Make Work Better

It’s time to make performance management work.

We’ve moved on from antiquated tools like typewriters or checkbooks, but bosses still rely on the same annual performance review process to manage employees the same way they did 70 years ago. It fails our modern hybrid workplaces and it doesn’t improve performance, especially for today’s millennial and Gen-Z workforce. It succeeds only in lowering employee engagement, undermining trust in management, decreasing transparency, and increasing turnover. There must be a way to make work better for all of us.

There is. Make Work Better shows HR, leaders, and middle managers the modern path to better employee performance, amplified engagement and company culture, and more empowered people. Readers will learn how to:

• Make goals and OKRs more useful, more often for everyone
• Eliminate ratings and implement a promotion process that reflects reality and retains employees
• Make check-ins more productive at better intervals for managers and reports
• Teach everyone to better deliver and receive more effective structured and unstructured feedback
• Make recognition count, and create formal development paths for high performers
• Use data to make the right people decisions and eliminate bias
• Structure your organization to maximize the impact of HR and People Operations  

Featuring front line insights from adopters of the process at Google, Intuit, Vertiv, Pepsico, and other leading organizations, Make Work Better gives readers everything they need to improve their organization from wherever they sit.

Doug Dennerline is the CEO of Betterworks, the leader in strategy execution software for enterprise companies. He has been working in Silicon Valley since 1982 - starting with HP selling the first PC, followed by 12 years at 3Com, and 12 years at Cisco, massively scaling those companies. In his last role at Cisco, he became the CEO of Webex post the acquisition of Webex by Cisco. He has been running SaaS companies ever since. He’s worked for many famous leaders - Marc Benioff, John Chambers, Lars Delgaard - and learned many lessons about what it takes to grow and scale high-performing teams. Hint: it’s not an annual review, followed by a pat on the back and standard raise. Doug was the president of SuccessFactors which was the first company to move the performance management process to the cloud and was ultimately acquired by SAP. 

Jamie Aitken is the VP of HR Transformation at Betterworks. She has more than 25 years of experience spearheading organizational development, leading HR transformation, and implementing employee engagement strategies. She is a McKinsey-certified facilitator who has been instrumental in cultural transformations for national and international organizations.
 

 “Make Work Better is a radical manifesto—and blueprint—for operating excellence in our fast-changing world of work. Drawing on decades of experience, Doug Dennerline and Jamie Aitken rethink the stale conventions of performance management and come up with something new: a how-to guide for “performance enablement.” Packed with practical advice and instructive case studies, Make Work Better is required reading for anyone with a stake in empowering people to achieve at the highest level.”
— John Doerr, bestselling author of Measure What Matters
 
“Make Work Better provides leaders with actionable steps to create a culture of trust, empowering employees at all levels to do their best work. It's a must-read for those seeking to build resilient and agile organizations that can adapt and thrive in today's dynamic landscape.”
— Laurie Ruettimann, host of the Punk Rock HR podcast and author of Betting on You

 
“The workforce and workplace are undeniably changing, but the way we manage and evaluate performance has barely evolved in over 70 years. Doug and Jamie have done a brilliant job making the case for why leading companies need to rethink performance management, and they have provided a roadmap for how to lead a workplace transformation. Don’t wait to read this one.”
— Eric Yuan, CEO and founder of Zoom
 
“If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that employee engagement isn’t a ‘nice to have’—it’s an essential element in high-performing teams and companies. Make Work Better gives leaders actionable steps to create cultures of trust and empower employees at all levels of an organization to do their best work. It’s an essential read in this dynamic moment.”
— Gaby Toledano, COO and board member, former chief people officer of Tesla, Electronic Arts, and Siebel Systems
 
“Doug and Jamie have written the ultimate playbook for C-suite leaders looking to build a high-performance business that puts people at the center. If CEOs and CHROs read one book this year—Make Work Better should be it.”
— Jenny Dearborn, award-winning thought leader, speaker, and author on data-driven sales and leadership
 
“Make Work Better is a practical and example-filled book that challenges traditional performance management practices and presents a bold vision for putting people at the center of work. Doug and Jamie provide down-to-earth guidance for CEOs and CHROs on how to foster high-performance cultures that enable employees to thrive. This book is a must-read for anyone looking to change their approach to leadership and empower their teams to achieve their full potential in today's fast-paced, ever-changing business environment. Highly recommended!”
— Karie Willyerd, author, 6-time chief learning officer