135 performance review phrases & examples for effective feedback
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There are many reasons leaders don’t feel comfortable or confident running employee appraisals. Maybe they’ve never received training on communicating feedback effectively, or they’re first-time managers who don’t know what a good performance review looks like.
But here’s the thing: three in four employees want more constructive feedback and feel dissatisfied with their organization’s review process (1). They expect managers to run effective reviews that celebrate their successes, help them build their skills, and support their growth. And HR leaders agree; only 2% of CHROs feel their company’s performance management system works (2).
Developing a robust and effective review process for managers and reports can help you create a thriving feedback culture in your organization. By making regular, constructive communication a cornerstone of your operations, you can encourage teams to value and welcome each other’s input.
HR can lead the movement by setting up effective and regular review cycles and guiding managers on running them. To help you get started, we’ve created this list of performance review examples you can use to motivate and inspire your teams.
- Leapsome Workforce Trends Report, 2023
- Gallup, 2024
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135 examples of performance review phrases by skill
If managers are new to writing performance reviews, or could benefit from a different approach, you can use our samples to guide them.
We’ve compiled 135 effective employee evaluation example phrases across different skills. All reviewers need to do is adapt and individualize them according to the context.
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Communication-based performance review phrases
Clear, effective communication is crucial for a team to thrive. It’s important for managers to highlight employees’ communication skills, and determine whether they’re facilitating team efficiency or whether they could improve.
As communication is closely tied to general social skills, it’s essential to avoid giving feedback about the employee’s personality. You don’t want to suggest the employee is either unfriendly or too talkative. Here are some samples of performance review comments that focus solely on job-related communication.
Positive
The reviewee…
- Addresses questions and concerns before taking action
- Can articulate complex concepts and ideas in simple language
- Reiterates what they heard to ensure understanding
- Takes notes or checks in after meetings to ensure everyone is on the same page
- Asks enough questions to understand a problem before working toward a solution
- Facilitates open communication between team members
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Doesn’t ask for help from team members
- Avoids conversations with management
- Rarely asks follow-up questions when receiving constructive feedback
- Doesn’t communicate well when facing a problem or urgent situation
- Takes too long to respond when team members ask for help
Creative ideas & innovation
Companies need creative ideas and innovation from employees at all levels and roles to meet the challenges of a constantly changing workplace.
While creativity is essential for any job, some roles require an extra emphasis on this skill. For example, managers may focus performance review comments on innovation capabilities for roles like product design. Employees in more technical roles, like data analysts and engineers, may require additional information to see how this skill applies to their work.
Positive
The reviewee…
- Suggests new approaches or processes for a project
- Is willing to make calculated mistakes when experimenting with innovative solutions
- Engages with other departments to understand their processes
- Encourages others to share their ideas
- Asks why specific processes or systems exist for better understanding
- Stays on top of industry trends and news and shares this information with the team
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Is often too rule-bound and has difficulty with innovative thinking
- Doesn’t innovate for fear of making mistakes
- Often pushes back when presented with new ideas or solutions
- Avoids researching a problem on their own first before turning to others
- Rarely shared ideas in meetings
Time management
Although companies have largely replaced rigid schedules and in-person attendance with remote and hybrid work, time management and punctuality remain important values to encourage in employees.
Here are some examples of performance evaluation comments that reflect the new organizational skills that modern workforces require.
Positive
The reviewee…
- Estimates their time well for project completion
- Manages their time efficiently
- Consistently meets deadlines
- Respects the time of others
- Creates processes for effective time management
- Excels at prioritizing tasks
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Occasionally (or often) misses deadlines
- Under/overestimates the time to complete tasks
- Underdelivers in terms of quality on a short deadline or under pressure
- Has difficulty with task prioritization and project management
- Does not respect the time of others in meetings and projects
Attitude & dependability
The way team members think and feel about their work guides their actions. If they see the value of their contributions, employees are more likely to take ownership and have a positive influence on their peers. Have managers try these performance evaluation examples when evaluating reports on how their behavior impacts others in the workplace.
Positive
The reviewee…
- Demonstrates a positive attitude and treats others with kindness and respect
- Is good at listening to directions and following through
- Makes others feel comfortable asking questions and making suggestions
- Shows accountability for mistakes when they happen
- Acknowledges successes and wins of other team members
- Takes pride in their work and consistently delivers high-quality projects
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Doesn’t always follow through with a project or task
- Avoids engaging with colleagues to celebrate successes and learn from them
- Occasionally (or often) blames others for their own mistakes
- Has difficulty following directions and doesn’t ask for clarification
- Demonstrates a superior attitude and lack of respect for the expertise of others
Adaptability
Adaptability signifies more than a willingness to learn new things or work across different departments. It also means a team member knows how to pivot priorities when needed.
New hires may not have developed an instinct for problem-solving in your specific context yet. In these reviews, managers can use our evaluation phrases focused on learning from others and seeking collaboration opportunities.
Positive
The reviewee…
- Remains calm in the face of an emergency or priority change
- Is willing to adapt to changes in assignments
- Is open to collaborating with other departments
- Helps team members remain calm in the face of a priority change
- Is receptive to feedback from people in other departments when problem-solving
- Accepts process changes that could lead to an increase in productivity
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Has trouble remaining calm when priorities change
- Demonstrates lack of openness to a change in process
- Avoids collaborating with colleagues and teammates
- Has difficulties with problem-solving in the face of an emergency
- Avoids feedback from other departments when problem-solving
Interpersonal skills & teamwork
A team filled with different people and working styles can be a great asset for leaders and the company as a whole — as long as people work well together.
As with communication, ensure that managers avoid phrasing around interpersonal skills that may seem like a direct judgment of the employee’s personality. You should make them aware of loaded adjectives as well; research shows that language bias remains an issue when describing soft skills. For example, women are twice as likely to be described as “helpful” whereas men are more likely to be called “confident.”
Positive
The reviewee…
- Demonstrates good interpersonal skills with clients
- Contributes to a positive team environment and celebrates colleagues’ successes
- Is a proven team player
- Embraces diversity with enthusiasm
- Seeks to collaborate for the team’s benefit
- Respects the working styles and boundaries of colleagues
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Avoids group projects
- Does not collaborate well in a group setting
- Lacks respect for the working styles and boundaries of colleagues
- Avoids collaboration with colleagues
- Demonstrates a poor attitude toward teamwork
Leadership
The performance review example comments below focus on qualities and skills needed by effective leaders. A good manager nurtures leadership within their team, encouraging workers to take the initiative to start projects, ask questions, and mentor others.
It may also be appropriate to use some of these management performance review phrases in employee appraisals, too, if they’ve shown leadership skills — perhaps they’ve led a project or mentored a less experienced colleague.
Positive
The reviewee…
- Takes initiative to support juniors and [if applicable] reports
- Leads projects when suitable
- Shows initiative when starting new projects
- Seeks to learn from colleagues in other departments
- Supports teammates when they ask for help
- Checks in with teammates to ask if they need support on a project
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Lacks initiative when starting new projects
- Does not show interest in learning from colleagues
- Demonstrates impatience towards other team members’ needs
- Avoids supporting new teammates, juniors, or [if applicable] reports
- Does not always treat coworkers as equals
Comments about leadership skills aren’t just for managers — encourage employees to cultivate them, too
Performance & work quality
Quality-related performance phrases must help employees understand how their work affects the rest of the team and company results. In addition to the example comments below, you can give team members concrete illustrations of where their efforts have helped you meet targets.
Positive
The reviewee…
- Shows excellent attention to detail
- Consistently delivers high-quality work
- Openly embraces feedback to optimize results
- Demonstrates commitment to continuous improvement
- Celebrates high-quality work from colleagues
- Clients and other departments report satisfaction with employee’s work performance
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Demonstrates lack of attention to detail
- Avoids feedback to support delivering quality work
- Lacks a desire to improve
- Clients and coworkers report a lack of satisfaction with employee’s work
- Does not always meet company quality standards
Coachability & competency development
Research shows that career progression is the next most important priority for employees after compensation, so team members need to understand their progress and potential to develop along their chosen path.
Review phrases on coachability and development should focus on how well employees engage with feedback and actively strive to learn the necessary skills.
Positive
The reviewee…
- Is open to constructive criticism from all sources
- Implements feedback and criticism
- Has shown improvement since the last performance appraisal
- Demonstrates a desire to learn new skills
- Teammates have reported marked improvement in work quality
- Is open to optimizing processes for the team’s benefit
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Avoids criticism and feedback
- Rarely implements suggestions received
- Shows a lack of interest in learning new skills
- Teammates have reported a lack of improvement in work quality
- Has shown little improvement since the last review
- Avoids improving processes when the need arises
⭐️ Performance management doesn’t end with reviews. Consider investing in career progression frameworks focused on core competencies to support your employees’ growth and help them move forward.
Planning
An employee’s organizational and planning skills impact the rest of the team. Combine these feedback phrases with clear examples of the positive impact of their strong organizational skills or the knock-on effect it has when they don’t focus on organization and planning. For instance, did a last-minute request for a deadline extension cause issues with a client or stress for the rest of the team?
Positive
The reviewee…
- Consistently shows long-term planning and strategic thinking abilities
- Allocates resources effectively
- Efficiently organizes tasks and to-dos
- Demonstrates ability to break down complex tasks into manageable to-dos
- Effectively delegates tasks
- Can adapt plans to changing circumstances and shows flexibility when dealing with unforeseen challenges
- Consistently identifies the right stakeholders to involve in a new project
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Lacks attention to detail in planning and scoping
- Struggles to develop comprehensive plans and often does not include crucial elements
- Regularly misses deadlines
- Has trouble setting realistic goals for themselves
- Struggles to adapt plans to changing circumstances
- Demonstrates poor, confusing communication of plans
- Has difficulties delegating tasks
Drive & motivation
The following phrases for feedback flag when someone is demotivated or takes an instrumental (as opposed to purpose-driven) attitude toward their work. That’s the first step to finding out why and seeking to restore their motivation.
Positive
The reviewee…
- Demonstrates a high level of self-motivation and drives initiatives forward
- Consistently meets/exceeds expectations for projects
- Shows strong dedication to professional growth and development
- Seeks opportunities for development and learning
- Inspires and motivates other team members
- Demonstrates a strong sense of ownership and accountability
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Lacks drive and motivation for assigned tasks
- Expresses little interest in professional growth
- Demonstrates a lack of accountability
- Avoids responsibility for initiatives
Goal setting
Setting realistic yet ambitious objectives helps employees stay motivated. If goals are too easy, they won’t find their tasks engaging — but striking a balance is essential.
Managers can use these comments and explain how their reports’ goals align with the overarching business strategy.
Positive
The reviewee…
- Consistently sets ambitious (yet achievable) goals in line with overall company objectives
- Regularly identifies opportunities for career growth and proactively sets goals
- Can break down complex objectives into actionable initiatives
- Aligns individual goals to team and company objectives, contributing to cohesive and unified goal management
- Shows a high level of commitment to goal attainment
Constructive
The reviewee…
- Struggles to set clear goals with measurable outcomes
- Has trouble setting realistic targets and timelines for goal completion
- Lacks a proactive approach to goal setting, often relying on others to define initiatives
- Has personal goals that lack alignment with overall company and team objectives
- Demonstrates a lack of commitment to goal attainment
- Regularly misses opportunities to track goal progress
Why it’s important to get performance review phrases right
When reviews hit the mark, employees are 63% less likely to leave your company.
Using fitting review phrases is essential to delivering actionable feedback. Employees need to walk away from appraisals knowing how to leverage their strengths and address development areas.
The best evaluations rely on fair, kind performance review questions and phrases focused on concrete areas where people need to improve — and you’re more likely to see good results if you pair constructive employee feedback with clear next steps.
Solid, development-focused performance reviews also acknowledge good performance. If you cite a specific scenario where an employee performed well or embodied a company value, people will know which behavior to repeat. For example, since taking ownership and pursuing excellence is one of our company values at Leapsome, we might praise a team member who volunteered for a challenging project and saw it through from beginning to end.
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How to use our performance review examples
Our sample performance review phrases are a great starting point to kick off every performance review cycle. Managers can use them to get started and tailor these to suit your unique company culture. Making comments authentic is essential: employees are up to eight times more likely to see how to improve when they receive feedback that’s honest and true to organizational values.
Using software like Leapsome can help you streamline the process. Our employee enablement tools and HRIS system make up an integrated solution that can support a complete performance management workflow.
- Leapsome Reviews module automates cycles and provides access to aggregated data and notes; this way, managers have all the previous information to draw on during the review.
- Goals features let managers and employees establish collaborative objectives for improving performance and hitting career targets.
- Instant Feedback and 1:1 Meetings facilitate ongoing input and recognition between leads and direct reports.
- Our Learning module lets you build customized training paths with every employee’s development needs in mind.
- Leapsome’s compensation tools allow you to design fair and equitable promotion and pay practices.
- A consolidated HRIS makes it easier to track productivity and onboarding metrics while also facilitating PTO and sick leave processes.
- Leapsome’s AI capabilities can help reviewers quickly turn their ideas into constructive comments — and action plans.
With Leapsome’s suite of tools, reviewers can put their focus where it should be: on giving fair, honest, and personal feedback.
In this section, we’ll break down the different types of performance reviews, some key best practices, and how to tweak our performance review examples to fit your organizational context.
Performance reviews for employees
During one-on-one meetings, managers should focus on individual performance and whether reports are achieving their goals.
It’s also an opportunity for them to discuss how the employee’s role ties into the bigger picture at your organization.
When using metrics to assess performance, it’s important to make sure reviewers stick to discussing KPIs that their report can directly influence so they know what next steps to take.
For example, you might measure progress on something like client satisfaction ratings, value added to the client, and how many successful project deadlines your report has met.
You should also take business size into account in performance evaluation wording. In a small company, managers are more likely to work directly alongside reports and have close relationships with them. They may wish to take a more informal — though still professional — approach to appraisals that reflects the tight-knit nature of the team.
Performance reviews for teams
With team appraisals, managers emphasize collective goals. They can still touch on performance data but ensure they’re related to group skills like collaboration or wider team KPIs. These metrics are likely to be industry-specific as, for example, tech companies would prioritize project milestones or measurable business metrics.
Reviews can also mention obstacles the department has faced and how successfully they overcame them. A good team evaluation example might be: “Despite the major supply chain disruption, you all worked together to restructure the workflow and establish new vendors. Your great work meant there were no interruptions to our service.”
One challenge of team reviews is accounting for different roles and working arrangements. For instance, feedback for remote workers may not apply in exactly the same way to in-office employees. Managers should acknowledge these discrepancies and consider segmenting some review sessions.
Performance reviews for leaders
In manager appraisals, team leaders are assessed on their ability to lead their teams and collaborate with other departments.
If you have a small team, managers are more likely to be both team leaders and key decision makers. You can emphasize hands-on leadership and direct involvement in projects, alongside their ability to perform multiple functions and their strategic skills. In larger companies, where they’re more likely to be focussed on management, comments might focus on consistency and delegation.
Likewise, feedback may differ depending on whether managers have hybrid or remote teams. A good manager appraisal example for a remote team might include comments on their ability to keep employees engaged from afar and use digital tools effectively.
Collecting employee feedback on performance reviews for managers helps you conduct a well-rounded evaluation. Performance management software like Leapsome can guarantee anonymity and help you generate actionable insights from the team’s input.
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Monthly and quarterly performance reviews
Regular, short-interval appraisals should focus on short-term goals, ongoing projects, and immediate needs. If reviewers look too hard at overall performance, which is unlikely to change significantly between months, they won’t be able to provide meaningful feedback and review meetings may feel repetitive.
Reviewers can still consider the big picture by tracking progress in the employee’s performance over time. Their monthly or quarterly check-in comments could cover whether team members are becoming more efficient or effective at specific tasks or projects.
Leapsome’s people analytics and HR analytics features allow you to measure and track performance metrics and even qualitative review feedback. You can visualize trends in ratings for skills you define, like time management or creativity. Then, when you’re considering team performance, you can filter by department or roles.
And if you’re looking to centralize all of your employee data and analytics (from onboarding to career changes), consider Leapsome’s new HRIS: a truly consolidated solution that helps you unify your people data and pare down your HR tech stack.
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Annual and semiannual performance reviews
While regular reviews can look at day-to-day progress, mid-year and year-end reviews can take a wider perspective. Annual and semiannual performance review examples usually involve managers discussing each report’s long-term goals and role within the organization, as well as their performance over the year.
Annual review comments can also touch on any progress the employee made since the previous review. For example, a manager might measure how close reports are to meeting their objectives, compared to the previous year.
Small companies are more likely to have team members perform multiple roles. These yearly review comments could focus on how well they’re balancing different responsibilities. If your organization is growing, and the employee’s duties are shifting, the appraisal could discuss how successfully they’ve adapted to the changes and whether they need any support to grow and develop in their role.
Framing positive and constructive performance feedback
Feedback is one of the most critical elements of a performance review — especially for new generations entering the workplace; but Gen Z and millennials have higher expectations and standards around the packaging of that feedback.
In an article on Gen Z workers for the Washington Post, tech and work writer Danielle Abril shares that “cultures clash when older generations, who may have gone without much explanation or care in their early careers, critique younger workers in ways that unintentionally alienate or discourage them, experts who study the multigenerational workforce say.”
Gen Z’s review preferences are clear: “Your youngest colleagues may be the newest to the workplace, but they have clear expectations about how they would like to receive feedback: It should be timely, collaborative, empathetic and balanced.”
The best way to accomplish this? Turning performance reviews into a meaningful conversation, balancing positive and constructive feedback. You may also want to consider a 360° performance assessment feedback format, gathering input from different sources. That means including not only the manager’s point of view, but also self-assessments, peer reviews, and input from direct reports or mentees.
“It democratizes the feedback beyond just one person,” explains Orient Electric’s CHRO Aditya Kohli for SHRM. “Individual stars sometimes get scaled down, while team players who collaborate well get scaled up.”
💡 Tip to follow as you run performance review cycles: Be transparent and thoughtful about any correlation between compensation and performance, and make sure you’re not relying only on specific development goals as a single source of truth in your reviews. A holistic approach is best.
Here are a few concrete feedback examples we recommend checking out to guide you in your performance appraisal:
For example, when conducting a performance appraisal, you might say, “Your new sales technique helped the team meet the targets. Thanks for sharing your idea with us and keep up the great work.” If you need to deliver constructive criticism, you could try, “I suggest you give yourself two chances to solve a problem by yourself and then come to us for guidance.”
Examples of positive performance review phrases
- [Your action] has really helped the team [result]. Keep it up!
- You always respond thoughtfully when your colleagues ask a question. This has really helped build a positive team environment!
- The client told me that your presentations have been so thorough that they don’t have to ask many follow-up questions.
- When there’s a problem, I notice that you always have original ideas to contribute in meetings, and that’s prompted me to think of more creative solutions.
- It was so helpful when you raised the question about using inclusive language in our outreach, and it’s now become an integral part of our process.
Examples of constructive performance review phrases
- I suggest you try [action] to achieve [X].
- Consider asking me or your teammates for clarification when you encounter something you don’t understand, so you avoid this problem after finishing a task.
- If you don’t feel comfortable contributing your ideas in a meeting, please write them down and email them to me afterward; this way, we can benefit from your perspective.
What to avoid in your performance review phrases
- Generic feedback that’s not targeted to each employee — Vague feedback like “you should be more communicative” lacks specificity and will leave employees wondering what to do next. Constructive feedback is about finding a middle ground between being too direct and being so vague that the person doesn’t understand the message and how to improve.
- Focusing too much on personality traits — Performance reviews should be about results, not idiosyncrasies or quirks. That’s why all feedback you give should include examples of how a specific behavior or action impacted your team’s results.
- Recency bias — We all tend to overemphasize what’s freshest in our memory. That’s why it’s best to use data from the past six to twelve months and focus on trends in results and performance. Think about the employee’s most recent performance as part of a larger whole, rather than making it the sole focus of each review.
Improve employee performance reviews with Leapsome
We’ve curated these 135 phrases as a starting point. Once you’ve tailored them to your unique employee needs, they can guide your entire organization.
But you don’t need to start from scratch or bury yourself in paperwork and multiple tools to run effective performance reviews! Even if your company doesn’t have a refined review process yet, Leapsome has powerful, intuitive, and time-saving Reviews tools. You can access expert-backed, customizable review templates, set up automated review cycles, and track development across specific skills and performance markers.
Leapsome’s AI innovations make the review process even more efficient by generating intelligent feedback summaries, constructive comments, and actionable insights. Plus, our HRIS includes comprehensive tools for handling all of your employee data, from hiring to exits, making Leapsome a truly all-in-one solution.
With Leapsome, people teams and managers can focus their reviews on helping employees reach their full potential.
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Our Reviews module takes the stress out of performance management by enabling you to create AI and data-driven reviews your team simply has to tweak to suit the individual.
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