Handing out a rating at the end of the annual performance review is a sure fire way to demotivate at least 80% of your workforce. But when we try to get rid of them, we’re often met with a number of concerns about what will happen when they’re gone. In this episode, Lucy is joined by her Disruptive HR co-founder Karen Moran to unpack some of the common misconceptions around the value of ratings and look at why getting rid of them is not as risky as you might think. Whether you’ve been on the receiving end of a disappointing score or forced to defend a ‘meets expectations’ to a furious high performer, this one’s for you.

Lucy and Karen share their own performance review horror stories and get under the skin of why ratings continue to survive, despite being universally hated.

They tackle the four big worries HR teams often have when considering ditching ratings:

• How will we know who our top performers are?
• How can we allocate bonuses fairly?
• How will we know if managers are doing performance management properly?
• And what about dealing with poor performance?

Packed with real-life examples from companies like Microsoft, Adobe and Spotify, this episode will help you challenge the status quo and find better ways to manage performance, without the dreaded annual rating.

Fancy doing HR differently? Check out www.disruptivehr.com to find out more about the Disruptive HR Club - packed with toolkits, live and on-demand training, and a global community of forward-thinking HR professionals.

Disruptive HR

Website: www.disruptivehr.com

Join the Disruptive HR Club https://disruptivehr.com/welcome-to-the-future-of-hr/

Email: hello@disruptivehr.com

In this episode Lucy is joined by Matt Brady, Head of People of Tesco Bank talks through his refreshing HR philosophy, which is grounded in insight, commercial savviness, pragmatism, and innovation. Matt shares candid stories from his career at HSBC, Sky and Tesco Bank and shows how a mix of data, empathy, and experimentation can drive meaningful change in the employee experience.

Matt’s take on HR is shaped by his background in economics, where he first learned about human behaviour, motivation, and how to make the most of limited resources—ideas that still guide his work today. In this episode, he and Lucy chat about the value of looking beyond the usual HR playbook, drawing inspiration from areas like marketing, behavioural science, and design thinking to bring in fresh, creative approaches. Matt also talks about the power of using data to tell a story—not just reporting numbers, but connecting the dots between what employees are saying and how the business is performing. And when it comes to being commercially savvy, he makes the case that it’s not about sounding like a finance expert. Instead, it’s about really understanding what matters to leaders and showing how HR can help solve the problems they’re facing.

This episode is a must-listen for HR professionals who want to shake off rigid processes and bring relevance, flexibility, and a human touch back into HR. Whether you're early in your HR career or leading a people function, Matt’s blend of humility, rigour, and creativity offers practical inspiration for transforming how we do HR.

Chapters

(00:03) Innovative Approaches in Human Resources

(08:44) Connecting Data to Storytelling for Impact

(16:49) Developing Authenticity, Collaboration, and Pragmatism

(24:05) Innovation and Pragmatism in HR

Contact Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradymatt/

Disruptive HR

Website: www.disruptivehr.com

Join the Disruptive HR Club https://disruptivehr.com/welcome-to-the-future-of-hr/

Email: hello@disruptivehr.com

Every year many managers and employees have to go through an ordeal that costs time, money and effort but which delivers little value - actually, it’s worse than that, it decreases employees’ motivation and can occasionally make them leave the company. Yes you guessed it! It’s performance appraisal time!

It’s amazing that so many of us are unwilling to let go of a system that costs so much and yet doesn’t improve performance. Fortunately, the tide is turning and many HR teams are introducing different approaches that do actually work. In this episode, Lucy talks to Doug Dennerline, the CEO of Betterworks - a leading performance management software and author of the book ‘Make work better’ - about why traditional approaches don’t work, why we cling to the old ways when they are obviously not delivering, and what the alternatives are.

Doug offers insights from his tech industry journey, revealing how companies can evolve by adopting AI-driven tools that revolutionize goal setting and communication. We also shed light on the challenges managers face in delivering effective feedback and how technology can be an invaluable ally, acting as a coach for managerial skills.

Chapters

(00:03) Reimagining Performance Appraisals for Success

(12:24) Empowering Employees Through Goal-Setting

(18:03) Leveraging Tech for HR Transformation

Contact Doug: doug@betterworks.com

Disruptive HR

Website: www.disruptivehr.com

Join the Disruptive HR Club https://disruptivehr.com/welcome-to-the-future-of-hr/

Email: hello@disruptivehr.com