Management, Leadership and HR
Performance and People
Designing Performance Management That Works
Build a performance system that changes behaviour rather than one that generates paperwork.
- Duration
- 3 days
- Contact hours
- 18
- Level
- Advanced
- Fee from
- On enquiry
Overview
Most performance management systems are disliked by everyone required to use them, because they were designed for the reporting requirement rather than for the manager and the employee. This programme starts from what a system has to achieve behaviourally and works backwards into measures, cycles and documentation.
Who should attend
HR leads, heads of function and senior managers responsible for designing or reforming performance management.
What you will be able to do
- Identify what the current system actually rewards, as distinct from what it says it rewards.
- Design measures that resist gaming.
- Set a review cycle matched to how the work actually changes.
- Handle the underperformance cases the system is usually avoided for.
How it is taught
Short input, then work, across 3 days of roughly 6 teaching hours each. Exercises run on situations delegates bring rather than on a case study written for a different organisation. Cohorts are capped so that everybody is asked something.
Available as classroom, live online, in house.
Programme outline
Day 1
What the system really rewards
- Stated intent against revealed incentive
- Ratings distributions and their effects
- Why calibration meetings distort
- The cost of a system nobody trusts
Measures
- Output, outcome and behaviour measures
- Designing against gaming
- Team and individual measures in tension
- Measuring roles with long feedback loops
Day 2
Cycle and conversation
- Matching cadence to the work
- The conversation as the product
- Documentation that supports rather than substitutes
- Manager capability as the limiting factor
Day 3
The hard cases
- Sustained underperformance
- The high performer with unacceptable behaviour
- Performance and capability distinguished
- Exit handled properly
What you leave with
- A diagnosis of the incentives the delegate's current system creates.
- A revised measure set with gaming risks documented.
- A review cycle proposal with the rationale for its frequency.
- A documented process for handling sustained underperformance.
Dates and fees
| Dates | Location | Format | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 to 25 November 2026 | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | Classroom | US$1,200 |
| 30 November 2026 to 2 December 2026 | Nairobi, Kenya | Classroom | US$1,200 |
| 7 to 9 December 2026 | Durban, South Africa | Classroom | R12,000 |
| 14 to 16 December 2026 | Windhoek, Namibia | Classroom | R12,000 |
Fees are per delegate and cover tuition, all programme materials and the certificate. Travel, accommodation and visas are arranged by the delegate. Registration closes two weeks before a programme starts.
Certificate
A GATI certificate recording what was attended, issued after the programme has run and attendance has been taken. Attending at least 80 per cent of the days earns a certificate of completion; attending less earns a certificate of attendance stating exactly what was attended. Every certificate carries a code that anybody can check against GATI's own record.
It records participation. and GATI does not claim one it does not hold.