HR Disaster or Opportunity? Brutal Truths About Performance Management with Kareena Kaur
In the latest episode of “Rolling Stories” Season 5, host Adrian Tan sat down with Kareena Kaur, Chief Human Resource Officer at AEON Bank Berhad, to address one of the most debated topics in HR today—performance management. With over 15 years of experience in financial institutions and currently leading HR for Malaysia’s first Islamic Digital Bank, Kareena shared unfiltered perspectives on why performance management often fails and what CHROs must do to transform it into a true driver of business success.
Why Performance Management Often Fails
Kareena opened the conversation by acknowledging a hard truth: despite being essential, performance management remains one of the most broken systems in HR. Many organizations still rely on outdated processes, annual cycles, and rigid scorecards that disengage employees rather than empower them.
“Too often, HR becomes a postbox for performance management—collecting forms, enforcing compliance, but not enabling real conversations,” she noted.
The result? Frustrated employees, disengaged managers, and leadership teams that fail to see performance systems as strategic.
Challenges HR Leaders Must Confront
Kareena outlined several common pitfalls HR leaders face:
- Delayed Feedback: Employees rarely receive timely, constructive input that helps them grow.
- Generic KPIs: Performance indicators often fail to reflect evolving business needs or team dynamics.
- Cultural Misalignment: Applying one-size-fits-all approaches in diverse workforces leads to poor adoption.
- Resistance to Change: Both employees and managers hesitate to move away from “traditional” methods, even when they no longer serve the business.
She emphasized that performance management needs to evolve from a compliance-driven process to a culture-driven practice that supports both employees and the organization.
The Role of Continuous Feedback
One of Kareena’s strongest messages was around the power of continuous feedback. Rather than waiting for annual reviews, organizations must create structures where managers and employees engage in frequent, meaningful conversations.
“Feedback should not be a once-a-year event. It has to be ongoing, two-way, and constructive if you want employees to actually grow,” Kareena explained.
This shift not only improves performance but also fosters stronger trust and collaboration across teams.
Best Practices for Effective Performance Management
Drawing from her experience, Kareena shared actionable strategies for CHROs and HR leaders to reimagine performance management:
- Embed Continuous Check-ins – Regular, structured conversations build accountability and trust.
- Balance Individual and Team KPIs – Encourage collaboration by rewarding collective outcomes alongside individual contributions.
- Leverage Technology Wisely – Use digital tools to simplify processes, but never replace the human element.
- Tailor to Organizational Culture – Adapt frameworks to align with the unique context of startups, traditional firms, or hybrid models.
- Link Performance to Development – Make growth opportunities an integral outcome of performance reviews.
Adapting to New Work Realities
As AEON Bank navigates the dual challenges of building a startup culture while operating within the highly regulated banking industry, Kareena highlighted the importance of agility. HR leaders must be ready to blend traditional practices with innovative approaches to meet both business and employee expectations.
Her advice to CHROs was clear: don’t let performance management become a checkbox exercise. Make it a living system that evolves with your people and business.
Why This Episode Matters
For CHROs and HR leaders, this conversation goes beyond diagnosing problems—it offers a blueprint for building performance management systems that truly deliver. Kareena’s candid insights remind us that HR’s role is not to police performance but to enable progress, growth, and business impact.
As organizations rethink the future of work, the time is now to transform performance management from a dreaded HR ritual into a powerful enabler of success.
Recent Podcast
June 24, 2025
About Rolling Arrays
Rolling Arrays has been driving SAP SuccessFactors-led HR Transformation since 2009. The company specialises in SF consulting, implementation, and support and also builds applications to enhance the utility of the SuccessFactors platform. It is committed to designing systems that help its customers to attract, develop and retain talented individuals. In 2021, Rolling Arrays was recognized as one of the top 75 fastest-growing companies in Singapore by The Straits Times & Statista.
