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Corporate
Coach Group

Improve Performance, Build Commitment, Deliver Results

Performance Management Training 1 day

Performance management is about getting the most from members of the team. When people underperform, you need to be able to get them to improve their performance. On this course you will learn how to set and agree goals and how to communicate effectively. Learn the art of feedback and how to criticise performance, without getting personal.

Available as an open course at venues across the UK, as live online training via Microsoft Teams, or as bespoke in-house training tailored to your organisation.

★★★★★
"I found the course content incredibly interesting and very informative. Everything seemed very common sense based, but not something you immediately think about until it is in front of you. I found most benefit from the psychology of language." - Will Hume-Humphreys, Guinness World Records
Quality Training
Established 1997
6 CPD Hours
Delivery Options Upcoming Dates

Course Overview

What is Performance Management Training?

Performance Management Training is designed to give managers the specific skills they need to improve the performance of every person in their team. Performance management means two things: correctly handling poor performance or behaviour, and enhancing already good performance by taking it to the next level.

Before you can successfully manage the performance of others, you must first develop a very particular set of skills. This one-day course is built around a triad of performance management competencies: clarity, meaning clear thought, clear goals and clear communication; rationality, meaning structured plans and treating every colleague as a reasonable, capable adult; and positivity, meaning always maintaining a positive attitude towards the other person's potential and finishing every conversation on a constructive note.

Unlike the broader Management Development Programme, which builds a complete management toolkit across two days, this course focuses exclusively on the skill set that determines whether a manager can reliably improve individual performance: the ability to conduct a structured, objective and goal-focused performance conversation. You will learn how to give constructive feedback, correct poor behaviour, build self-concept and use positive reinforcement to embed lasting change.

By the end of the day you will know exactly how to get the best performance from yourself and from every member of your team.

Core Skills

The Key Skills Covered

This course is built around six performance management competencies. Developing these skills enables you to address poor performance, build on good performance and create a culture of continuous improvement in your team.

  1. 1

    Clear Performance Goals

    Set and communicate specific, measurable performance goals for every member of your team. Clarity about what good performance looks like is the foundation of all effective performance management; without it, every performance conversation becomes a matter of opinion rather than fact.

  2. 2

    Constructive Performance Conversations

    Deliver criticism that is received as helpful information rather than a personal attack. Learn the language, structure and framing that keeps performance conversations objective, productive and focused on future improvement rather than past failures.

  3. 3

    Rational Thinking

    Handle poor performance as a rational problem to be solved rather than an emotional situation to be avoided. Rational thinking prevents performance conversations from becoming confrontations and enables you to maintain professional respect throughout.

  4. 4

    Self-Image and Self-Concept Building

    Understand how a person's self-image affects their willingness and ability to change. Learn to deliver performance feedback in a way that protects and builds the other person's self-belief, creating the conditions in which lasting improvement becomes possible.

  5. 5

    Positive Reinforcement

    Use social motivators and targeted appreciation to reinforce positive change once it has been achieved. Positive reinforcement is the mechanism that converts a one-off improvement into a long-term, embedded behaviour; without it, performance gains rarely persist.

  6. 6

    Personal Performance and Role-Modelling

    Exemplify the standards you expect from others. The most effective performance managers lead by example, demonstrating the clarity of thought, quality of communication and positive attitude they wish to see in their team.

Who Is This Course For?

Who Should Attend This Performance Management Training Course?

Designed for any manager or team leader who needs to improve the performance of the people they manage.

Practising Managers

Develop a structured, repeatable approach to performance conversations that consistently improves individual and team output.

Team Leaders

Build the confidence to address poor performance and recognise good performance with equal skill and consistency.

Supervisors

Gain practical tools for setting clear expectations, giving objective feedback and motivating direct reports to improve.

HR Business Partners

Equip yourself to support and coach line managers through structured, fair and effective performance management conversations.

Also beneficial for HR business partners supporting line managers in performance conversations, supervisors taking on performance management responsibilities for the first time, and team leaders who want to build a more motivated, higher-performing team.

Course Agenda

Performance Management Training Course Details

AM

Morning Session • Performance management foundations and communication

Establish what performance management is, identify the key skills it requires, and develop the communication and goal-setting techniques that form the basis of every effective performance conversation.

The session opens by defining what performance management is for: adding value to others by helping them perform at or above the standard required. This framing removes the adversarial quality that many managers unconsciously attach to performance conversations and replaces it with a purposeful, positive intent. You will clarify your own role as a performance manager and identify the specific outcomes you want to achieve for each member of your team.
Effective performance management requires a distinct set of skills: the ability to set clear goals, to communicate expectations with precision, to think and reason clearly under pressure, and to influence and motivate others through language and behaviour. This topic provides a structured overview of the complete skill set, allows you to self-assess your current level in each area, and gives you a roadmap for developing the skills you most need to strengthen during the course.
Before developing new skills, it is important to understand where you are starting from. This self-assessment covers the key performance management competencies: clarity of communication, goal-setting, rationality in difficult conversations, ability to give constructive criticism, skill at motivating others and personal performance standards. Your results highlight your strongest areas and identify the two or three skills that will have the greatest impact on your effectiveness as a performance manager.
Vague goals produce vague performance. This topic covers how to set goals that are specific enough to create an objective standard against which performance can be measured and discussed. You will learn the importance of written, agreed goals, how to word goals so that success is unambiguous, and how to use the goal-setting conversation itself as a performance management tool that gains commitment from the outset.
Many performance problems stem from ambiguity: the manager thought they had communicated clearly, but the team member understood something entirely different. This topic covers the specific techniques for communicating performance expectations with clarity, including the use of precise language, confirming understanding and defining key terms so that both parties share the same mental picture of what is required.
Rational thinking means approaching every performance situation as a problem to be solved rather than a conflict to be won. It means treating colleagues as reasonable, intelligent adults who respond to logic and respect, even when their current behaviour falls short. This topic introduces a rational thinking framework that prevents emotional escalation, keeps performance conversations professional and ensures that the manager remains in control of the conversation regardless of how the other person responds.
Effective performance managers avoid two common traps: cynicism, which assumes poor performance is a character flaw that cannot be fixed, and naive optimism, which hopes things will improve without any intervention. Critical thinking occupies the productive middle ground: acknowledging the reality of the current situation while maintaining a genuine belief in the other person's capacity to improve. This topic develops the critical thinking habits that support consistent, realistic and constructive performance management.
Most performance conversations begin in a negative space: something has gone wrong, a standard has not been met, or a behaviour is causing problems. This topic teaches a structured technique for redirecting these conversations from a focus on past failure to a focus on future improvement, using language patterns that maintain the other person's engagement and commitment rather than triggering defensiveness or disengagement.
The specific words you use in a performance conversation have a significant impact on how the other person receives the message and responds to it. This topic covers the key language distinctions in performance management: affirmative versus negative language, objective versus subjective framing, and specific versus general statements. You will practise rewriting common performance management phrases so that they produce the responses you want rather than the defensive reactions you want to avoid.
PM

Afternoon Session • Handling poor performance and embedding lasting improvement

Learn the only effective way to address poor performance, how to build others' self-belief to make change possible, and how to use positive reinforcement and social motivators to ensure that improvement is sustained.

Managers typically respond to poor performance in one of four ways: ignoring it, punishing it, lecturing about it, or addressing it through a structured, positive and goal-focused conversation. Only the fourth approach produces lasting improvement. This topic examines each of the four approaches, explains why the first three fail, and introduces the structured conversation model that is the only reliable method for changing performance in a sustainable way.
A person's self-image, the mental picture they hold of who they are and what they are capable of, directly determines their behaviour. A team member who sees themselves as incapable or unvalued will consistently perform at that level, regardless of how clearly expectations are communicated. This topic explains the psychology of self-image, why it matters to performance managers, and how understanding the other person's self-image is the essential first step in any performance improvement conversation.
The performance manager's primary task is not to criticise, punish or lecture, but to build the other person's self-concept: their belief in their own capability and their picture of themselves as someone who can and does perform at a high standard. This topic covers the specific language patterns and conversational techniques that raise self-concept, and why building self-concept is the fastest and most sustainable route to improved performance.
A performance conversation is only successful if it ends with genuine commitment to change rather than passive compliance or resentment. This topic covers how to structure the closing stages of a performance conversation to secure authentic commitment: how to ask for commitment directly, how to recognise the difference between genuine agreement and superficial compliance, and how to respond when the other person is reluctant to commit. You will also cover how to distinguish genuine reasons for underperformance from excuses, so that your response addresses the real issue.
Performance improvements achieved through a single conversation rarely persist without deliberate reinforcement. This topic covers the mechanisms of reinforcement: how to acknowledge and appreciate progress in a way that embeds the new behaviour, how to structure follow-up conversations to maintain momentum, and how to use written goals and agreed check-in points to create accountability over time. Reinforcement is the stage that most managers neglect, and it is the stage that determines whether a short-term improvement becomes a lasting change.
Social motivators, including recognition, appreciation, a sense of belonging and feeling genuinely valued, are among the most powerful drivers of sustained performance improvement. This topic covers how to use social motivators deliberately and effectively: how to give specific, genuine appreciation that motivates rather than merely flatters, when to recognise progress publicly and when privately, and how the consistent use of honest appreciation creates a team culture in which high performance becomes the norm.
Performance management is not only about correcting problems. The second dimension of performance management is building on good performance by inspiring people to move from good to excellent. This topic covers how to identify the specific strengths of high performers, how to set stretch goals that challenge without overwhelming, and how to use coaching conversations to help strong performers identify and pursue the next level of performance.
The course closes with a structured review of the complete performance management framework covered during the day. Each delegate completes a personal action plan identifying the specific performance conversations they will have, the goals they will set and the reinforcement strategies they will use immediately on returning to work. Details of the post-course online learning portal and three months of free telephone coaching are provided to support ongoing implementation.

Availability and Pricing

Delivery Options

Choose the delivery format that best fits your schedule and team.

All options deliver the same high-quality content.

Online Live Training

£350 +VAT

per delegate

Interactive live sessions delivered via Teams using our superior green-screen technology.

  • Same content as face-to-face
  • Learn from home or office
  • Delivered via MS Teams
  • Laptop or tablet with webcam
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Most Popular

Open Course

£475 +VAT

per delegate

Early bird offers available

Join scheduled courses at venues across the UK including London, Birmingham, Manchester & more.

  • Venues across the UK
  • 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
  • Tea and coffee from 8:45 am
  • Network with peers
Book Open Course

Bespoke In-House

£2250+VAT

per training day

We come to you. Training delivered at your premises, tailored to your team's specific needs.

  • Your premises or online
  • Tailored to your organisation
  • Dates to suit your schedule
  • We can train in your timezone
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All Our Training Includes

Full 1 day of expert training delivered by an experienced trainer
CPD-endorsed course: 6 CPD training hours (plus 2-3 additional hours via post-course online learning)
Full digital interactive course notes
Official training certificate
Access to free additional training material via our post-course portal
3 months of free telephone coaching while you implement your learning

Questions? Call 020 3856 3037 or 01452 856091

Upcoming Dates

Next Available Course Dates

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No upcoming dates are currently listed.
Please get in touch to enquire about availability.

Contact Us

Frequently Asked Questions

Course FAQs

You can book directly online via our course dates page, call us on 020 3856 3037, or make an enquiry and we will call you back. We accept payment by BACS, cheque or credit card. Once booked, you will receive a confirmation email with full joining instructions.
Yes. We can deliver this course exclusively for your team at your premises or online, on dates to suit you. Bespoke in-house training is priced per day rather than per delegate, making it cost-effective for groups of four or more. We can also tailor the content to address your organisation's specific challenges.
Performance management is important because every team has variation in individual performance, and that variation has a direct impact on results. Managers who allow poor performance to continue unchecked harm the whole team: high performers become demoralised when low standards go unchallenged, and the manager loses credibility. Equally, failing to develop and inspire already good performers means leaving valuable potential unrealised. Effective performance management addresses both ends of the performance spectrum, raising the standard for everyone and creating a culture in which continuous improvement is normal.
The objective of performance management is to help every member of your team perform at or above the required standard. This involves two distinct activities: addressing poor performance by identifying the cause, agreeing clear goals and gaining genuine commitment to change; and developing good performance by challenging strong performers to reach the next level. Both activities require the same core skills: clear communication, rational thinking, self-image awareness and the ability to use positive reinforcement effectively.
Yes, the training is highly interactive. Sessions include group discussions, exercises, case studies and individual action planning. The trainer actively teaches expert content rather than simply facilitating discussion, so delegates leave with structured knowledge they can apply immediately. The style is engaging and practical throughout.
Good performance management is characterised by clarity, consistency and positivity. Clear goals and standards are set in advance, so that every performance conversation can be grounded in objective evidence rather than opinion. Feedback is given regularly, not only at formal appraisal time, and is delivered using objective language that addresses behaviour rather than character. Every performance conversation ends with a clear, agreed plan and a genuine expression of confidence in the other person's ability to improve. Good performance is recognised specifically and sincerely, reinforcing the behaviours that produce results.
Delegates come from a wide range of industries, organisational levels and management experience levels. Many are practising managers who find performance conversations uncomfortable or who have found that their current approach does not produce lasting change. Others are team leaders addressing poor performance for the first time who want a reliable, structured method to follow. Supervisors, HR business partners and managers who want to inspire higher performance in already strong team members also attend. What all delegates share is a desire to be more consistent, more confident and more effective in the performance conversations they have every week.
Open courses run from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm. Delegates are welcome to arrive from 8:45 am; tea and coffee are available from that time. The course includes mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks plus a lunch break.

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On This Page

  1. 1 Course Overview
  2. 2 Key Skills
  3. 3 Who Should Attend
  4. 4 Course Agenda
  5. 5 Delivery Options
  6. 6 Upcoming Dates
  7. 7 FAQs

Book This Course

Online Live Training £350 +VAT
Open Course £475 +VAT
Bespoke In-House £2250 +VAT/day
Book Open Course Enquire About In-House

Questions? Call us on

020 3856 3037
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Customer Reviews

What Delegates Say About This Course

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Read Our Customer Reviews
★★★★★

"The content was very thorough and was just enough for a day course. It covered many areas but still remained focused on key areas of professional development. Marco was an absolute star, so helpful and kept me on track and focussed. I cannot fault the delivery of the presentation at all. Had never seen the tech before, so was really impressed, allowed me to be more engaged. I didn't even look at my mobile phone all day!"

Lily Sawyer

Createmaster Ltd

★★★★★

"I found this course very useful and feel I have learnt quite a lot of useful information on how to conduct myself and my staff to improve things. The trainer came across very well and explained the course in a lot of depth and helped me understand things clearly."

Tina Canning

ECCO Safety Group

★★★★★

"The two days were simply brilliant; content and delivery were spot on. Well worth the time, and which will help me, my company and my team. This will also help in my personal life. Trainer's presentation was truely professional."

Nick Baker

Pacific West Foods

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Ready to Improve Your Team's Performance?

Enrol on our next open course, book a live online training session, or speak to us about tailored in-house delivery for your team.

Book Open Course Enquire about In-House

Or speak to a member of our team directly:

020 3856 3037 01452 856091