Confirm: Finding Hidden Talent Through Network-Driven Performance Management

We're thrilled to share that Confirm was featured by the Brandon Hall Group in a deep-dive piece titled "Confirm: Finding Hidden Talent Through Network-Driven Performance Management."

Brandon Hall Group is one of the most respected research and analyst firms in the HR and talent management space, and their coverage of Confirm represents meaningful recognition of the approach we're pioneering.

The article focuses on what CEO David Murray calls "the core reason why performance reviews fail": they measure what's visible to a single manager, not what's actually happening across the organization. In most companies, 20-30% of the most valuable contributors are invisible to the formal review system — not because they aren't doing important work, but because their work doesn't fit neatly into the categories being measured.

Traditional performance reviews are designed around reporting relationships. Your manager sees what you do in the context of your direct work together. But they don't see who you mentor informally, which cross-functional projects you hold together, or how many colleagues turn to you before making important decisions. This is the hidden talent that organizational network analysis was designed to surface.

Brandon Hall's piece explores how Confirm's platform uses ONA data gathered through the natural touchpoints of the review process — the "who helped you accomplish your goals?" questions that feel natural to answer — to build a real-time picture of influence, collaboration, and impact across the organization.

The result is that calibration sessions become richer. Managers who walk in thinking they know who the top performers are sometimes discover that their mental model was incomplete. The quiet contributor who never advocates for themselves shows up as a critical node in the collaboration network. The high-visibility employee who gets a lot of credit turns out to have a smaller actual footprint than their reputation suggests.

For talent leaders looking to move beyond traditional performance reviews toward something that actually reflects how modern organizations work, this Brandon Hall piece is essential reading.

Read the full article: Confirm: Finding Hidden Talent Through Network-Driven Performance Management — Brandon Hall Group