Every now and then, a TV character stays with you long after the credits roll. One of my favourite shows—and one you will probably still find me rewatching—is Billions. Beyond the finance world, sharp negotiations, and power dynamics, I was always intrigued by the character of Wendy Rhoades. She served as an in-house performance coach and psychiatrist in a high-pressure investment firm, but what fascinated me most was how differently the company approached performance.
Her role was not simply to solve problems or conduct counselling sessions. Instead, she focused on understanding what drove people, helping individuals manage pressure, unlock potential, navigate fears, and perform at their best. She helped high performers remain high performers.
The idea of performance coaches is not new, although it remains uncommon in many workplaces. While dramatised for television, the concept behind the role raises an important question: why do we rarely see performance coaches in corporate Kenya?
Part of the answer may lie in how organisations traditionally think about performance itself. Performance has often been viewed through a systems lens rather than a human one. The focus has largely been on scorecards, KPIs, ratings, and metrics. When results drop, organisations tend to examine processes, systems, or technical capability. Less attention is given to the emotional and psychological factors sitting beneath performance.
Performance coaches
Performance management in many organisations still follows a familiar script. Managers set annual targets, employees complete mid-year reviews, and at year-end ratings determine rewards and promotions. Yet despite these systems, many organisations continue to struggle with burnout, disengagement, leadership gaps, and inconsistent performance.
Perhaps the issue is not that organisations have too little performance management, but that they have too much management and too little coaching. This is where performance coaches can create value.
Performance coaches sit somewhere between traditional management, learning and development, and employee wellbeing. Their role is not to replace line managers or HR teams, but to unlock potential. They help employees set goals, identify barriers, build confidence, improve focus, and develop healthier work habits. In some cases, they support leaders dealing with pressure and decision fatigue. In others, they help teams navigate conflict and organisational change.
Managers often focus on deliverables, timelines, and operational outcomes. Coaches focus on the person behind the performance. They ask different questions: What is holding someone back? What pressures are affecting their confidence? Where are their strengths? How can they perform sustainably without burning out?
In elite sports, no one expects athletes to perform at world-class levels without coaches. Yet in many organisations we expect employees and leaders to do exactly that.
Performance management
The hesitation around performance coaching may also come down to cost, culture, and misunderstanding. Some organisations may see coaching as a luxury reserved for executives. Others may associate it with therapy or assume seeking support signals weakness. In workplaces where long hours and constant pressure are celebrated, admitting people need help performing better can feel uncomfortable.
Corporate Kenya may need to start asking a different question: what if performance management focused less on measuring people and more on enabling them?
Today’s employees are navigating hybrid work, constant technological change, economic pressures, and rising expectations. Technical capability alone is no longer enough. Emotional resilience, adaptability, self-awareness, and focus have become performance variables too.
Perhaps the future of performance is not just better scorecards and appraisal systems. Perhaps it is building workplaces where people are coached as intentionally as they are measured.
Because sometimes people do not need another rating form. Sometimes they simply need someone who helps them become better versions of themselves.
The writer is a HR professional and the founder of Jobonics HR.
