Rethinking Performance Management for Workplace Flourishing: Lessons from Antoinette Weibel

In this episode of Meaningful Work Matters, Andrew Soren spoke with Antoinette Weibel, a professor of public management at St. Gallen University’s Business School.

Weibel’s fields of research include trust management in and between organizations, as well as employee engagement/motivation and positive human resource management. Inspired by the work of Sumantra Ghoshal, who wrote about both bad management theories and destroying good practice, Weibel has worked over the past several years to both uncover and teach findings on fostering good leadership and, more broadly speaking, better societies as a result.

Performance Management is Broken

As Weibel makes clear, traditional performance management systems fall short of helping people flourish. These systems are mostly rooted in outdated industrial models that fail to accommodate the complexities of modern, knowledge-based work. Weibel argues that traditional performance management often leads to negative outcomes such as reduced creativity, organizational citizenship, and overall performance. In other words, they destroy the very things they are supposedly in place to foster.

Positive Psychology Can Be Part of the Problem

Weibel also doesn’t shy away from critiquing the field of positive psychology despite her appreciation for its contributions. She points out that positive psychology, when misapplied in organizational contexts, can sometimes reinforce neoliberal ideals. This can lead to practices that focus on making employees happier solely to increase productivity rather than genuinely fostering their well-being.

The metaphor “happy cows produce more milk” illustrates how positive psychology (and humanistic psychology before it) can be misused to exploit workers under the guise of promoting well-being. Weibel emphasizes the need for a more holistic approach that considers systemic changes and ethical implications rather than merely applying positive psychology techniques to boost performance.

The Need for a Paradigm Shift

Weibel says that we need to shift away from a neoliberal paradigm, which prioritizes profit maximization and competition, to a more human-centric approach. This new paradigm, inspired by virtue ethics and more humanistic ideals, emphasizes freedom to be and become rather than merely freedom to have. It calls for organizations to redefine their purpose and contribute to social value, not just shareholder value.

The Global Flourishing Manifesto

For all of these reasons and more, Weibel has been working on The Global Flourishing Manifesto. This manifesto, co-created with her colleague Otti Vogt and a global coalition of HR and business professionals, outlines a vision for reimagining performance management. It is built on four core beliefs:

  1. Growing Better Together: Emphasizing collaboration and mutual development over individual competition and forced rankings.

  2. Freedom to Be or Become: Advocating for environments where employees can fully realize their potential.

  3. Purpose and Social Value: Prioritizing organizational goals that contribute to societal well-being over mere profit maximization.

  4. System Change Over Individual Appraisal: Recognizing the importance of systemic changes to foster flourishing rather than focusing solely on individual performance metrics.

Practical Wisdom and Ethical Leadership

The conversation also touches on the importance of practical wisdom, a concept rooted in Aristotelian ethics. Weibel highlights the need for organizations to cultivate environments where ethical decision-making and practical wisdom are embedded in everyday practices. This involves creating structures and processes that support co-creation, collective growth, and ethical behavior.

Final Thoughts

Weibel aims to spearhead several more initiatives to advance the manifesto. She believes the path forward is through conversation, experimentation, and learning. Two initiatives she’s already started, Leaders for Humanity and Business for Humanity, both look at creating a better system by talking to current thought leaders in this space to answer questions like: Can we reinvent capitalism? Can we heal capitalism from inside? Do we have to change our economic system? Visit Good Leadership Society to learn more and be part of the conversation.