Mastering performance: What today’s leaders need to get right
Performance is one of the toughest parts of leadership. It affects culture, impacts retention and ultimately decides how well organisations progress. In our Future Leaders Session: Mastering Performance, our panel of expert leaders opened up about the lessons, experiences and proven approaches that have helped them build stronger performance in their teams.
This guide pulls those insights together and translates them into actions you can apply with your own team.
Start with listening
Effective performance management starts long before any formal conversation takes place. It begins with listening. When people feel heard, they speak more openly about what’s working and what isn’t, making it much easier to understand the real issue behind a missed expectation.
In practice, this means giving people the space to talk first. Asking how they felt a project went often reveals the root cause faster than any assumption. When listening becomes a habit, trust deepens and feedback lands more constructively.
Create safety so people speak up early
Psychological safety drives performance because it brings problems to the surface early. Teams that feel safe raise concerns as they arise, ask for clarification when something isn’t clear and admit mistakes before they spiral.
You see this in small behaviours. Someone confidently shares a concern in a meeting. A team member admits they’re behind before a deadline is missed. People express uncertainty rather than hiding it. Leaders create this environment through steady, calm reactions and by treating honesty as the starting point for improvement.
Give feedback fast and make it clear
Feedback is most effective when it arrives close to the moment it’s needed. Waiting too long creates distance, frustration and repeated mistakes. Timely feedback helps people adjust quickly and keeps goals on track.
Clarity matters just as much as timing. Vague guidance leads to confusion. Clear feedback explains what happened, why it matters and what better looks like. Short, regular conversations are more powerful than long, infrequent reviews. When expectations are specific, people know how to grow.
Use curiosity to strengthen performance conversations
Curiosity helps leaders understand what’s really happening when performance dips. Instead of assuming the cause, curiosity slows the conversation and reveals whether the issue stems from misunderstanding, workload, skill gaps or personal challenges.
Asking open questions reduces defensiveness and often uncovers simple fixes. Approaching performance with curiosity helps leaders respond fairly, tailor support and find solutions that actually work.
Spot performance slippage before it escalates
Underperformance rarely arrives as a single event. It shows up in small, gradual shifts: someone withdrawing in meetings, avoiding responsibility, offering more excuses than explanations or receiving quiet concerns from stakeholders.
These early signals matter. Addressing them quickly keeps standards high and prevents bigger issues later. A brief, honest conversation at the first sign of change is often enough to course-correct and maintain momentum.
Address underperformance with structure and clarity
When informal feedback isn’t creating change, a structured approach provides direction and fairness. Focused improvement plans work best when they are short, specific and time-bound. Twelve-week plans help maintain urgency without dragging people through a long, demoralising process.
Success comes from clear expectations and consistent check-ins. When progress is monitored weekly, course corrections happen earlier and both sides stay aligned. If improvement still isn’t happening, extending the plan rarely helps. Clarity and decisiveness protect the whole team.
Co-create goals people commit to
Ownership increases when people help shape their goals. Co-created goals prevent misalignment, build commitment and give individuals a clear line of sight between their work and the organisation’s direction.
A strong goal-setting process feels like partnership. Leaders share priorities, team members translate them into specific goals and both parties refine them together. When goals are co-created, accountability feels shared rather than imposed.
Support people without lowering the bar
Personal circumstances inevitably influence performance at times. Support matters, but so does fairness across the team. The most effective leaders balance compassion with clear expectations.
Temporary adjustments, clearer prioritisation or more regular check-ins can help someone navigate a difficult period. The key is to maintain transparency about expectations and avoid quietly lowering standards in a way that places long-term pressure on others.
Develop people for the roles they want next
Progression requires more than high performance in the current role. People need exposure to the responsibilities they aspire to take on. Development often happens through stretch assignments, cross-functional projects or opportunities to lead parts of a programme.
These experiences reveal readiness, highlight development areas and give individuals real opportunities to build confidence. When development matches the next level, progression becomes fair, evidence-based and far more effective.
Build trust through consistency
Trust makes performance conversations smoother and more impactful. It grows when leaders behave consistently: communicating openly, keeping commitments and setting clear expectations.
Teams respond differently when trust is strong. People are more honest, more proactive and more willing to stretch themselves. Consistency creates predictability, and predictability builds the confidence people need to perform at their best.
Final thoughts
Mastering performance isn’t about being stricter or softer. It’s about being clear, consistent and human. When leaders listen well, intervene early and encourage honest conversations, teams perform at a higher level and move with greater confidence.
Performance management isn’t a task you tick off. It’s a daily discipline. When you lean into it consistently, teams move faster, collaborate better and deliver work they’re genuinely proud of.
Want to join our next session? Follow us on LinkedIn to stay up to date with the latest!
Host: Elena Kyria, CEO & Founder, elemed
Panelists:
Vishal Thakker (Head of UK Approved Body, BSI Group),Martin Geertsema (Vice President International, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs, CONMED), Shereen Bienz (Senior Regulatory Affairs Manager, Smith and Nephew ), Veronique Maindron (Executive Director, EMEA/LATAM Regulatory Affairs ,Bausch + Lomb)
