Delivery mode
Self-paced online
Estimated study time: 27 hours
Location
E-learning environment
Language
English
Scope
1 ECTS
Introduction to Performance Management
Effective performance management is the bridge between strategy, operations, and measurable results. Organizations that master this connection achieve sustainable success.
Introduction to Performance Management explores how to align goals, build meaningful performance systems, and foster long-term value creation. You will learn to apply key financial and non-financial metrics—such as KPI, ROE, ROIC, and EVA—to measure performance and drive strategic outcomes. The program combines theory with practical tools to help you design systems that support accountability and continuous improvement.
This course helps you connect strategy with measurable performance, understand and apply key performance metrics, create alignment through goals and KPIs, and build a solid foundation for systematic performance management.
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Fee:
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
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Explain performance management as a system that links goals, measures, targets, review routines, decisions, and learning.
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Design a coherent performance management cycle and specify the roles, rhythms, and decision rights needed to make it work in practice.
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Select and define high-quality KPIs that are decision-relevant, operationally meaningful, and fit-for-purpose - including clear definitions, data sources, ownership, and review frequency.
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Build balanced KPI sets that avoid common traps, and incorporate leading/lagging indicators, trade-offs, and guardrail measures.
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Translate strategy into measurable hypotheses using tools such as strategy maps and cause–effect logic, and use performance data to test, learn, and adapt as strategy evolves.
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Integrate financial performance management by linking operational drivers to financial outcomes, and interpret key financial measures used in steering.
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Diagnose and improve existing performance management systems by identifying misalignments, behavioral side effects, and redesign options that strengthen execution and learning.
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Communicate performance insights through clear narratives and visuals that support action - tailoring messages to different stakeholders while maintaining transparency and accountability.
Benefits
Empower your team to achieve strategic goals and improve results. This program helps you measure and drive value creation.
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Connect strategy with measurable performance
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Understand and apply key performance metrics
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Create alignment through goals and KPIs
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Build a solid foundation for systematic performance management
For
The Introduction to Performance Management course is designed for professionals who play a role in managing, monitoring, and developing performance in their teams or areas of responsibility.
The course is particularly suitable for:
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Experts responsible for defining, tracking, and using key performance indicators (KPIs) in their area of expertise, projects, or product management
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Team leaders, function heads, and middle managers who want to ensure that performance goals, KPIs, and evaluation practices support both team success and the organization’s strategic objectives
Content and Schedule
The program covers key principles of performance management, including goal setting, measurement, and feedback systems.
The course consists of four modules, each divided into multiple sections with video lectures, texts, case examples and quizzes. This combination of theory, reflection, and hands-on practice ensures that learning is both engaging and practical.
The language of the course is English. You can complete the course flexibly at your own pace.
Modules
Module 1 - Performance Management: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Works as a Cycle
This module builds a clear understanding of performance management as a system that connects goals, measures, targets, and review routines into a continuous cycle. It helps you see how these elements shape attention and behavior in practice, and how to make sense of them using core management control frameworks.
Module 2 - KPI Design That Works
This module focuses on what makes KPIs useful for decision-making, not just measurement. You will learn to design clear, balanced KPI sets that avoid common pitfalls and link leading and lagging indicators in a meaningful way.
Module 3 - Strategy Implementation (Measuring and Managing Strategy)
This module explores strategy as a set of testable assumptions and shows how to make it visible through strategy maps and scorecards. It helps you translate strategic intent into concrete measures, targets, and management routines, while understanding both benefits and risks of these systems.
Module 4 - Financial Performance Management
This module connects operational performance to financial outcomes and shows how value is created and assessed. You will learn to interpret and use key financial metrics such as ROE, ROIC, and EVA, and translate them into actionable drivers while recognizing their limitations.
Instructor
David Derichs
Dr. Derichs is Principal University Lecturer at Aalto University School of Business, Department of Accounting, and Visiting Professor at Seoul School of Integrated Sciences. He brings more than eight years of international strategy consulting experience at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.
In his current position as Principal University Lecturer, Dr. Derichs’ research focuses on Performance Measurement and Management, Digitalization (esp. AI), and Learning. He teaches Financial Management, Performance Management, and Financial Accounting-related topics at all levels of the university education cycle (BSc, MSc, MBA, PhD, and Lifelong Learning). He has built an international reputation for educational innovation, particularly VR- and AI-based teaching cases, and has received four awards for educational development and impact, most notably the Entrepreneurship Facilitator of the Year, awarded by Kauppalehti and the Finnish Business Association (Suomen Liikemies-Yhdistys).
As a management and strategy consultant at RB, Dr. Derichs led investor support, restructuring, and strategic reorientation engagements across Europe and Asia in a wide range of industries, including Engineered Products, Healthcare, Platform Businesses, Consumer Goods, Media, and Banking. He continues to advise selected clients on finance transformation and digitalization.
David Derichs holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Aalto University, an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics (LSE), and a BSc from Maastricht University.
Program Fee and Registration
The fee for the Introduction to the Introduction to Performance Management online course is € 150 (+ VAT).
This program has adopted Aalto EE's new Customer ID, and it is delivered on Aalto Learning Experience Alex e-learning environment. Before ordering, please visit aaltoee.fi/customerid.
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