What Is Continuous Performance Management? Definition, Examples and Best Practices Behind a Continuous Performance Management Strategy

Continuous Performance Management Definition

Continuous performance management or performance development is a real-time, forward looking approach to performance that companies use to align and grow their employees, and truly help them succeed.

Unlike annual reviews, continuous performance management is focused on coaching and developing the whole team instead of seeking out a minority of non-performers - making employees feel happier, retaining them for longer and building performance faster.

Of course, improving employee performance doesn't just happen overnight with a new process, which is why continuous performance management is bigger than a one-off training course or piece of technology. It's a shift in mindset that recognises businesses are now competing on innovation, creativity and collaboration, in a world where we need to quickly adapt and respond to the fastest changing environment we have ever experienced.

With continuous performance management you're not just doing more of the old way, or increasing the number of review cycles. You're helping managers to become inspiring leaders that empower their team members to take ownership of their own performance and ultimately build a culture of collaboration and innovation.

It's time to break up with annual reviews and work in a more human way.

Continuous performance management is the way your employees want to work. Learn how Crewmojo makes it possible here.

Employees Have Spoken

It's time for a reality check:

After seeing the research across thousands of employees, what we've heard loud and clear (and maybe you've felt this too) is that something is broken with the way we manage performance.

Over the past several decades, we've become obsessed with process and efficiency, setting up KPI's, policies, charters, job descriptions and so on.

We've become so focused on things like centralised control, risk management, change gates, that we've lost track of what really matters in today's environment.

At some point, setting up corporate controls started being more important than thinking our employees can add value.

As a result, the employee experience that many companies provide has become cold, robotic and untrusting. For many leadership teams, their employees have become faceless entities that exist only inside of spreadsheets - they aren't treated like actual people.

Not only is this a terrible experience for employees, it's also bad for business.

The way we've been managing our people is broken.

The good news? You already know how to fix it, because the solution has always been there. We need to make our employee relationships human - just like any other relationship.

So that's exactly what we're doing, and the way we're doing it is by putting ongoing, conversations at the center of the employee / manager relationship.

We're replacing once-a-year, backward looking appraisals with forward looking, continuous performance management.

Keep reading to learn more about what continuous performance management is, what kind of results it’s been driving for businesses, and how you can implement continuous performance management at your business.