KeyneTalk: Why We Don't Call KeyneLink a Performance Management System

by Kelly Nelsen

People ask us why we don’t call KeyneLink a performance management system. Here’s our answer.

KeyneLink is a performance management system, but it’s unlike any other performance management system out there in the market today. Unfortunately, people have used the term “performance management” to refer to performance appraisal, and now the two have become synonymous. True performance management requires managing the performance of organizations and the people within them on an ongoing basis. It starts at the organizational level and extends all the way to the individual level. A true performance management system tightly aligns the duties and goals of the people with the vision, mission, core values, and strategy of the organization. For these reasons, true performance management is driven by top management, not by human resources.

All of the so-called “performance management” systems out there today are really performance appraisal systems, and as such, they’re driven by human resources. These systems have been dressed up just enough to appear as if they align with the organization’s vision and strategy, when in reality, they only give a passing nod to what the organization is trying to accomplish. Instead, they retain the subjective, personality- and trait-based measures of the traditional performance appraisal. They merely automate the performance appraisal process and provide some bells and whistles to make the process a little easier. Sure, some of them incorporate goal-setting, but the goals tend to be of a personal improvement or succession planning nature and are based upon the results of the performance appraisal. The goals in a true performance management system, on the other hand, are actionable goals that are directly based upon the organizational initiatives and step the organization closer to achieving its objectives for the year.

So, rather than to try to fight the tide and redefine performance management the way it ought to be defined, we’ve chosen to use a term that truly differentiates us from everyone else: strategy-driven execution management. After all, KeyneLink is a system that does what a true performance management system should do: manage the execution of an organization’s strategy through its people. Given that, the term “strategy-driven execution management system” defines KeyneLink pretty well, don’t you think?