🌱 Summary
This session explored how companies can move from performance “theatre”- where performance management systems exist but don’t change behaviour - to a genuine performance culture built on habits, trust, and role modelling. Eva shared Pandria’s five-stage maturity scale for performance culture. You can access a recap of the Pandria scale below. While Annemarieke brought lived experience from implementing systems in scaleups and a 30-year-old company that had never had one. Together they unpacked the human side of performance management- trust, recognition, clarity, and consistency- and how to move from designing systems to embedding rituals that stick.
🧭 1. Start With Trust, Not Tools
“Until ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I disagree’ is said without fear, no feedback or performance process is going to work truly.” – Eva van der Brugge
What you could do next:
- Don’t launch a new process until you’ve built psychological safety.
- Model vulnerability from the top: ask leaders to admit mistakes publicly or share “what I’m working on.”
- Reward dissent- celebrate when someone offers constructive feedback upward.
🔁 2. Role Model, Then Roll Out
“If leaders don’t invite structured feedback themselves or model that they are developing and have learnings… you’re gonna have a tough time.” – Eva van der Brugge
What you could do next:
- Get your leadership team to go first. Before any rollout, they should visibly share goals and feedback they’ve received.
- Tie performance expectations for managers to their people leadership- not just delivery.
- Make it explicit in promotions: good one-on-ones and feedback habits are part of the job.
⚙️ 3. Keep It Light, Keep It Human
“It’s super easy to start thinking, okay, we need a process and we need tools and strict guidelines… but that already makes it such a burden.” – Annemarieke van Wagenberg
What you could do next:
- Start small. Pilot any new process with a few “ambassador” teams before scaling.
- Co-create the system with managers instead of pushing it on them.
- Remember change fatigue- communicate value early and often.
🎯 4. Connect Goals to Feedback
“Managers were good at having tough conversations, but they lacked the experience to set a goal for their team and to translate it into an individual goal.” – Annemarieke van Wagenberg
What you could do next:
- Link goal-setting and feedback loops- don’t treat them separately.
- Run expectation calibration sessions with leadership to align on what “good” looks like.
- Ask every manager to connect individual goals to company strategy in reviews.
🧩 5. Build Rituals and Accountability
“Without shared ownership and cross-team consistency, everything is gonna revert back when pressure hits.” – Eva van der Brugge
What you could do next:
- Establish feedback and 1:1 rituals across teams- not just for a few champions.
- Use peer accountability: have teams rate the “health” of their feedback habits together.
- Add light gamification or visibility across teams to make it social and sustained.
🚦 6. Avoid the Ratings Trap
“What really backfired: starting to focus on ratings rather than the content and quality of performance assessments.” – Annemarieke van Wagenberg
What you could do next:
- Only introduce ratings once you’ve defined clear behavioural definitions.
- Pair every rating with narrative evidence or examples.
- Make self-reflection a non-negotiable step before any manager input.
💡 7. Measure What Matters
“Measure the time between a performance issue emerging and managers talking about it with the relevant team member.” – Eva van der Brugge
What you could do next:
- Track “time to feedback” as a cultural KPI.
- Notice whether issues are being surfaced earlier- a sign of psychological safety.
- Use team retrospectives to reflect on whether feedback habits are improving.
🧠 8. Diagnose Before You Train or Tool
“Before you invest in any software, do you truly understand whether your software is going to lead to better habits?” – Eva van der Brugge
What you could do next:
- Map where your teams actually sit on the maturity scale before acting.
- Identify whether your goal is to make admin easier, or to really build performance culture.
- Don’t assume tools or training fix what’s really a habit and trust problem.