Why Performance Management Is Broken with Fred Leong

Performance management is supposed to help people grow. So why does the process so often leave employees frustrated, managers uncomfortable, and trust damaged? In this episode of Trust Stories, Tom Keenan sits down with Fred Leong, Chief People Officer at DVL1, to unpack what’s broken about traditional performance management and what a better approach could look like. They explore the difference between transparency and honesty, why difficult conversations get delayed, the problems with annual reviews and forced rankings, and why continuous feedback matters more than another process or form. They also dig into the growing role of AI. Can technology reduce bias, help managers remember what happened throughout the year, and make feedback more useful? Or does removing the human element create an entirely new trust problem? The answer, Fred argues, starts with something much simpler: honest conversations, delivered consistently. In this episode: • Why traditional performance management is structurally broken • Transparency vs. honesty in employee conversations • How delayed feedback erodes trust • Why managers avoid difficult conversations • Generational differences in how employees experience performance reviews • Where AI can help, and where humans still matter most • What a more continuous, personalized approach could look like