Beyond the Verdict: Why Old Reviews Fail

The short answer: performance enablement wins in 2025 because it pairs continuous coaching with clear goals, analytics, and fair rewards, delivering better engagement, retention, and business impact than once‑a‑year reviews. Annual reviews persist only when modernized with frequent check‑ins, AI‑assisted insights, and manager training that make feedback actionable in real time.

Why annual reviews lag
Traditional reviews are too slow for today’s shifting work and skills cycles, leading to misalignment, delayed feedback, and disengagement that shows up in quitting and quiet underperformance. Even leading HR bodies highlight that manager capability, hybrid context, and compliance complexity require more frequent, coaching‑centric conversations than legacy systems provide. As a result, organizations are pivoting toward ongoing dialogues supported by data and clear expectations, not episodic judgment days.

The enablement model
Performance enablement centers on clarity, coaching, and collaboration—weekly to monthly conversations linked to goals, growth plans, and real outcomes rather than a backward‑looking score once a year. Forbes’ coverage shows enablement succeeds when employees feel seen, heard, and valued—and when underperformance is addressed via timely coaching, not annual surprises. Practically, this means continuous feedback, development pathways, and measurement tied to skills and impact, not just ratings.

Evidence it works
Market evidence points to broad adoption of continuous feedback, manager training, and AI‑supported insights that improve accuracy and trust in performance decisions by replacing memory bias with ongoing data signals. HR trend roundups consistently place people analytics and real‑time conversations at the center of 2025 performance practice—raising quality and reducing the risk and noise of annual cycles. When leaders implement enablement well, they build measurable impact on engagement and productivity that annual reviews rarely match in today’s environment.

The engagement reality check
Engagement has dipped globally in 2025, especially among managers—raising the stakes for performance systems that actually create connection, purpose, and progress instead of form‑filling rituals. Gallup‑focused analyses emphasize a pivotal moment: with engagement near 21% and manager disconnection rising, organizations need frequent, meaningful coaching interactions to restore energy and results. In short, enablement is not a buzzword—it’s a direct response to a documented engagement challenge.

What to do next

• Replace ratings‑first cycles with ongoing, structured check‑ins tied to clear outcomes and skills growth. Start with monthly discussions and lightweight notes linked to goals.
• Train managers on coaching, bias‑aware feedback, and hybrid fairness. Managers are linchpins—enable them with tools and time, not just forms.
• Use AI and analytics to surface trends, calibration insights, and early risks—never to replace human judgment, but to improve signal quality.
• Align pay and progression to transparent criteria and continuous evidence, not a single meeting. Communicate the “why” behind decisions to build trust.
• Track impact: engagement pulses, goal progress, skills acquisition, and retention of high performers, adjusting methods quarterly.

“People don’t need a grade; they need a guide.” Coach first, measure continuously, decide transparently—and performance will follow. “Consistency beats intensity” in 2025 performance—small, reliable conversations outperform one big annual event every time. “What gets changed isn’t what gets reviewed—it’s what gets coached,” and coaching has to happen in the flow of work, not the tail of the year

References
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sallypercy/2025/07/24/how-to-get-performance-management-right/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2025/06/25/5-reasons-outdated-performance-reviews-make-top-talent-quit/