Performance Reviews Aren’t the Problem — Culture Is

I’ve been around long enough to see performance reviews in every possible shape. Forms, scoring systems, self-assessments, KPIs, bonus links… the whole HR buffet. And the older I get, the more I realise something's not right:

• The PRP (Performance Review Process) itself isn’t the problem.

• The culture that surrounds it is.

Let me explain.

Before we even talk about where PRPs go wrong, it’s worth calling out something that often gets overlooked: PRPs are a corporate- and government-side tool, not an industry-wide one.

In the freelance world, gig world, or project-to-project entertainment landscape, performance reviews simply don’t exist. They can’t. The structure isn’t there, the timelines don’t fit, and frankly, the culture doesn’t need them because feedback is constant and immediate. You either deliver or you don’t, and everyone knows it in real time.

But once you enter a corporate entertainment environment, integrated resorts, theatres with permanent staff, venues with long-term technical teams, government-supported organisations, anything with HR structures, PRPs suddenly appear, often copied and pasted from office environments that look nothing like ours.

That mismatch matters. A system designed for desks and quarterly targets doesn’t automatically translate to cue sheets, show calls, rigging schedules, creative deadlines, or real-time operational pressures. So when people in our world say PRPs feel awkward or out of place, they’re not wrong. They’re reacting to a system that wasn’t built with our workflow, culture, or communication style in mind.

Where Performance Reviews Actually Go Wrong

When you strip away the paperwork, PRPs really should be simple. They should be about two people sitting down and having an honest conversation about performance, expectations, direction, and support. That’s it. But that’s rarely what happens. Most people walk into PRPs like it’s school exam day. Shoulders tense. Worried about whether they’re about to be praised, criticised, or blindsided. And the research backs this up.

•  The CIPD has published multiple reports showing that traditional, once-a-year reviews often increase anxiety and decrease perceived fairness.

• SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management) found that 90% of employees don’t believe annual reviews reflect their actual performance.

• A 2023 Gallup study noted that employees rate performance reviews as “more painful than helpful,” mainly because of poor manager communication.

So no, the form isn’t the villain. The system around it is. If a workplace only talks about performance once a year, the culture is already broken.

How I’ve Seen PRPs Work When They’re Done Properly

I’ve always used PRPs for what they were supposed to be:

A conversation.

A check-in.

A chance for someone to talk openly about what’s going well and what isn’t.

Not a performance trial.

Not a courtroom.

Not a box-ticking exercise to justify a bonus.

I like to ask people:

• What’s frustrating you right now?

• Where do you feel you’re growing?

• What support do you need?

• Where do you want to be next year?

And then I tell them honestly:

• What they’re doing brilliantly.

• Where I think their potential really lies.

• What gaps I see.

• How we can get them where they want to go.

People walk out of those meetings not fearful, but energised. They know what’s next. They know what’s possible. They feel seen. They feel listened to. And that’s the whole point. If you don’t leave a performance conversation feeling more motivated, then it wasn’t performance management. It was the administration.

Why Self-Assessments Don’t Work the Way We Pretend They Do

Every company loves to push the “self-review.” But let’s be honest, most people hate them. I certainly did. It’s uncomfortable. It’s awkward. It feels like being asked to judge yourself publicly. And for many people, especially earlier in their careers, self-awareness is still developing. I’m 44, and only in the past few years have I become comfortable looking at myself and saying, “Yeah, I’m weak here,” or “I shouldn’t react that way,” or “I need help with this part.” You can’t expect a 23-year-old technician to articulate their emotional state on a PRP form.  It’s unrealistic. And the research backs that up, too:

• The Centre for Evidence-Based Management notes that self-assessments are consistently biased and unreliable.

• Studies published in the Harvard Business Review show that self-ratings rarely reflect actual performance and often worsen accuracy.

So if we want honesty, we need trust, not forms.

The Bonus Problem No One Talks About

Let’s be real about something: In some cultures, bonuses are genuinely bonuses. In others, like where I work, they’re expected. And when a bonus is tied to PRP scores, you instantly create pressure, fear, and politics. People stop seeing PRPs as conversations. They see them as a pass/fail exam on their income. This isn’t performance management. This is compliance. And it trains people to care more about how they’re graded than how they grow.

What Actually Works Instead

Here’s what I’ve found works better than any PRP:

1. Consistent, informal conversations

Weekly or monthly check-ins. Short, direct, honest. “What’s happening? Anything you need? Anything in your way?” You can solve more problems in a 10-minute walk-around than in a 10-page PRP.

2. Quarterly coaching, not evaluation

A proper sit-down. Focused not on judgement, but direction.

How are you feeling?

What’s changing?

What’s ahead?

What support makes sense?”

This builds actual leadership. Not bureaucracy.

3. Training managers properly

Because here’s the real truth: Most performance issues are leadership issues. CIPD, SHRM, and HBR all say the same thing: Unclear expectations, inconsistent communication, and undertrained managers often cause performance problems. And there are loads of leadership programmes out there that tackle this:

• CIPD’s People Management programs

• SHRM’s Leadership Excellence courses

• CMI’s Coaching and Mentoring pathways

• Even specific industry options like Crew development courses, Technical leadership training, and team communication masterclasses

The tools exist. The problem is that leaders often don’t use them.

And Here’s the Part No One Mentions: Our Industry Has Zero Research on This

When I went digging for studies specifically on performance reviews in the entertainment industry, I found nothing. No reports. No white papers. No HR studies. Nothing. And that, in itself, proves the point. We are an industry built on real-time teamwork, instant decision-making, and fast communication, and yet the HR world hasn’t researched how PRPs work in our environment at all.

Maybe that’s why PRPs often feel mismatched. They were built for offices. Not theatres, arenas, attractions, and live productions. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that people find them awkward.

So What’s the Future of PRPs?

Here’s where I’ve landed after all these years:

PRPs aren’t bad.

They’re just insufficient.

When used properly, they’re a framework, nothing more.

But they will never replace culture.

Performance grows in:

• Trust

• Frequency

• Honesty

• Collaboration

• Support

• Shared goals

• Clear expectations

• Good leadership

Not in forms.

If you get the culture right, the PRP becomes a summary of the year, not the only conversation. And if you get culture wrong, no form will ever fix it.

Final Thought

If I leave my team feeling heard, supported, challenged, and motivated, then I’ve done my job as a leader. If someone leaves a performance meeting anxious, confused, or deflated, that’s not a PRP problem. That’s a culture problem. A leadership problem. And culture is something we build, every day, in every conversation, far more than once a year behind a desk.

Question:

When you think about your last performance review, did it help you grow, or did it just remind you how broken the system can be? What made it that way?