Year-End Performance Navigator

Performance Enablement System

 

A manager-facing learning and enablement system designed to support consistent, confident, and high-quality performance conversations at scale.

 

Year-End Performance Navigator equipped managers to navigate one of the most critical—and complex—moments in the employee lifecycle with clarity, structure, and accountability.

Context

Audience
Global people managers responsible for evaluating performance, delivering feedback, and participating in calibration processes.

​

Business Need
The year-end performance process was high-stakes, time-sensitive, and manager-led—yet managers often lacked clarity, confidence, and consistent guidance. This resulted in uneven performance conversations, increased HR escalation, and misalignment during calibration.

Problem

• Managers were uncertain about expectations, timelines, and decision criteria

• Performance guidance was fragmented across documents and communications

• Inconsistent understanding of ratings and performance philosophy

• HR teams absorbed a heavy support burden during the performance cycle

Design challenge: Enable managers to lead effective, fair, and aligned performance conversations—without creating additional process friction or dependency.

Solution

Year-End Performance Navigator was designed as a centralized performance enablement system, not a one-time training.

The solution focused on:

• Providing clear, role-specific guidance for each stage of the performance cycle

• Translating performance philosophy into actionable manager behaviors

• Supporting consistency across teams while allowing space for manager judgment

The Navigator functioned as a trusted reference point throughout the year-end process.

My Role

I owned the Year-End Performance Navigator end-to-end, including:

• Performance enablement strategy and experience design

• Instructional design and content development

• On-demand learning architecture

• Manager guidance and tool creation

• Stakeholder alignment across HR and leadership

• Iteration based on manager feedback and cycle outcomes

Instructional Design Approach

Year-End Performance Navigator was designed using a performance-first instructional design approach, grounded in real manager work.

​

Key design principles included:

• Clarity over volume—only what managers needed, when they needed it

• Alignment to performance philosophy and calibration expectations

• Scenario-informed guidance to support judgment and decision-making

• On-demand access to reduce cognitive load and time pressure

• Consistent structure to reinforce confidence and trust

 

Design question guiding decisions:

 

“What does a manager need to understand and do at this exact moment in the performance cycle?”

Learning Experience Structure

The experience was structured to support managers throughout the year-end process, including:

• Clear sequencing aligned to performance milestones

• Short, targeted learning assets addressing specific manager questions

• Practical guidance for performance conversations and documentation

• Centralized access to reduce confusion and escalation

This structure allowed managers to stay focused on their teams rather than navigating process complexity.

​​​​​