For decades, the annual performance review has been the standard way to measure employee success. But in startups and scaleups, traditional reviews often do more harm than good. Gallup reports only 14% of employees strongly agree their reviews inspire them to improve.

So, is the performance review dead?

Not exactly. The truth is: reviews need to evolve. In lean, high-growth teams, performance conversations are critical, but they must go beyond goals to include role delivery, competencies, and values alignment.

The Problem with Traditional Reviews

Classic reviews tend to be:

• Goal-focused but incomplete — they measure KPIs but ignore whether someone is performing the role effectively, building the right skills, or living the company values.

• Too infrequent — waiting 6–12 months to share feedback is too slow for high-growth businesses.

• Backward-looking — focused on what’s already happened rather than development and future growth.

• Demotivating — a one-off event where employees feel judged instead of coached.

The risk? Someone may be “hitting targets” but undermining culture, stalling their own growth, or leaving capability gaps unchecked.

Why Startups Can’t Afford to Get This Wrong

With small teams, every role is business-critical. Without clear frameworks:

⚡ Delivery suffers — when expectations aren’t explicit, quality slips.
💸 Turnover rises — frustration builds when employees don’t know where they stand.
❌ Culture cracks — if values aren’t measured, behaviours get overlooked.

And often, it’s not bad leadership, it’s simply that founders and COOs lack the time, HR expertise, or capacity to design and run effective performance systems.

The New Approach: Performance as a Continuous, Holistic Conversation

Performance reviews aren’t dead, they’re evolving into continuous, future-focused, and people-centred conversations.

Modern performance systems look at three key dimensions:

1. Role delivery – Is the person consistently meeting the responsibilities of their role?

2. Competency growth – Are they building the skills your business needs for the next stage of growth?

3. Values alignment – Are they living behaviours that strengthen culture and collaboration?

This ensures performance isn’t just about what gets done, but also how it gets done, and whether it positions the business for the future.

Practical Solutions for Founders and COOs

Here’s how to put this into practice in a resource-stretched, high-growth environment:

1. Set clear role expectations

   • Use simple job scorecards that include deliverables, required competencies, and values.

   • Review these regularly as the business evolves.

2. Adopt regular check-ins

   • Replace the “once-a-year” model with monthly or quarterly conversations.

   • Keep them short and structured, covering wins, challenges, development needs, and values alignment.

3. Link performance to growth

   • Show employees how their role contributes to business outcomes.

   • Recognise when values are demonstrated, not just when goals are met.

4. Build two-way dialogue

   • Encourage employees to share what’s helping or hindering their success.

   • Introduce anonymous feedback channels to surface blind spots.

5. Train leaders as coaches

   • Equip managers with the skills to give constructive, future-focused feedback.

   • Focus on strengths and development opportunities, not just performance gaps.

6. Use simple frameworks

   • Avoid heavy corporate processes. What startups need is clarity and consistency, not red tape.

   • Even a one-page framework can create alignment and accountability.

How Pupal Helps

At Pupal, we know most founders and COOs have good intentions, but limited HR expertise or capacity to design these systems. That’s where outsourced HR consulting makes a difference.

We help startups and scaleups:

• Design performance frameworks that measure role delivery, competencies, and values

• Build simple scorecards and tools that grow with the business

• Coach leaders to hold meaningful, motivating performance conversations

• Align performance systems with culture so behaviours matter as much as results

• Reduce risk by embedding accountability and clarity without adding bureaucracy

The Bottom Line

Performance reviews aren’t dead, they’ve evolved. In startups and scaleups, success depends on continuous, holistic conversations that balance accountability, culture, and growth.

With the right support, founders can move beyond outdated reviews and build systems that protect culture, motivate teams, and drive sustainable growth.

👉 Ready to modernise performance reviews in your business? Let’s talk about how Pupal’s outsourced HR consulting can help you design frameworks that work for your people and your growth.