Let’s Talk Performance Reviews — and Why It’s Time to Burn the Bell Curve

Remember when performance management meant forcing everyone into a neat little bell curve?

Top 10%, solid middle, bottom 10% — all sorted. Then came the “war rooms,” where senior leaders would argue over who was a high potential and who needed “managing out.” Ratings were adjusted, not to reflect truth, but to hit distribution quotas. And if you didn’t “exceed expectations,” well… better luck next year.

That system? It was never about growth. It was about ranking. Controlling. Classifying.

As Professor Michelle Brown from the University of Melbourne put it, performance reviews were designed to communicate expectations. But they morphed into an uncomfortable mash-up of development and evaluation — one part “here’s how you can grow” and one part “here’s your number and what it means for your pay.” These two purposes often conflict. Because why would anyone talk honestly about areas for improvement when it could hurt their rating?

💡 Only 14% of employees strongly agree their reviews inspire them to improve (Gallup).
💡 Just 2 in 10 feel performance is managed in a way that motivates them.

So here we are, still clinging to an annual ritual that demotivates, disengages, and adds very little value. And worse — it can damage trust between employees and managers.

But there’s a better way.

We’re moving from performance management to performance development — and it’s about time.

✨ From “my job” to “my life.”
✨ From “my boss” to “my coach.”
✨ From once-a-year feedback to ongoing, meaningful conversations.
— Gallup, Re-Engineering Performance Management

This isn’t just a trend. It’s a shift in mindset. A shift echoed by Lucy Adams, by Gallup, by AHRI’s Sarah McCann Bartlett, and by experts like David Burkus.

Best practice today? It looks like:

• Frequent check-ins – Two to four touchpoints a year, supported by weekly or monthly feedback loops.
• Clear expectations – What does success look like in this role now, not just when the JD was written?
• Feedback that flows both ways – What am I doing well, where can I grow, and how are you, my manager, supporting me?
• A focus on strengths – Because research shows you don’t build performance by breaking people down.

David Burkus nailed it: “The original philosophy of performance management was that you’d tell someone what they’d done wrong, they’d be mortified, and they wouldn’t do it again. But we know that doesn’t work. You can’t build people up by knocking them down.”

That’s why organisations like Adobe, Microsoft, and Netflix ditched the annual review years ago. And why leading Australian organisations are following suit — not to go “soft,” but to get smarter.

HR isn’t here to uphold rituals that don’t serve anyone. We’re here to add value — to employees, to managers, and to the business.

So if you’re still doing performance reviews because “that’s what HR says,” maybe it’s time for a rethink. Not a rebrand — a reimagination.

Let’s make performance conversations what they should’ve always been: human, helpful, and honest.

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