Is your performance management system actually working?
Your organization already has its own approach to performance management— its expectations, processes, conversations, tools, ratings, and intended connections to other talent decisions.
Advanced HR evaluates whether that system is operating the way you intended— and whether it is producing the clarity, feedback, consistency, and information your organization needs.
Your process may be functioning. Your system may not be.
Required forms may be completed. Scheduled conversations may occur. Managers and employees may participate in every step of the established process.
But participation doesn't tell you whether the system is actually working.
Employees may still lack clarity about expectations. Feedback may not be meaningful or timely. Performance may not be differentiated effectively. And the information produced by the system may not be useful for the purposes your organization intended.
That's why the Performance Management Diagnostic looks beyond whether the process is being followed.
INTENDED
We establish how your organization designed performance management to work, what participants are expected to do, and what the system is intended to accomplish.
PRACTICED
We examine how employees and managers experience the system in practice—including where intended practices are happening consistently and where reality may differ from design.
EFFECTIVE
We evaluate whether the system is producing the results your organization expects from performance management.
Understand where your system is working—and where it may be breaking down.
Do employees understand what successful performance looks like?
Is meaningful feedback actually occurring?
Does the system appropriately distinguish performance?
Are the practices your organization established happening consistently?
Is the resulting performance information useful for the purposes your organization intended?
We help determine whether the system you've chosen is working the way you intended.
Compare intended design with lived experience.
Understanding whether a performance management system works requires more than asking whether people like it—or relying on a single source of information.
EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
Understand how employees experience the performance management system and whether their experience reflects what the organization intended.
MANAGER EXPERIENCE
Explore how managers understand and apply the system, what actually occurs in practice, and where they encounter ambiguity, inconsistency, or barriers.
HR & LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVE
Establish what the organization intends the performance management system to accomplish and how its processes and expectations are designed to work.
ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION
Use select organization-provided information to add context, identify patterns, and help test whether intended practices are occurring.
Where meaningful patterns or inconsistencies emerge across areas of the organization, we identify them without turning one organizational diagnostic into separate departmental assessments.
Diagnose the system—not just the process.
DISCOVER
We begin by understanding your performance management system—how it is designed to operate, what is expected to happen, and what your organization expects it to accomplish.
GATHER
We collect targeted quantitative and qualitative input from relevant employees, managers, HR and leadership, supplemented by select organization-provided information.
ANALYZE
Advanced HR examines the evidence to identify strengths, weaknesses, inconsistencies, organizational patterns, and gaps between intended design, actual practice, and desired results.
DEBRIEF
HR and organizational leaders participate in a 90-minute facilitated results session to interpret the findings, understand what they mean, identify priority concerns, and review recommended actions.
Know what's working. Know what's not. Know where to focus.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROFILE
A clear view of where your current performance management system is working well and where weaknesses may exist.
PRIORITY FINDINGS
Understand the most significant gaps, inconsistencies, and opportunities revealed through the diagnostic.
ORGANIZATIONAL PATTERNS
Identify meaningful differences or patterns across the organization where sufficient information allows.
STRENGTHS TO PROTECT
Understand which elements of your existing system are working so improvement efforts don't inadvertently replace what should be preserved.
RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
Receive practical recommendations based on what the diagnostic reveals—not a predetermined performance management model.
DIAGNOSTIC REPORT
Receive a consolidated report of findings, analysis, strengths, priority concerns, and recommendations.
90-MINUTE RESULTS DEBRIEF
Review the findings with Advanced HR and leave with a clearer understanding of what the evidence means and where attention is most warranted.
See how evidence becomes a clearer picture of what is working—and what needs attention.
The final report brings the evidence together into a practical view of system strengths, meaningful gaps, organizational patterns, and recommended actions. The example below is fictional and is intended only to show the type of insight a diagnostic may produce.
Illustrative Report Excerpt
For Illustration Only
System snapshot
Design is stronger than day-to-day execution.
The organization has a reasonably clear formal process, but manager practice is inconsistent between formal review points.
Employees generally understand the annual performance cycle and broad expectations. Evidence is less consistent around timely feedback, documentation, and how managers address performance concerns as they emerge.
Employees understand the formal performance cycle.
The organization has established a recognizable process and common review rhythm. Improvement should build on that familiarity rather than replacing the system unnecessarily.
Manager practice between formal reviews is inconsistent.
The largest gap is not process completion. It is the variation in how managers set, reinforce, document, and address performance expectations throughout the year.
Define the minimum management practices that support the system.
Clarify expectations for ongoing feedback, documentation, performance conversations, and escalation so the formal process is reinforced by more consistent day-to-day practice.
Illustrative only. Actual diagnostic reports are based on the organization's own performance management design, evidence, participants, and intended outcomes. Findings, terminology, organization of results, and recommended actions will vary by engagement.
You don't need another performance management trend.
You need to know whether your system works.
Understand the difference between what was designed, what is happening, and what your performance management system is actually producing.