Performance Management and KPI Setting
Performance management fails in two predictable places. The KPIs are written so loosely that nobody can say at year end whether they were met, and the underperformance conversation is avoided until the manager wants the person gone immediately. This two-day programme fixes both. Day one covers goal and KPI design and the review conversation itself. Day two covers underperformance: the difficult conversation, the improvement plan, and the documentation an Industrial Court would examine if the plan ends in dismissal.
This is the goal-setting and appraisal half of performance management. The disciplinary half, where a performance improvement plan turns into a dismissal risk, is covered separately in Managing Poor Performance and PIP, and the two are designed to be taken together by HR teams.
HRD Corp SBL-Khas Claimable
Programme Agenda
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM
Welcome and Programme Overview
Introduction to the session, objectives, and housekeeping.
9:15 AM - 9:45 AM
What Performance Management Is Actually For
Separating the four things a single appraisal form is usually asked to do at once: development, pay, promotion and evidence for exit. Why a system that mixes all four badly ends up trusted for none of them.
9:45 AM - 10:15 AM
Writing Goals and KPIs That Can Be Measured
Moving from activity descriptions to outcomes. Leading and lagging indicators, targets with a defined data source and measurement date, and cascading department objectives to individuals without turning them into busywork. Where OKRs fit and where they do not.
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM
Break
10:30 AM - 11:10 AM
KPI Clinic: Rewriting Your Own
Participants bring real KPIs from their own teams and rewrite them against the criteria from the previous session. Group review of the rewrites, focusing on measurability and on whether the person can genuinely influence the number.
11:10 AM - 11:50 AM
Continuous Feedback and the Mid-Year Check
Why the annual review carries surprises when nothing was said for eleven months. Short structured check-ins, feedback frameworks that separate observation from judgement, and recording feedback as it happens rather than reconstructing it later.
11:50 AM - 12:30 PM
Running the Appraisal Conversation
Preparation and evidence gathering, opening the conversation, self-assessment, handling disagreement over a rating, and closing with agreed actions. Practice on the three hardest cases: the solid performer who expected more, the overrater, and the quiet high performer.
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Lunch
1:30 PM - 2:05 PM
Ratings, Calibration and Forced Distribution
Rating scale design, the drift toward the middle, and running a calibration session that surfaces inconsistency between managers instead of averaging it away. What forced distribution does to teams, and how to use it carefully if your organisation requires it.
2:05 PM - 2:40 PM
Diagnosing Underperformance Before Acting
Distinguishing will from skill from situation. Ruling out unclear expectations, missing tools, a mismatch of role and strengths, and personal circumstances before treating a performance issue as an attitude issue.
2:40 PM - 3:15 PM
The Difficult Conversation
Opening a conversation the employee will not want to have, being specific about the gap without attacking the person, staying with the discomfort, handling defensiveness or tears, and reaching an agreed plan. Role-played and observed.
3:15 PM - 3:30 PM
Break
3:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Building a PIP That Holds Up
The elements of a defensible performance improvement plan: the specific gap, measurable targets, the support the employer commits to provide, review dates, and stated consequences. Realistic timelines, and closing the plan properly whether the employee recovers or not.
4:10 PM - 4:45 PM
Performance, Documentation and Dismissal Risk
Why poor performance is a separate route from misconduct in Malaysia, what the employer must show to dismiss for performance, and the record an Industrial Court expects. Where PIPs are exposed as paper exercises run to justify a decision already taken.
4:45 PM - 5:00 PM
Wrap-Up and Q&A
Key takeaways, next steps, and close.
Key Outcomes
- Rewrite vague KPIs into measurable outcomes with a defined data source
- Cascade department objectives to individual goals people can influence
- Run structured check-ins so the annual review holds no surprises
- Conduct an appraisal conversation, including a disputed rating
- Facilitate a calibration session that exposes inconsistent rating
- Diagnose whether underperformance is will, skill or situation
- Hold a difficult performance conversation and reach an agreed plan
- Build and close a PIP that would survive industrial relations scrutiny
Training Mode Physical / Online / Hybrid / e-learning
HRD Corp SBL-Khas Claimable
Level Basic to intermediate. Suitable for line managers, HR practitioners and business owners who run an appraisal cycle. No prior HR training required.
Duration 1 Day (8 Hours) | 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Venue In-house at the client's premises, or delivered via the client's preferred platform (Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or equivalent)
Assessment A drafted KPI set for the participant's own team, tested against the influence and measurability criteria
Certificate Certificate of Completion issued to all participants upon full attendance