Enabling Stronger Coaching Through Metric Visibility and Ownership

If employees can’t see their performance, they can’t own it. Here’s how personalized performance visibility change that dynamic, helping managers coach better and employees deliver better results.

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For most frontline managers, employee performance management can feel like navigating without a clear map. They know their team’s potential, but without clear visibility into individual contributions and progress, it’s hard to coach with precision and drive measurable improvement.

Traditional approaches like annual reviews and generic team metrics leave both managers and employees frustrated and disconnected from what actually moves performance forward. Even in environments with regular check-ins like contact centers, those conversations often require too much preparation to translate into meaningful coaching and are the first to get deprioritized when operational demands spike.

When Performance and Learning Operate in Silos

In many organizations, performance management and learning exist as separate motions. Performance data lives in one system, and training lives in another. And the connection between the two is largely left to managers to figure out, on top of everything else they’re already juggling.

As a result, learning becomes detached from day-to-day performance. Employees are asked to complete training without clear context on why it matters to their role or how it connects to their individual goals. Managers, meanwhile, lack an easy way to tie learning moments directly to performance gaps or coaching conversations.

Why Employee Performance Management Breaks Down Without Visibility

This disconnect becomes especially problematic when visibility is limited to managers alone—or trapped inside systems employees can’t access or act on.

Purpose Financial—a specialized financial lender with over 25 years of experience—encountered this challenge firsthand. While their learning management system was functional, it didn’t actively support performance improvement across the organization.

As Jim McHugh, Senior Director of Strategic Alignment and Learning Development, explained:

“Our learning management system was very functional, but it wasn’t very engaging for our team members across the enterprise.”

Performance tracking existed internally, but not in a way employees could actually leverage. Managers could see performance data, but employees lacked visibility into their own progress, priorities, and impact.

This disconnect is more common than most leaders realize. When performance and learning aren’t connected through shared visibility:

Employees can’t take ownership of their performance
Managers struggle to provide specific, actionable feedback
Training feels disconnected from real-world outcomes
Performance improvement becomes reactive instead of proactive

How Personalized Performance Visibility Improves Workforce Engagement

The solution is simple: make performance data accessible at every level.

When Purpose Financial implemented a solution built around personalized employee performance metrics, they changed how employees engaged with their work. Instead of waiting for feedback after the fact, team members could track key metrics and business contributions in real time.

Michelle Goldsbury, Senior Business Integration Specialist, described the shift: “Now they really can take ownership of their performance and their numbers, whereas before they kind of had to try to manually track it.”

This shift from manual tracking to automated visibility fundamentally changes the employee-manager dynamic. Instead of managers being the sole gatekeepers of performance information, employees become active drivers of their own progress and development.

Key Elements of Effective Personalized Metrics

Individual Contribution Clarity:Employees need to clearly see how their daily actions contribute to broader team and organizational goals. Purpose Financial’s approach allows team members to “see their individual metrics and how they were driving their business.”
Real-Time Progress Tracking:Static monthly reports don’t drive day-to-day behavior change. Strong workforce engagement depends on access to near real-time data that employees can check throughout their shift.
Actionable Insights: Raw numbers alone don’t create improvement. Performance dashboards must translate data into clear next steps and improvement opportunities, with the ability to address any gaps in the flow of work.

How Do You Promote a Culture of Coaching and Performance Ownership?

The biggest shift happens when employees move from passively receiving feedback to actively owning outcomes.

Purpose Financial achieved this by making their platform the first thing employees check each morning: “We wanted to make sure that they were looking at their numbers first and foremost,” explained Goldsbury. “This daily ritual of checking personal performance metrics before starting work creates a mindset shift from task completion to results achievement.”

The Manager’s Role Evolution

When employees can view their own performance data, managers shift from reporting numbers to coaching outcomes. Instead of spending time pulling reports and explaining metrics, managers can focus on what drives growth: coaching, support, skill development, and targeted action.

According Gallup, employees who receive daily feedback are 3x more likely to be engaged at work. Personalized metrics enable this continuous feedback loop by providing objective, data-driven conversation starters for coaching sessions.

How Do Employee Success Metrics Connect to Business Results?

Purpose Financial saw a direct link between platform engagement and performance outcomes.

McHugh reported: “The highest engaged team members always have the highest KPIs… if you engage in the platform you’re engaging in your opportunities and you’re focused on where you have opportunities for improvement.”

This correlation reinforces a key truth in employee performance management: visibility drives engagement, and engagement drives results. When employees can see their progress and understand their impact, they naturally become more invested in improving their performance.

Implementation Success Metrics

Purpose Financial tracks several key indicators:

98% login rate across their workforce
160% performance increase in customer care and branch teams
Direct correlation between engagement levels and KPI achievement

H2 Best Practices for Implementing Performance Dashboards that Stick

Start with Pilot Programs: Purpose Financial’s phased approach—piloting with customer care and one branch market—allowed them to refine their strategy before full rollout. This approach minimizes risk and maximizes learning opportunities.
Focus on Department-Specific Needs: Goldsbury emphasized the importance of customization: “I held meetings with all of our department heads to find out hey you know what is it that you guys need to drive what is it that your department is lacking in that we can create a KPI to drive success.”
Maintain Leader Connection: Success requires ongoing manager engagement. Regular check-ins, training sessions, and performance reviews ensure leaders can effectively leverage new visibility tools.

The Future of Performance Management and Transparency

More organizations are moving away from annual reviews and generalized reporting. The future of performance is continuous, personalized, and visible.

Personalized metrics represent a major shift toward employee empowerment, accountability, and real-time improvement. Teams perform better when they don’t have to guess where they stand.

How Frontline Teams Improve Through Performance Visibility

Creating visibility and ownership through personalized metrics isn’t just about better employee performance management—it’s about fundamentally changing how teams operate. When employees can see their contributions and understand their impact, they naturally become more engaged and more focused on outcomes.

The manager’s role evolves from data gatekeeper to performance coach, enabling more strategic workforce engagement and targeted development efforts. Purpose Financial’s 98% engagement rate and 160% performance improvements demonstrate the transformative potential of this approach.

For CX leaders ready to unlock their team’s potential, the path forward is clear: democratize performance data, personalize metrics, and watch as ownership and accountability naturally follow.

Quickly improving frontline performance starts with one thing: visibility. When employees can’t see their own progress, it’s harder to coach effectively and almost impossible to build real ownership.