--- title: "I don’t really know what the term ‘performance management' means | Crewmojo" description: "You might ask what the heck have I been doing for the last 10 years... Bear with me, you might feel the same as I do." source: https://www.crewmojo.com/newsletter/i-dont-know-what-the-term-performance-management-means published: 2024-11-28 generated: 2026-11-10 --- [All newsletter posts](https://www.crewmojo.com/newsletter) # I don’t really know what the term ‘performance management' means [Mark Lewis](https://www.crewmojo.com/authors/mark-lewis)28 November 2024 ## I don’t really know what the term ‘performance management’ means. I don’t know the purpose of **performance reviews**. I’m unsure what a **development plan** looks like. I don’t know the ideal **goal-cycle**. Yet, these are terms I use everyday. You might ask what the heck have I been doing for the last 10 years... Bear with me. ‍ ‍ I can’t define exactly what many HR terms actually mean, or what other people mean when they say them to me. Now obviously I get the **essence** of all this HR lingo. I’ve been able to **infer meanings** from years of HR-oriented conversations. But, sometimes I still find myself on a **different page**. For example, I’ll say **performance management** and some people respond talking about a ‘**PIP**’. And sometimes I’m corrected from using a ‘**dirty**’ word like performance ‘**management**’ which is swapped for ‘**enablement**’. But ‘**managers**’ are ‘**coaches**’... or ‘**leaders**’? Or should that be **enablers**! ## How can we build effective performance management without a common HR language? No, I’m not going to try and re-write HR’s vocabulary. But, I am going to share an **alternate** approach. A way that I think is far more **human** and **intuitive**, which enables us to master performance management, without ‘**properly**’ understanding any of those terms. This is the way I taught myself **before I knew anything about HR processes**. It’s the way I built a high-performing team that out-competed companies way more resourced than we were. And it’s the way we build Crewmojo today. It can be boiled down to **3 simple bullet points**. I believe all other components of employee performance are downstream from these ideas. And if you truly live them, **you don’t need to worry about all the terminology**. ## Let's dive in: 1. Employee performance is nothing more than **how well an employee completes their work**. 2. Your ability to get the best from an employee is directly correlated with **how well you set the environment up for their success**. 3. The more you **increase these two metrics (employee capability + success conditions)**, the higher performance will be. If you create **a people experience that addresses the demands of those 3 points**, but do nothing else in terms of formal HR processes, then it really won’t matter because you’ll have a high-performing team anyway. Another thing that is really cool when we think from this lens. We come from a **first principles** approach. - You can strip away all the stuff that you're told you ‘**should**’ be doing. - You can **design** performance from the ground up, for your organization. - You can implement only tools and processes that **add value and make sense**. No longer are you forcing a square peg into a round hole. Anything you can think of that will **deliver this end goal** is on the table. And that is how you develop your unique, but **simple and effective approach to high-performance**. ‍ Want to talk through what this looks like for your organisation? [Book a demo](https://www.crewmojo.com/demo) Get the newsletter Ideas and practices for organisations rethinking performance, straight to your inbox. Email address Subscribe You're subscribed. Look out for our next newsletter.