1.
How to build a
Culture First performance
& development system
Minimizing bias & elevating fairness through science

2.
Meet the speakers
David Ostberg, PhD
People Science, Culture Amp
in/davidostbergphd
Hannah Wilken, MA
People Science, Culture Amp
in/hwilken

3.
Today’s
discussion
§ Why should we care about performance management?
§ Understanding and minimizing bias
§ Organizational Justice: The ecosystem for a Culture
First approach to performance
§ Performance feedback strategy
§ Performance conversations
§ A practical model for giving actionable feedback
§ What you can do tomorrow
§ Q & A

4.
Quick
hand raise
poll…
How effective do you think performance
management is at your company?
– Highly effective
– Average
– Generally not effective

5.
So why is
traditional
performance
management so
… meh?

6.
95%
of managers are dissatisfied with
their organization's performance
management system

7.
Companies Managers Employees
How are our
people performing?
How can I enhance
my teams’
performance?
What’s expected
of me?
Where can we
maximize
developmental
opportunities to
drive growth?
How can I better
support and retain
my best people?
How can
I improve?
Who
should care?
à Not just
HR/People Leaders

8.
Why does
it matter?
A well-designed performance system positively
impacts employee:
1. Trust
2. Engagement
3. Learning & Development
4. Productivity
5. Retention
Together, these increase the employee lifetime value
(ELTV) and contribution of employees at every level of
a company.

9.
Performance
Management
Measurement and
Development
Measurement
– Looking back…
– How well an employee
executed against goals
& expectations
– Alignment to the
organization’s perspective
– Focusing is on measuring
& differentiating hi / lo
Development
– Looking forward…
– Inspiring & enabling
employees to grow
– Developing new KSAs,
mindsets, and experiences
– Focus is to grow, even
beyond current role

10.
Bias / Unfair
Processes
Focus on measuring
over developing
Cumbersome /
Outdated Systems
Disengagement
Decreased Productivity
Increased Turnover
What are the
problems to
overcome?

11.
Exercise Time

12.
Think about…
Think about a colleague - not necessarily a top
performer or someone who struggles - rather,
someone who’s consistent. Get them clear in your
mind and think of something they did that was
helpful to you.
Now remind yourself about what exactly
they did.

13.
Think about…
Think about a colleague - not necessarily a top
performer or someone who struggles - rather,
someone who’s consistent. Get them clear in your
mind and think of something they did that was
helpful to you.
Now remind yourself about what exactly
they did.
… and now think about when they did that.

14.
Recency Bias
People place higher value & impact on work they’ve have seen
recently. They tend to discount work we haven’t seen recently
or were not part of their first impressions.
What have you done for me lately?

15.
Let’s talk about bias

16.
About facts-
based decision
making...

17.
As Humans,
We Are Prone
to Biases and
Heuristics

18.
Some Biases Affect
Managers’ Ability
to Accurately
Evaluate
Performance
Proximity Bias
People place higher value & impact on
work they actually see or are directly aware of.
They tend to discount work they don’t see for
themselves.
Confirmation &
Primacy Bias
People give more weight to behaviours
that support their first impressions and ignore or
forget information which contradicts their
preconceived notions.
Similar to Me
Bias
People favour people or projects that are
aligned with their own interests and dismiss
the value of people or projects that aren’t
like them.

19.
Some Biases Affect
Managers’ Ability
to Accurately
Evaluate
Performance
Idiosyncratic
Rater Effect
When people evaluate skills they’re not good at,
they rate others higher. Conversely they rates
others lower in things they’re
great at. In other words, managers weight
their performance evaluations toward
personal eccentricities.
Leniency Bias
Leniency bias occurs when people
give favourable ratings even though
they have employees with notable
room for improvement.
Central
Tendency Bias
People have a natural tendency to give
most people an “average” or “satisfactory” rating
because they struggle to distinguish
performance among workers.

20.
Exercise Time

21.
Imagine a manager has to give a direct
report some difficult but constructive
feedback on their performance following a
recent coding project…

22.
Be mindful of the Mentor’s Dilemma

23.
Gender Bias in
performance
management
Women are more
likely to receive
vague or personality
based feedback
Men are more likely
to receive specific or
work based feedback

24.
Gender Bias in
performance
management
reflected in
our data

25.
Organizational Justice: A framework for creating
a Culture First performance system
Organizational justice
(Fairness)
Process
Interactions
Outcomes

26.
Organizational justice
(Fairness)
Process
Interactions
Outcomes
Impacts on
Employees
Engagement
Performance
Learning & growth
Organizational Justice: A framework for creating
a Culture First performance system

27.
Process
fairness
– Are the decision making rules clear and consistent?
– Are the measures we’re using relevant to the aspect
of performance that are important to us?
– Are we applying them consistently and
calibrating outcomes?
– Do employees have an opportunity to voice their input?
– Are potential biases identified and minimized?

28.
Interactional
fairness
Interpersonal treatment:
Was I treated with respect and compassion?
Information:
Was I informed on how the process works and
did it make sense?

29.
Outcomes
fairness
– Did I get what I want?
– Was it inline with what others at the same
level received?
– Was it inline with the level of effort and
impact I’ve had?

30.
Exercise Time

31.
Which of these three things do you believe
impacts people’s satisfaction and perceptions of
fairness of performance management systems?
Process | Interactions | Outcomes

32.
People can be disappointed with the outcome, but still satisfied
if the process feels fair and they were treated humanely

33.
Exercise Time

34.
Think about the last time you had an
opportunity to learn something new or
pursue some area of growth you’ve been
interested in…

35.
Now imagine you’re working at your desk when
a calendar invite pops up, and it’s a
performance review meeting with your
manager for tomorrow afternoon to talk about
your performance over the last 6 months…

36.
Reducing
resistance
to feedback
Decouple the conversations – but don’t decouple
the learnings
Separating the two actually brings them closer together by
reducing resistance to feedback and enhancing intrinsic
motivation for development. Remember, you can’t elevate
performance without improving development.

37.
Providing structured feedback

38.
Situation
Behavior Impact
Feedback Model
How does it
drive action
The SBI feedback model helps individuals deliver
clear, specific feedback to better inspire action.
S
Situation
Describe the situation. Be specific about
when and where it occurred.
B
Behavior
Describe the observable behavior. Don’t assume
you know what the other person was thinking.
I
Impact
Describe what you thought or felt in reaction
to the behavior.

39.
“During yesterday morning’s team meeting, when you gave your
presentation, you were uncertain about two of the slides and your sales
calculations were incorrect. I felt embarrassed because the entire board
was there. I’m worried that this has affected the reputation of our team.”
“At the client meeting on Monday afternoon, you ensured that the
meeting started on time and that everyone had handouts in advance.
All of your research was correct, and each of the client’s questions was
answered. I’m proud that you did such an excellent job and put the
organization in a good light. I feel confident that we’ll get the account,
thanks to your hard work.”
Situation | Behavior | Impact

40.
Our Culture
First approach
to performance
Summary of Key Components:
1. Use science-backed design to reduce common
biases and promote fairness
2. Ensure transparency of the performance review
process and resulting decisions
3. Decouple conversation about performance
measurement from performance and personal
development
4. Provide actionable feedback utilizing the Situation-
Behavior-Impact model

41.
How can you better understand what
your organization needs?

42.
Check out our
brand new
diagnostic tool

43.
Check out our
brand new
diagnostic tool

44.
Check out our
brand new
diagnostic tool

45.
Check your
engagement
results
Areas pointing to
opportunities in
your performance
management
process
Feedback and
Recognition
– I receive appropriate recognition for good work at ACME
– My job performance is evaluated fairly
– When it is clear that someone is not delivering in their
role we do something about it
– Generally, the right people are rewarded and recognized
at ACME
Learning and
Development
– I am given opportunities to develop skills relevant to
my interests
– I have access to the learning and development I need to
do my job well
– ACME is a great company for me to make a contribution
to my development

46.
Check your
engagement
results
Areas pointing to
opportunities in
your performance
management
process
Alignment,
Involvement, and
Management
– I know how my work contributes to the goals of ACME
– I know what I need to do to be successful in my role
– My manager gives me useful feedback on how well
I am performing
Teamwork,
Ownership,
Collaboration, and
Communication
– We hold ourselves and our team members
accountable for results
– At ACME there is open and honest two-
way communication
Service Quality
and Company
Confidence
– We hold ourselves and our team members
accountable for results
– At ACME there is open and honest
two-way communication

47.
David Ostberg, PhD
People Science, Culture Amp
in/davidostbergphd
Hannah Wilken, MA
People Science, Culture Amp
in/hwilken
Thank you!