Performance Development Program Workshop at Waterloo

University of Waterloo is in the middle of a pretty big change in how staff performance gets handled. The old once-a-year review model is being pushed aside. In its place is a continuous performance development system inside Workday — and the May 15 workshop is one of the first practical sessions meant to help managers actually use it. That makes this more than a calendar filler. Waterloo launched the new Performance Development Program on May 1, and the workshop is part training, part culture change. The point is not just to show people where the buttons are. It is to get managers comfortable with a new routine of goal setting, check-ins, and feedback that is supposed to happen all year. ### What is Waterloo changing? Basically, Waterloo is moving from a traditional annual evaluation to an ongoing development model. Employees and managers now have access in Workday to goal setting, check-ins, feedback, and a talent profile, all meant to keep performance conversations active instead of saving everything for one stressful year-end meeting. ### Why does the workshop matter? (uwaterloo.ca) Because a policy shift is easy to announce and much harder to make real. The manager overview session is where Waterloo tries to turn the new framework into day-to-day behavior. Managers are told to bring a laptop, work through the new components in a guided setting, and talk through what meaningful performance conversations should actually look like with direct reports. (uwaterloo.ca) ### Who is this session for? This specific workshop is for managers. Waterloo describes it as an introductory session focused on what the new program means for managers and their teams, with time for discussion and questions. The facilitator is Susan Willsie, a talent development specialist in Organizational and Human Development. (uwaterloo.ca) ### What happens on May 15? The May 15 session runs from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Eastern. Waterloo listed several offerings of the same manager overview across May and early June, which tells you this is a rollout, not a one-off event. The university is trying to train people in waves as the new system goes live. ### So is this mostly about Workday? (uwaterloo.ca) Yes and no. Workday is the tool, but Waterloo is pretty explicit that the bigger shift is philosophical. The university says the session is less about detailed system navigation and more about understanding the overall approach, the manager’s role, and the supports available. In other words — the software matters, but the real ask is behavioral. (uwaterloo.ca) ### What replaces the old annual review? Four pieces now carry the process: goal setting, check-ins, feedback, and a year-end conversation. That last piece still exists, but it is supposed to summarize a year of ongoing discussion rather than serve as the one moment when performance gets judged. Waterloo frames that as more balanced, more forward-looking, and more human-centered. (uwaterloo.ca) ### Why is Waterloo doing this now? The university had been signaling this shift for weeks before launch. In March and April, it promoted information sessions explaining that the new model would replace the traditional annual evaluation. By May 1, the tools were live in Workday. So the May 15 workshop lands at the exact moment when managers need to move from hearing about the change to using it. (uwaterloo.ca) ### Bottom line This workshop is a small event inside a bigger institutional reset. Waterloo is betting that better performance management comes from regular conversations, not annual ratings — and managers are the people who have to make that bet work. (uwaterloo.ca)