Cynthia, a salesperson who works remotely, is struggling to meet her sales goals. As her manager, you’re not sure what to do. A few years ago, it would have been easy to drop by an employee’s desk, casually ask how things are going, and see what they’ve been working on. But Cynthia works in another part of the country, and you’ve never actually met in person.
Different possibilities run through your mind as to why Cynthia could be having problems. Does she need help with her sales techniques? Is she slacking off and watching TV all day? Is she going through some personal struggles? You think about asking IT to monitor her keystrokes, but you’ve seen Cynthia at her best and believe she can turn things around. So instead, you decide to wait until her upcoming annual performance review to get to the root of the problem.
However, after a couple of months of low commissions, Cynthia emails you her resignation. You once thought this employee had great potential—what went wrong?
Changing workplaces
Stories of failed performance reviews are all too common in the corporate world. According to a 2024 Gallup survey, only 2% of chief human resource officers from Fortune 500 companies think their performance management system works. Reasons for this shockingly low number include the transition to hybrid work—and managers’ ensuing struggles with accountability—and the instability and ever-moving goalposts brought by rapid change.
Hybrid work is now the norm at many organizations, and while leaders have adjusted to this new world of work in many respects—for example, they now remember to unmute themselves before speaking on Zoom most of the time— conducting effective performance reviews remains a stumbling block.
Managing a remote employee’s performance when you have no idea what they’re doing 90% of the time is difficult. Gone are the days when managers could stroll by an employee’s office on their way to the coffeemaker, and observe them diligently typing away at the computer or chatting up a customer. Mentoring happens much less organically, and conversations must be deliberately scheduled.
Many companies put performance reviews on hold during the pandemic to conserve employees’ strained mental and emotional resources. A culture of niceness developed, which was reinforced during the Great Resignation, when companies were practically begging employees not to leave. Now, managers are struggling to uphold accountability while preserving empathy and psychological safety.
In the face of constant change, such as AI transformation, economic volatility, and geopolitical conflicts, annual—or even quarterly—performance reviews are woefully inadequate. To remain agile, employees and managers need constant feedback within the daily workflow. Frequent conversations allow employees to quickly course-correct or alter their goals or strategies in response to rapidly changing conditions.
Surveys indicate that contrary to what managers may think, employees crave regular feedback. According to recent statistics from Zippia.com, 60% of employees report wanting feedback on a daily or weekly basis—and for workers under 30, that number increases to 72%.
Employees want more feedback, and managers want to give them more feedback. So what’s getting in the way? Outdated notions of what performance reviews should look like.
Create a culture of asking for feedback, woven into daily work
Because managers don’t see employees in the office daily, they need to be more deliberate about prioritizing feedback conversations.
Even though employees want and need feedback, few words spoken by a manager are more anxiety-provoking than, “Let me give you some feedback.” That’s because traditional feedback experiences elicit a strong threat response —that fight, flight, or freeze feeling that causes our brains to shut down when we anticipate negative critiques or consequences. And the anxiety goes both ways —surprisingly, giving unsolicited feedback is just as stressful as receiving it.
Several years ago, NLI scientists conducted a study that found a simple way to reduce the stress response induced by feedback conversations by 50% for both the giver and receiver: Have a person ask for feedback, rather than receiving it unsolicited. A manager can break the ice in such a conversation by asking the employee how the manager is doing in some specific aspect. This will often prompt the employee, after responding to questions about the manager’s performance, to inquire about their work.
In addition to feeling less stressful for the giver and receiver, asking for feedback increases the likelihood that the feedback will be effective. When we aren’t experiencing a threat response, we can better practice mental contrasting — comparing how we’re doing things now with a vision of how we could do better in the future. Mental contrasting allows us to process negative feedback and transform it into a plan for improvement—empowering us to better our performance, rather than feeling mired in criticism and failure.
NLI has found that when managers model asking for feedback specifically (“How could I improve the slides in my presentation?”), broadly (asking several people), and often (at least a couple of times per week), they help create a culture where everyone regularly solicits feedback instead of dreading it.
Focus on outcomes, not surveillance
Because managers can’t see what their employees do daily, they’re tempted to monitor their activities closely. This can take the form of overly detailed directives or constant “checking up” with calls, texts, or emails. Even more intrusive is keystroke-monitoring software or other forms of digital surveillance.
A manager might feel justified in keeping close tabs on their remote employees —after all, they’re being paid to work, not to sit at home doing nothing. However, such surveillance almost always backfires because it threatens an employee’s autonomy or sense of control over the events in their lives.
According to research, when employees perceive they have autonomy, their individual and group productivity increases, and their mood improves. So instead of micromanaging, leaders are better served to focus on outcomes—is the employee meeting their deadlines and fulfilling their obligations? Are they making progress on their goals? Managers should be clear about expectations, but unless an employee asks for guidance, let them figure out how to structure their work.
Build flexibility into systems
Change agility—at the individual, team, and organizational levels—is crucial for adapting to rapidly evolving technology, shifting consumer preferences, increased globalization, and many other transformations affecting the world of work. Employees and managers need to have an ongoing dialogue about whether goals, priorities, and processes need to change. That’s where creating a culture of asking for feedback comes into play.
But beyond that, managers must build flexibility into their performance management systems. Many organizations task employees with drafting yearly goals, which is beneficial for planning and motivation. But instead of just asking employees to make goals and then evaluating how they did at the end of the year, managers should regularly check in, not only about whether the employee is progressing toward their goals but also whether those goals are still relevant and worthwhile.
In today’s workplace, an employee’s objectives should be considered malleable instead of set in stone. The only way to avoid miscommunication, frustration, and wasted effort is for employees and managers to align on shared goals and how to reach them frequently. Flexible goal adjustment has the added benefit of increasing psychological well-being compared with tenaciously clinging to outdated objectives.
Timeless principles
Over the past few years, the workplace has changed in ways few could have anticipated, and performance management must change, too. However, the new rules of performance reviews are based on timeless principles such as reducing threat, increasing autonomy, and adapting to change, which are now more important than ever.
Let’s see how you could have applied these rules to handle Cynthia’s situation differently:
As soon as you notice Cynthia isn’t meeting her sales goals, you ask when would be a good time to hop on a video call. To reduce Cynthia’s threat level, you assure her she’s not getting fired, you just want to talk about how you can support her in reaching her goals.
You start the conversation by asking Cynthia what’s working for her about your management style, and what you could do better. After a slight pause, Cynthia says she appreciates the autonomy you give her, but she could use some help to narrow down her huge potential client list to figure out which ones to focus on.
You give Cynthia some advice on the best types of companies to target and then ask if it would be helpful to have a weekly virtual meeting to discuss objectives, tactics, and progress. Cynthia enthusiastically says yes. Within a couple of months, she’s exceeding her sales targets, and you have a much better idea of what’s in her pipeline. You ask for feedback often, and Cynthia does, as well. She’s gone from a struggling flight risk to one of your top performers, all because of your new, brain-friendly approach.
