Creating a Stronger Performance Management System
Performance management shapes behavior in every organization, whether leaders create a formal system or not. In a recent episode of It Depends, Jennifer DuBois, CEO and Managing Partner at Hantzmon Wiebel, noted that an effective system makes expectations explicit. “Even without a formal system, people learn what is rewarded, what is ignored, and what is punished,” Jennifer explains.
Effective performance management is more than an annual review or a collection of metrics. It gives people clear expectations, practical support, and a stronger connection to the organization’s strategy.
Start With Clear Objectives
Without shared objectives, leaders may judge performance by effort, activity, or opinion rather than meaningful outcomes.
Objectives should flow from the organization’s strategy and help employees understand how their work contributes to larger goals. Frameworks such as Objectives and Key Results, commonly known as OKRs, provide useful structure by requiring leaders to define what they want to achieve and how they will measure progress.
The framework itself matters less than the discipline behind it. Clear priorities reduce confusion and give people a practical answer to the question Jennifer says every objective should address: “What does success look like right now?”
Choose Measures That Guide Decisions
Once objectives are established, key performance indicators, or KPIs, help teams evaluate progress. The goal is not to fill a dashboard with data. It is to identify trends, guide decisions, and encourage the right behaviors.
Jennifer recommends focusing on two or three KPIs per objective. Tracking too many measures creates noise and makes it harder for people to recognize what matters most. If a KPI does not help someone make a decision, change an action, or improve an outcome, leaders should reconsider what they are measuring.
Turn Expectations Into Capability
Objectives and KPIs define expectations, but employees also need support to meet them. As Jennifer puts it, “Coaching is how expectations turn into capability.”
Regular coaching conversations uncover obstacles, clarify priorities, and make accountability feel supportive rather than punitive. They also keep performance management from becoming a purely administrative exercise.
Training plays a related role by helping organizations build skills consistently. Learning becomes more valuable when employees have opportunities to apply it through stretch assignments, project work, and other structured experiences. Jennifer explains that experience turns knowledge into judgment, and sound judgment is an important sign of strong performance.
Make Feedback Timely and Specific
Employees cannot improve without useful information. In high-performing organizations, feedback is a normal part of working together rather than a conversation saved for an annual review.
Effective feedback is timely, specific, and connected to concrete examples. It helps the recipient understand what to continue and what to change while the details are still clear. Regular check-ins make feedback more practical and give leaders opportunities to address concerns before they grow.
Leaders also set the tone for how feedback is given and received. When they model clarity, accountability, and openness, they make it safer for others to ask questions, raise concerns, and improve.
Use Technology to Support Better Conversations
Technology can centralize progress and results, reduce reliance on memory, and give leaders and employees a shared view of performance.
A polished dashboard cannot improve performance on its own. Tools create value only when leaders engage with the information, discuss what it means, and use it to guide decisions, coaching, and support.
Keep Performance Management Connected to Strategy
Performance management works best when objectives, KPIs, coaching, and feedback operate as one system. Each element should reinforce the organization’s priorities and help employees develop the capability to deliver.
The system should also evolve. Jennifer describes performance management as a living structure that requires ongoing evaluation, change, and adaptability. As priorities and circumstances shift, leaders should revisit the system to make sure it still supports the organization and its people.
Turn Performance Strategy Into Action
When objectives, measures, coaching, feedback, and technology work together, leaders can make better decisions, employees receive useful support, and organizations can adapt as priorities change.
As the leading independent accounting and professional services firm in Central Virginia, our team at Hantzmon Wiebel helps organizations evaluate financial and operational needs, improve decision-making, and develop practical structures that support long-term success. Connect with our advisory team to start a conversation about strengthening performance across your organization.
Listen to the It Depends Podcast
© 2026 CPA Site Solutions.
Disclaimer of Liability
Our firm provides the information in this article for general guidance only, and does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services, investment advice or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal or other competent advisors. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional advisor who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation. Tax articles in this blog are not intended to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding accuracy-related penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer. The information is provided “as is,” with no assurance or guarantee of completeness, accuracy or timeliness of the information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
