Performance Management: Setting Objectives and KPIs
Vague objectives, KPIs that measure activity instead of results and year-end ratings that surprise employees undermine trust in performance management. This programme gives managers and HR practitioners practical methods to translate strategy into clear objectives and meaningful KPIs, hold effective performance conversations and link results fairly to development and reward.
13 - 17 December 2026
Amsterdam
5 Days
USD 5,500In many organisations the performance cycle has become form-filling. Objectives are copied from last year, KPIs are too many or outside the employee's control, targets are easy to game and no evidence is gathered until the annual review. Ratings are then debated rather than discussed, and the link to the organisation's strategy is lost. In multicultural teams, expectations about feedback, hierarchy and directness add further difficulty.
This programme follows the performance cycle from strategy to reward. It moves through five stages: understanding why performance management succeeds or fails, cascading strategy into objectives, designing KPIs that drive the right behaviour, holding performance conversations throughout the year, and acting on results through development, reward and the management of underperformance.
Built on recognised practice. The programme references goal-setting research, the balanced scorecard, objectives and key results (OKRs), SMART criteria, CIPD guidance on performance management and the human capital reporting areas in ISO 30414. Participants learn when each method helps and where it can create unintended effects.
Decisions this programme improves. How many objectives each role should have and how they are weighted; which KPIs to keep and which to drop; how targets are set from baselines; when to use OKRs alongside the appraisal system; how to calibrate ratings fairly; how to respond to underperformance; and how far performance should drive pay rather than development.
How it is delivered. Twenty hours across five sessions, built around one running case: a department translating its organisation's strategic plan into team and individual objectives. Participants write objectives, complete KPI definition sheets, practise check-in and review conversations and take part in a calibration exercise.
In-house option. For organisations, the programme can be tailored to your own strategy, competency framework, performance system and rating scale, and delivered to managers and HR together so that the cycle is applied consistently across departments.
Who Should Attend
Objectives
Course Outline
Competencies
Amsterdam
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