Case Study: Khan Academy achieves stronger manager coaching and continuous performance management with Betterworks

Why Performance Management Should Start on Day One

Khan Academy’s People Operations team, led by Karina Young, tackled the common HR challenge of new managers being promoted without coaching skills and the broader need to embed continuous performance management from day one across a growing organization. They also faced scaling pressures—ensuring consistency, manager support, and fair evaluations without overburdening HR.

Their solution combined manager training in coaching and feedback, peer mentoring from seasoned leaders, and a pilot-first rollout supported by technology (Betterworks) to prompt conversations, suggest questions, and track goals. The result was stronger managers, a more consistent employee experience, smoother onboarding into the performance cycle, better alignment across teams, and a lighter, ongoing process for delivering coaching and evaluations.

Khan Academy

Karina Young

People Operations Manager