabeth! ♻️ Share this post if you found it helpful. 👆 Follow me for more tips! 🤝 Reach out if you need a high-quality learning solution designed to engage learners and drive real change. #InstructionalDesign #PerformanceBasedLearning #BehavioralChange #LearningAndDevelopment

The news is buzzing about Meta's latest layoffs targeting "low performers." Some question the timing given recent DEI pullbacks, while others defend it as necessary "trimming of fat." There's plenty of speculation about hidden strategies. But here's what everyone's missing: When performance management is done right, no employee should ever be surprised about where they stand—period. More importantly, they shouldn't be able to pull out documentation from 30, 60, or 90 days ago showing they were rated as middle or high performers doing "amazing work." That contradiction exposes the difference between real performance management and performance theater. Real performance management isn't: ❌ An annual checkbox exercise driven by HR calendars ❌ A tool for justifying strategic layoffs ❌ A surprise weapon deployed when convenient ❌ Something you activate only in crisis ❌ Documentation that changes with the winds It's an ongoing partnership between leaders and their people that creates clarity, enables growth, and builds trust. When done well, every employee knows: ✅ What excellence looks like in their role ✅ Where they stand at any given moment ✅ What resources do they need to succeed ✅ Their clear path to growth ✅ How their work drives organizational success If any of your employees are surprised by performance actions - or worse, can prove their "low performance" contradicts recent feedback - you don't have a performance management system. You have a performance management problem. Leaders, how confident are you that your performance documentation tells a consistent story across your organization? Repost if you agree. #Leadership #HR #PerformanceManagement #OrganizationalCulture #FutureOfWork

My excellent team has relaunched Rainmaker Learning, our robust online platform featuring 284 video lessons across 16 self-paced programs—a comprehensive digital library of our research-based content on workplace performance and leadership. Check it out - https://hubs.li/Q03qM8Qv0 📚 What’s Included Rainmaker Learning condenses 31 years of workplace research (involving 500K+ people from 400+ organizations) into engaging, accessible training. The goal? To provide affordable, scalable soft skills training for individuals, teams, and organizations. 🔑 Highlights from the 16 Programs: Bridging the Soft Skills Gap – Identifies the generational and systemic decline in soft skills across all ages; teaches foundational workplace behavior. Career Skills for the New Economy – Helps individuals navigate careers in the “You, Inc.” era of job insecurity and self-managed growth. Fast Feedback – Introduces the FAST model (Frequent, Accurate, Specific, Timely) for real-time coaching and performance management. First Manage Yourself – Focuses on self-management skills critical to showing up with discipline, initiative, and clarity. HOT Management – Hands-On and Transactional leadership approach for day-to-day team oversight and performance-based motivation. HR Challenges for Managers – Tackles hiring, documenting performance, and managing underperformance strategically. It’s Okay to Be the Boss – Core leadership training addressing the epidemic of undermanagement and teaching managers to re-engage. It’s Okay to Manage Your Boss – Empowers employees to proactively manage their side of the leadership relationship. Managing Anger in the Workplace – Teaches how to recognize, understand, and address anger as data, not just disruption. Managing Generation Z (Not Everyone Gets a Trophy) – Updated for today’s youngest workers, this guides onboarding, training, and retention strategies. Performance Under Pressure – Teaches stress management techniques for individuals and teams. 12 Missing Basics of Professionalism – Breaks down self-evaluation, personal responsibility, communication, and teamwork essentials. The 27 Challenges Managers Face – Practical solutions for the most common leadership dilemmas using high-structure, high-substance management. The Art of Being Indispensable at Work – How to build real influence and manage without authority in matrixed teams. The Customer Service Intervention – Solves common service gaps on the front lines with better oversight and repeatable techniques. The Fundamentals Are All You Need – A capstone course in consistent, structured communication and leadership fundamentals. 💡 Platform Benefits Self-paced access 22+ hours of content Use standalone or integrate into your LMS Affordable subscription model Tools to reinforce live/remote training For more info check out our online catalog - https://hubs.li/Q03qM5GL0 #onlinelearning #expertise #management #training

Top community bank had “performance reviews” that were nothing more than awkward annual check-ins no one took seriously. I was working with an operations director named Jess who admitted her team dreaded reviews. Managers saw them as busy work. Employees saw them as punishment. Leadership saw them as a compliance box to check. The challenges we uncovered together: ❌ once-a-year ratings didn’t connect to goals ❌ half of the teams had no measurable KPIs ❌ vague feedback like “keep up the good work” ❌ too many "surprises" during the review conversation ❌ managers overburdened with documenting performance conversations with their teams ❌ leaders spending hours meeting with employees to review performance with employees getting no value in return This was resulting in low morale, tense conversations, and increasing turnover following each annual review cycle. The company was missing the chance to actually improve performance. They brought me in to help re-imagine the system. Instead of focusing on forms, we focused on conversations. We: ↳ Defined clear expectations tied to business outcomes ↳ Ensure everyone had a "number" or target KPIs ↳ Trained managers on giving feedback that was specific, timely, and actionable ↳ Shifted from annual reviews to quarterly check-ins with ongoing coaching ↳ Built in development planning so employees saw a future, not just a grade Within six months, engagement scores improved by double digits. Managers felt confident in coaching instead of avoiding it. Employees reported their feedback was finally meaningful. The CEO said performance reviews had gone from “the least valuable thing we did” to “one of the most strategic.” Jess told me, “This is the first time in 20 years that I’ve seen performance management actually be about improving performance, not just penalizing underperformers.” And that’s the whole point. Performance management shouldn't be about berating underperformers once a year; it's about catching opportunities for improvement before its too late and equipping leaders with the skills to amplify and accelerate the performance of their people. Real performance management isn't about compliance. It's about growth.