…because the performance feedback you provide to employees matters.

Providing employees feedback regarding their performance is critical for both the employer and the employee. Performance feedback lets the employee know what they are or aren't doing well, giving them insight into steps to take to maintain or increase their productivity. In turn, employers have employees who are clear on what they need to do to increase performance, which can positively impact productivity, employee morale, internal communications, and more. 

In this post, we cover the importance of performance feedback with performance review examples you can reference to help guide your performance discussions. 

Why are employee performance reviews important?

It's easy for time to go by with managers and supervisors not providing timely performance feedback to their teams. Worse, some don't provide it all. Fortunately, many companies have performance review processes in place to prevent performance feedback from falling into a black hole.

Still, even if the best performance appraisal and review process is in place to support leadership, many find it difficult to provide adequate performance feedback. Sure, it tends to be easier to provide feedback when it's positive and all is well. However, even then, communicators must provide specific feedback beyond giving a high rating and saying, “You're doing a great job!” 

Let's discuss three key reasons why performance reviews are important.

1. Performance feedback allows you to set expectations

When performance feedback is provided effectively, it helps set expectations for the employee. It provides the guidelines of what's expected and, ideally, a roadmap for getting there. 

2. Performance reviews provide clarity

Though they often say, “No news is good news,” some employees still struggle when they don't receive feedback from their supervisors. They get into their heads and wonder how they're doing. Therefore, it can provide a sense of safety and assurance for employees when supervisors take the time to provide feedback. 

Even when the news isn't pleasant, it's better for employees to know where things stand than not. It's very unpleasant and stressful for most employees to find out that their job is at risk all of a sudden due to their performance when they've had no communication early on about it. 

3. Performance appraisals and feedback offer legal protection

When documented, performance feedback helps protect an organization against lawsuits related to unlawful termination and discipline. When you have a well-documented performance issue that is represented over time that leads to termination, it's more difficult for the employee to claim they were unlawfully terminated. 

How to write and hold impactful performance reviews

Some best practices for writing and communicating employee performance reviews that make an impact include:

  • Be honest

  • Be specific

  • Get curious

  • Ensure understanding

  • Ask for feedback

Be honest

It doesn't do anyone any favors when a manager isn't honest about an employee's performance, especially if it's not up to par. After all, a person can't fix what they don't know is broken. Being compassionately honest about performance means the employee knows where they stand and can take steps to continue where they're at or improve if needed. 

Be specific

Clarity is essential in any form of communication. When you give performance feedback, it should be clear and concise and not leave any room for confusion or misunderstanding. You want the employees to walk away with clarity regarding what they're doing well and where they can improve, as well as some insight into what they can do to improve when needed. 

Additionally, provide details into how a strength or weakness is impacting the team, department, or organization. For example, saying, “You're frequently late meeting your presentation submission deadlines,” is less impactful than stating, “Though your work is good, you've been late four out of the last eight times submitting your monthly presentation. When that occurs, it puts stress on Sally because she has to wait for your presentation to complete her portion. As a result, she's worked into the evening to complete presentations, which isn't fair to her.” 

Recommend growth opportunities

Whether the performance review is generally good or not so good, it's beneficial to the employee and the company to provide options for career development and growth opportunities. This helps to guide them on a path to improving their skills and attributes to support career advancement and can have a positive impact on the company they work for.

Get curious

As a manager, you might know what the problem or issue is, even if you don't know what's causing it. Curiosity allows you to avoid jumping to conclusions as to why something is happening and instead gather facts and data about the situation. When you know why something is occurring, working with the employee to navigate solutions to diminish the challenge or problem behavior is often easier. 

For example, if an employee is suddenly missing meetings, which isn't like them, inquire as to why it's happening. It could be that the employee has an ill parent or a child who's been in the hospital, and it's been distracting them. In this case, the issue will likely be temporary, and you can work together to come up with an interim solution. 

Ensure understanding

As you provide performance feedback, it's vital that the employee interprets the information provided correctly. Pay attention to nonverbal cues as you're speaking to the employee. 

  • Do they understand you? 

  • Do they agree? 

  • Do they appear confused? 

  • Are they happy or upset about the feedback? 

When in doubt, ask the employee questions to ensure you're on the same page. One tactic to use is to say something like, “How are you interpreting what I'm sharing with you? What are the highlights that you're taking away?” You can always circle back or provide clarity based on the employee's responses. 

Ask for feedback

Before you close the performance feedback conversations, you want to ask the employee what their thoughts are about the review. Do they have any questions, explanations, or insights to share? Closing the review in this way ensures understanding and gives the employee a chance to share their perspective and have their voice heard. 

Performance review examples

Below are some performance review examples by competency regarding phrases you might use when communicating with employees. We've included phrases you might hear based on positive strengths and areas for improvement for each competency. Consider how the above tips are woven into the phrases as you review them.

Creativity performance review examples

Positive strengths

  1. Your ability to think outside the box to help resolve the bottleneck issue on Project Y saved the day. It saved us hours in time and probably around $5000, so good work. Please let me know ways you believe could help enhance your creativity and problem-solving skills even more. I'm open to supporting you in any way that's feasible. 

  2. The spin you're able to give to our corporate email communications helps engage and inspire employees to take action. I'd like to see you expand upon that by also providing content for our corporate newsletter. 

  3. Your creative insights and problem-solving skills have provided innovative solutions to our customer base. 

Areas for improvement

  1. You often provide the same solutions to resolve similar problems when they arise, which generally isn't effective. Moving forward, find ways to expand your problem-solving skills to improve your ability to think outside the box. 

  2. There is a time and place for conventional methods. However, your reliance on them limits your ability to come up with creative and innovative solutions. 

  3. Where your technical project management skills are solid, improving your creative thinking could increase your ability to come up with more inventive options for project enhancement and efficiency.   

Leadership performance review examples

Positive strengths

  1. You've consistently stepped up and taken on new work and projects without being asked. 

  2. Your ability to motivate and influence your team to meet their goals and exceed expectations is consistent. Last quarter alone, you exceeded the performance indicator by 15 percent. 

  3. Without fail, you show strong leadership qualities by inspiring and motivating your coworkers to do their best and meet their goals. 

Areas for improvement

  1. You have good ideas, though you like to stay behind the scenes and don't typically share unless coaxed to do so. I'd like to see you step up and take the lead sometimes. 

  2. When you're pushed to make a decision, your hesitation can slow things down. I'd like to see you be more decisive and take action more quickly moving forward.

  3. As a leader, it's vital for you to motivate and connect your team to do well. There seems to be a bit of disconnect with a few of your team members that's driving motivation down, and I'd like to see you step up and take appropriate action to remedy it. 

Resiliency performance review examples

Positive strengths

  1. You have a keen ability to adjust and adapt anytime a project goes in a direction that's unexpected. As a result, you're able to quickly apply solutions to keep the project on track. 

  2. The announcement of the merger was very unexpected and surprising a few months ago. Yet, you quickly got on board and did what was required for it to get kicked off in the right direction.

  3. Your ability to step back and be open to new ideas and perspectives is a benefit to the team. It allows you to choose the best solution and apply it to the problem at hand. 

Areas for improvement

  1. Your work is solid when all's going well and as planned. However, you struggle to adapt quickly when challenges occur, which negatively impacts the team's productivity.

  2. It's been noticed that when you need to make a quick shift due to an unexpected challenge, there's a tendency for you to get frazzled. Improving your ability to be agile is necessary. 

  3. You need to improve your flexibility to client requests so you're able to meet their needs more efficiently and without resistance.

Dependability performance review examples

Positive strengths 

  1. When the hurricane hit last quarter, we could count on you to work the extra hours to ensure that all of our employees were safe.

  2. There has not been a time in the last three years when you have not followed through with what you said you were going to do or with what you've been asked to do. You manage expectations well so that you're able to meet the requests that come your way.

  3. We've had several customers over the last few months say they keep coming back because they know they can depend on you to offer excellent service and provide the expertise they need when making a purchase.

Areas for improvement 

  1. The work you do is solid. However, sometimes, you miss deadlines and aren't able to follow through with your commitments, so you need to learn to better manage expectations for yourself and others.

  2. You missed the last two project deadlines by more than a week, which significantly impacted our delivery time. That can't happen again. What are some ways that you can better manage your time so we can depend on you to meet your deadlines?

  3. Your clients seem to like you. However, the one mark you get regularly is that they cannot depend on you to be on time or communicate that you're going to be late. A time management course is recommended.

Integrity performance review examples

Positive strengths 

  1. When you submitted the customer service report incorrectly a couple of months ago, you quickly owned up to the mistake and corrected it, which shows integrity.

  2. The team has come to trust you as an integrator person that they can trust to stand by their word - what you say is what you mean.

  3. Your transparent communication has fostered a sense of safety and belonging within your team. 

Areas for improvement 

  1. We all make mistakes. However, it's really important that we own up to them when they occur, and I've seen where that's been a challenge for you to do.

  2. Though you eventually pointed out your mistake on the project line a few months ago, the fact that it took you so long to do so cost us time and effort we could've saved if you had come forward with integrity right away. 

  3. Stepping up and taking greater responsibility and accountability for your actions can lead to more trust between you and your coworkers.

Teamwork and collaboration performance review examples

Positive strengths

  1. Your ability to connect with and inspire a project team to meet their goals hasn't gone unnoticed. 

  2. When Nancy was out unexpectedly, you stepped in without question to help share her workload, which is a solid example of your dedication to the success of the team. 

  3. The way you collaborated with XYZ Vendor to assess our contracts and reduce costs by 20% went above and beyond my expectations. 

Areas for improvement

  1. I realize you are more comfortable working alone. However, our three current projects require you to step up and work as part of the team. When you resist, it stresses the project team and slows our efficiency. 

  2. I've noticed you're struggling to resolve conflicts between you and several of your employees. I recommend attending the conflict resolution course that is being offered next month. 

  3. It seems over the past quarter, you've become more isolated and keep to yourself at work. In general, that's okay, though your communication with the group has also lessened, which has required a significant amount of reaching out and following up with you to ensure we're on schedule. What can we do to remedy it?

Communication performance review examples

Positive strengths

  1. Your written communications are clear, succinct, and timely. It makes it easy for the leadership team to receive the information they need in an efficient manner. 

  2. I continually receive high remarks from other managers about how clear you are and how well you present yourself during our quarterly meetings. Your presentations keep employees engaged, which isn't an easy skill to master. Would you be interested in working your way up to Team Lead one day soon?

  3. Your ability to clearly communicate and articulate your thoughts, including the suggestions and insights you share with the team, is impressive. I could only imagine how well you'd do if you took a leadership communication and strategy course. Is that something you'd be interested in?

Areas for improvement

  1. While your technical skills are superb, improving your verbal communication skills could help to forge more productive working relationships with the team. 

  2. You sometimes interrupt and talk over others, which prohibits others from being able to share their views and ideas effectively. Finding ways to improve your active listening skills is an area of focus for you moving forward.

  3. Frequently, you take more than 48 hours to respond to messages, including voicemails, texts, and emails. Prompt responses within 24 hours ensure the productive functioning and efficiency of the team. 

Attendance performance review examples

Positive strengths

  1. You're consistently on time to start the day and for meetings. It helps to inspire others to do the same.

  2. You had perfect attendance for the entire third quarter, which is impressive.

  3. The fact that you adhere to the attendance policy presents an excellent example for others. You follow the process for absences, being late, and being on time. 

Areas for improvement

  1. This past quarter, you missed five days, including one day without following policy about calling off, and it hasn't gone unnoticed. Our attendance policy ensures business continuity and that the other employees don't have to handle another's work without being prepared. I recommend you refer to the attendance policy so you're clear about what's required. 

  2. You've been consistently late for work over the past two months, and it's begun impacting the team. What is the reason for your tardiness?

  3. Your irregular attendance is causing scheduling conflicts, including our team being short-staffed and having to pick up the slack when you're out. 

Overall performance and aptitude performance review examples

Positive strengths

  • You regularly exceed expectations on the projects you're assigned. As a result, I know I don't have to worry about the quality of your work when it comes in.

  • You consistently set goals for yourself that also align with departmental goals, and you consistently meet those goals. As a result, you're an integral part of driving increased productivity for our department. 

  • Every client you interacted with over the past six months rated you a 4.5 or higher out of 5, representing your ability to meet and exceed their expectations to help them market their brands. 

Areas for improvement

  • You missed your sales target in two of the last three months over each of the last two quarters, which seems to be related to customer service. I'd like for you to take a customer service, sales, and interpersonal skills course within the next six months. 

  • In order for you to take action to do something, you need to be prompted. Over the next quarter, we need to see you taking initiative independently and regularly.

  • Though you're technically capable, you don't seem to care if you contribute to the team or not anymore. This is a behavior that needs to change. Is there something going on that I should know about what's causing it?

Employee performance reviews make an impact

Managers should be providing feedback regularly and consistently throughout the year - not just during the formal performance appraisal process. Use the guidelines and examples above to practice and improve your ability to communicate feedback to employees. Doing so can lead to a more productive and happy workforce!

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