# 39. Performance Management "Needs Improvement"

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/at-work-with-the-ready-674516/39-performance-management-needs-improvement
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/at-work-with-the-ready-674516/39-performance-management-needs-improvement.md
Podcast: [At Work with The Ready](https://stenobird.com/podcast/at-work-with-the-ready-674516)
Published: 2025-12-15T08:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://hubs.la/Q03RbTLw0
Audio file: https://mgln.ai/e/p138286/traffic.megaphone.fm/TR3953016336.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/at-work-with-the-ready-674516/episodes/39-performance-management-needs-improvement
Duration seconds: 3137

## Resource

Everyone knows performance management is broken—but we keep doing it anyway. Why? For decades, organizations have poured time, money, and emotional energy into performance management—even though almost everyone agrees it’s broken. Annual reviews take hundreds of hours, distort real feedback, collapse development into compensation, and leave both managers and employees frustrated. Worse, they often lower performance rather than improve it. And yet most companies keep doubling down on a system that was never designed for how people actually grow, learn, or work today. In this episode, Rodney and Sam rethink performance management from the ground up. They unpack why traditional systems fail, which psychological dynamics make feedback so fraught, and what a truly useful approach would look like if we started from scratch. From separating the four conflated “jobs” of performance management and designing for real development, to using AI as a feedback partner rather than a faster paperwork generator—they explore practical ways to build a process that actually helps people get better at their work. -------------------------------- Ready to change your organization? ⁠⁠⁠⁠Let's talk.⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get our newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -------------------------------- Mentioned references: "performance management makes performance worse" ASSCATS ("Anything to Stop, Start, Continue After This Session?"), first discussed in BNW Ep. 65 with Alastair Steward "stress-performance curve" "Meta performance management with AI" "Josh Bersin episode" Granola 00:00 Intro + Check-In: Why is Sam still on the podcast when he left The Ready? 03:01 The Pattern: Performance management SUCKS, but we ke…

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