A performance review can have a detailed format and still leave the employee unsure what to do next. “Improve communication” sounds clear until someone has to turn it into a task.
Regular feedback gives both people a clearer picture by the time they sit down together. We’ll look at how to prepare, talk through the work fairly, and agree on a next step the employee can take.
Key takeaways This article explains how to conduct a performance review, from setting clear expectations and discussing examples of the employee’s work to hearing their perspective and agreeing on a goal, support, and a follow-up date.
What is a performance review, and why does it matter? A performance review is a scheduled conversation about an employee’s work and what comes next, where the employee and manager evaluate what was expected, what actually happened, and where the employee wants to grow. Performance appraisal usually means much the same thing, though it often puts more emphasis on a formal rating.
A good review gives credit for work that went well and makes room to discuss what needs to change. The review should end with clear expectations and, where needed, an employee development plan that both the manager and employee can revisit.
Types of performance reviews You’ll see several “types” of performance evaluation, but they don’t all describe the same thing. Some tell you when a review happens; others tell you who contributes or what gets assessed.
Review type Description Annual review Examines the employee’s work over the past year, including results, strengths, challenges, and development priorities. Quarterly review Checks progress toward goals and gives the employee time to adjust before the end of the year. Monthly review Focuses on recent work, immediate obstacles, and the support the employee needs. Manager review The direct manager assesses the employee’s results, behavior, and progress based on agreed expectations. Self-assessment The employee reflects on their results, challenges, and development needs before discussing them with the manager. Peer review Colleagues who work closely with the employee share examples of their teamwork, communication, and contribution. 360-degree review Combines feedback from several groups, such as managers, peers, direct reports, and sometimes customers. Goal-based review Measures progress against agreed goals, KPIs, or project outcomes. Competency-based review Assesses how the employee demonstrates the skills and behaviors required for their role.
Conducting a performance review The meeting will go better if both people know what will be discussed. Do this groundwork at Step 0 before the conversation begins.
0. How to prepare for a team performance review as a manager 1. Create a comfortable, constructive environment Psychological safety is important. Choose a private place and leave enough time for questions. Send the agenda and the future goals you’ll discuss ahead of time. Ask the employee to note what went well, what was difficult, and where they’d like to grow.
2. Review goals and expectations Pull up the employee’s role expectations and the commitments from their last performance reviews. What did they have a chance to work on? What changed when projects or priorities shifted? Use the answers to decide which performance goals still make sense to assess.
3. Identify strengths, gaps, and supporting evidence Before writing the assessment, test it against the work. Check results and past conversations, then ask people who worked closely with the employee about anything you couldn’t see yourself. If you can’t find a clear example to support a claim, don’t present it as fact.
1. Set the tone and explain the purpose Tell the employee what you hope to cover and how you’ll use the time. Make it clear you want their view of the work, not just their response to yours.
2. Ask for the employee’s perspective on their own performance Ask what work they feel best about and what got in their way. Listen before turning to your notes; you may learn something the results alone don’t show.
3. Recognize achievements and strengths Name the work, not just the quality you admired. “Your handoff notes helped the next team start on time” tells someone more than “You’re a great communicator.”
4. Discuss performance gaps with evidence Keep the feedback on the work. “The last two updates arrived after the deadline” gives you both something to discuss. “You’re unreliable” does not.
5. Discuss development and support and agree on goals and next steps Choose one or two things to work on next. Agree on what the employee will do, what help the manager will provide, and when you’ll check progress.
6. Close constructively Before you finish, repeat what you’ve agreed on and ask if you’ve missed anything. Send the notes afterward so neither of you has to rely on memory.
Performance management challenges and best practices Here, we’ll address key challenges and how to provide constructive feedback in an individual performance review.
Challenge What to do instead Vague or generic feedback Give evidence-based, meaningful feedback Inconsistent standards Set clear expectations before the review period Unexpected criticism Share feedback regularly while the work is fresh Too much focus on weaknesses and past mistakes Recognize strengths and use different opinions One-sided conversations Make the conversation a two-way dialogue Administrative burden Document decisions concisely using structured templates and schedule follow-ups Evaluation biases Gather multi-source feedback and rely on objective evidence
Give evidence-based, meaningful feedback Take “communication” out of the abstract. Did the employee flag a delay early, or did the next team find out too late? Open-ended questions and required reviewer comments can bring that detail into the review. If nobody saw the behavior firsthand, leave it unassessed rather than guessing.
Set clear expectations before the review period Start the review period with clear expectations like performance metrics, but don’t treat them as permanent. A team may change direction, or an employee may take on work no one planned for. Make time to adjust goals with the team member so the eventual review reflects the job they actually did.
Share feedback regularly while the work is fresh A short conversation after a project often gives you more to work with than a note saved for review season. Talk about what went well and what was problematic. Later, you can look at how the employee’s work changed rather than return to one old mistake.
Recognize strengths and use other perspectives Look for strong work across the entire review period, including the employee’s contributions you may not have seen firsthand. Ask colleagues who worked closely with the employee for examples, then discuss where they could use those strengths again.
Make the conversation a two-way dialogue Share your assessment, then give the employee room to question it. If you remember a project differently, compare what each of you knows. You don’t have to settle every point in the meeting; note what needs checking and come back to it.
Document decisions concisely using structured templates and schedule follow-ups In a 2026 study , 66.2% of organizations either lacked a system option for documenting formal feedback conversations or made it optional. Only 13.6% required every conversation to be recorded. Organizations that required documentation reported higher perceived effectiveness.
The record doesn’t need to be a transcript. Write down the goal you agreed on, what support the employee will get, and when you’ll check in again. If the next step is a development plan, iSpring LMS Development Plans can organize the work into stages and tasks with due dates, a mentor, and task monitors. Supervisors can check progress afterward, rather than waiting for the next formal review.
Turn performance feedback into focused learning paths that help employees grow.
Be specific about behavior and impact Before labeling someone as “difficult,” name the behavior and its effect on the team. Then ask yourself whether you would describe the same behavior that way in another employee. If you can’t point to an example or apply the standard consistently, revisit the judgment before it enters the review.
Performance review examples: positive and negative phrasing Area Positive feedback Negative phrasing to avoid Constructive feedback Communication “You flagged the delay early, giving the team time to adjust.” “You’re a poor communicator.” “Your last two updates arrived after the deadline, leaving the team little time to adjust.” Teamwork “You brought support into the launch discussion early, so they were ready for customer questions.” “You don’t work well with other teams.” “Support joined the last handoff on launch day. Let’s bring them in earlier next time.” Productivity “You delivered the weekly reports on time throughout the quarter.” “You need to be more productive.” “Two reports arrived late this month, leaving finance less time to check the numbers.” Accountability “You found the order error and kept the customer team informed until it was fixed.” “You never take responsibility.” “The order error wasn’t followed up until the customer team asked. Please flag issues as soon as you spot them.” Quality “Your final check caught the broken links before publication.” “Your work is careless.” “Two links were broken in the last release notes. Let’s add a link check before publication.”
5 additional tips Train managers to handle the conversation. A review form can’t teach someone how to explain a missed expectation or listen when an employee disagrees, though manager coaching can. Let managers practice with real examples and get feedback on how they respond. Yet in a 2026 study, only 17.9% of organizations made feedback training mandatory.Compare performance ratings before they’re final. Ask managers to explain why employees doing similar work received different scores. It helps to see each rating alongside the level expected for that competency. For example, iSpring LMS competency reports show scores against required proficiency levels, with a radar chart to make differences easier to spot. A difference is a reason to look at the work behind the scores, not automatically change them.Keep development and pay separate where possible. Tell the employee at the start what this meeting will decide. If compensation is handled elsewhere, say when they’ll hear about it. Otherwise, they may spend the review trying to work out whether every comment means a raise — or no raise.Keep the process simple. Remove questions that ask the same thing twice and ratings managers can’t explain. Leave enough room to record examples, hear the employee’s view, and agree on what happens next. A longer form won’t make a difficult conversation clearer.Turn performance feedback into a goal you can revisit. “Improve communication” gives the employee nowhere to start. A SMART goal is more useful and actionable feedback: “For the next six weeks, send the project team a Friday update that flags any deadline risks.” Agree on the support they need and check progress at the next meeting. An individual development plan can keep those steps in one place.After the review: build a learning and development plan in seven steps Before the notes get filed away, decide what to do after a performance review. Choose one need that both you and the employee understand, then set a goal they can work toward on the job. The steps below show how to build a development plan around that goal and check whether it helps.
1. Review the conversation and choose what matters most Go back to specific examples you discussed together. Choose the development need that would make the most significant difference in the employee’s role, and check that they agree it belongs in the plan. Save less urgent ideas for a later conversation.
2. Goal setting: agree on how you’ll measure it Turn the priority into something you can both recognize in the work. Instead of “improve project handoffs,” agree that the employee will lead two handoffs using the team’s checklist over the next eight weeks. Name who will give feedback and when you’ll review the results. SMART goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
3. Create the professional development plan Put the agreed goal into a plan with stages, tasks, due dates, and someone the employee can turn to for help. iSpring LMS Development Plans can include mentoring and task monitors, while supervisors can check progress. This kind of plan can support any employee’s growth; it isn’t automatically a performance improvement plan, or PIP.
4. Choose development activities that fit organizational priorities Sometimes the next step is a piece of work, not a lesson. Stretch assignments let the employee try a larger responsibility with support. Job shadowing can help first if they need to see how an experienced colleague handles it. If the employee needs practice with an existing skill, pair a stretch assignment with coaching or mentoring. A cross-functional project may fit a collaboration goal better than a course.
5. Create and assign targeted courses Assign a course when it addresses a skill or knowledge gap the employee will soon use at work. In iSpring LMS, a course added to a Development Plan is marked complete when the employee finishes it.
Gallup found that global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025. So, give the employee a reason to see the course through to the end: connect it to a task they’ll soon handle at work. If several employees need the same training, make it reusable — but keep their development goals individual.
iSpring’s AI-powered course generator, quiz tools, translation, and text-to-speech features help training teams prepare material faster. Additionally, iSpring LMS can assign Development Plans automatically using rules, eliminating the need for manual setup.
6. Schedule regular follow-up check-ins Look at the work more than once before deciding whether new skills have been developed or the employee is still on the same page. For example, one iSpring OJT session can hold multiple observations, with summary results and a view of each visit. Bring those results to the check-in and ask the employee whether they’re seeing the same progress in their day-to-day work.
7. Reassess and decide what comes next Set a date to assess the goal again rather than letting the plan end when its last task is checked off. If you use 360-degree feedback, iSpring LMS can compare two review sessions and show how each shared competency changed. Discuss those results alongside examples from the employee’s work.
Final word A performance review is useful when the employee leaves knowing what to keep doing, what to change, what help they’ll get, and when you’ll talk again. Put those decisions somewhere you can both return to. iSpring LMS Development Plans can help you organize the goal into tasks and due dates, and you can try it with a goal from your next review .
Once the next project is underway, ask what the employee has been able to try and where they still need help. Adjust the plan while there’s time to make a difference.
Frequently asked questions How often should you conduct performance reviews? Formal performance reviews may happen once a year, but feedback shouldn’t wait that long. In a 2026 study, 47% of organizations recommended three or four formal feedback conversations per cycle. However, only 23.1% reported having that many.
What should a performance review template include? Include strengths as well as growth areas. Discuss what changed during the review period, what support the employee needs, and when you’ll check progress again.
What are the main types of performance reviews? Reviews are often described by when they happen (annual, quarterly, or monthly), who provides input (manager, employee, peers, or a 360-degree review), and what they assess (goals or competencies). These aren’t separate formats: a quarterly review, for example, can include a self-assessment and a discussion of progress toward goals.
What makes an effective performance review? A good review gives credit where it’s due and addresses problems plainly. Neither the praise nor the criticism should come as a complete surprise. It also affects employee retention: Employees who receive high-quality feedback are 63% less likely to leave their organizations.
What is the difference between a development plan and a PIP? The difference is the purpose. A development plan maps out professional growth and support; a PIP (performance improvement plan) is a formal response to a performance problem, with stated expectations, deadlines, and potential consequences. Before the overall performance review process, employees should know which type of plan is being discussed.
Create targeted development programs based on employee strengths, skill gaps, and development goals.
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