How to Write a Performance Review (With Examples)

To write a performance review, gather evidence from the whole review period, then write five short sections: a summary, results against goals, how the person worked, strengths to build on, and development priorities with goals for the next period. Use specific examples, describe behaviour and its impact rather than personality, and make sure nothing in the document surprises the employee.

Below you will find a step-by-step method, a template you can copy, example comments grouped by situation, and a checklist to reduce bias.

What makes a good performance review?

A performance review is a written summary of how someone performed over a period, usually six or twelve months, and what they will focus on next. Done well, it helps the employee understand where they stand and what to do next. Done badly, it damages trust.

Most companies have room to improve. In a 2017 Gallup article, Ben Wigert and Annamarie Mann reported that only 14% of employees strongly agree the performance reviews they receive inspire them to improve. Only 29% strongly agreed their reviews were fair, and 26% that they were accurate. In a 2024 report, Gallup said that of 135 Fortune 500 CHROs it surveyed in 2023, just 2% strongly agreed their performance management system motivates employees to improve.

The good news is that the fixes are practical. Gallup’s recommendations include setting goals together, having regular progress conversations and basing evaluations on more than one person’s judgment. A good written review has four qualities:

1. Evidence-based. It uses specific examples and data from the whole period.
2. Balanced. It names real strengths as well as areas to improve.
3. Forward-looking. It ends with clear priorities and goals for the next period.
4. No surprises. Problems were raised when they happened, so the review summarises rather than ambushes.

How to write a performance review in 6 steps

From scattered notes to a clear review

1. 1Collect evidenceGoals, results, examples, others' feedback.
2. 2Ask for a self-reviewTheir view of wins, misses and growth.
3. 3Rate against goalsCompare results with what was agreed.
4. 4Write the five sectionsShort, specific, behaviour and impact.
5. 5Check for biasRecency, halo, similarity, vague language.
6. 6Plan the conversationTwo priorities and the next goals.

Step 1: Collect evidence from the whole period

Start with the goals agreed at the beginning of the period, then gather results: numbers, finished projects, customer feedback, notes from your one-on-ones. If you have a weekly scoreboard, it already contains much of what you need. Ask two or three colleagues who work closely with the person for specific examples. Gallup’s 2024 guidance recommends basing evaluations on multiple inputs rather than one manager’s view.

Step 2: Ask for a self-review

Send the employee three questions a week before: What are you most proud of this period? What did not go as planned, and what did you learn? What do you want to focus on next? Self-reviews surface work you did not see and show how the person sees their own performance.

Step 3: Compare results with what was agreed

Look at each goal and ask: was it met, partly met or missed, and why? Separate results that were within the person’s control from those that were not. If goals were vague, note it. That is a lesson for setting the next ones, and our OKR examples for managers and KPI examples for employees can help.

Step 4: Write the five sections

Use the template below. Write in plain language and keep each section short. For every judgment, give at least one example.

Step 5: Check for bias

Read the draft against the checklist later in this article. In particular, ask whether you are giving too much weight to the last few weeks.

Step 6: Plan the conversation

Decide the two most important messages and the goals you will propose. Send the written review shortly before the meeting, or share it at the start, depending on your company’s practice. Give the person time to read it before discussing it.

A simple performance review structure you can copy

This five-part structure works for most roles. It fits on one to two pages.

Section	What to write	Length
1. Summary	Two or three sentences on overall performance in the period	2 to 3 lines
2. Results against goals	Each goal: met, partly met or missed, with evidence	1 to 2 lines per goal
3. How the work was done	Behaviours: collaboration, communication, ownership, quality	3 to 5 lines with examples
4. Strengths to build on	One or two strengths, with where to use them more	2 to 4 lines
5. Development priorities and next goals	One or two areas to develop, support offered, goals for the next period	4 to 6 lines

PERFORMANCE REVIEW
Name: ______   Role: ______
Period: ______

1. SUMMARY
   Overall, [name] ______ this period.
   The highlight was ______.
   The main area to develop is ______.

2. RESULTS AGAINST GOALS
   Goal 1: ______
   Result: met / partly met / missed
   Evidence: ______
   (repeat for each goal)

3. HOW THE WORK WAS DONE
   A behaviour to keep: ______
   Its impact: ______
   A behaviour to change: ______
   Its impact: ______

4. STRENGTHS TO BUILD ON
   Strength: ______
   Where to use it more: ______

5. DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES AND NEXT GOALS
   Priority: ______
   Support I will give: ______
   Goals for next period: ______
   Due by: ______

Performance review examples: comments by situation

The phrases below are starting points. Replace the brackets with real examples. A comment without an example is only an opinion.

When someone exceeds expectations

• “You exceeded your target of [X] by [Y], mainly by [specific action]. This gave the team [impact].”
• “Your work on [project] set a new standard. The checklist you built is now used by the whole team.”
• “You took on [extra responsibility] without being asked and handled it well. I would like to make it part of your role.”
• “To grow further, I would like you to share how you did this. Could you run a short session for the team next quarter?”

When performance is solid and steady

• “You met all three goals for the period. Customers regularly mention your reliability, for example [example].”
• “Your work is consistently accurate and on time. The team relies on you for [area].”
• “The next step for you is [specific stretch], which would build on your strength in [area].”

When performance needs improvement

• “On [goal], results were [X] against a target of [Y]. In our check-ins we discussed [cause]. Over the next quarter I would like to see [specific change].”
• “Three of the last six deadlines slipped, for example [project]. Let’s agree how you will flag risks earlier, at least two days before a deadline.”
• “I will support this by [training, coaching, weekly check-in]. We will review progress on [date].”

When a goal was missed for reasons outside the person’s control

• “The [goal] was missed after [external event]. You responded by [action], which limited the impact. We will reset the target for next period.”
• “This result does not reflect your effort. The lesson for both of us is to agree a fallback plan when we set goals.”

Teamwork and communication

• “You regularly help colleagues solve problems, for example when [example]. This makes the whole team faster.”
• “In meetings, your ideas are valuable, but sometimes others do not get space to speak. For example, in [meeting], [what happened]. I’d like you to ask for others’ views before giving yours.”
• “Your updates to the client are clear and timely. They mentioned this in [feedback].”

Ownership and problem-solving

• “When [problem] happened, you found the cause and fixed the process, not just the symptom.”
• “I would like you to bring a proposed solution when you raise a problem. For example, with [issue], a suggested option would have saved a week.”

New employees

• “In your first [months], you learned [system or process] quickly and are already handling [task] on your own.”
• “Over the next quarter, the priority is [skill]. [Name] will pair with you on [task] every week.”

If you want a structure for writing the behaviour comments, the SBI feedback model is a good fit: describe the situation, the behaviour and its impact.

Performance review comments to avoid

The most common weaknesses in written reviews are vague praise, personal labels and absolute words. Compare these pairs.

Vague or risky comments vs specific, useful ones

	Avoid	Write instead
Vague praise	Great job this year!	You closed 14 renewals, including two at-risk accounts you rescued.
Personality label	You are negative in meetings.	In the last three planning meetings you rejected ideas before they were explained.
Absolute words	You never meet deadlines.	Four of the last ten deliverables were late, for example the June report.
Comparison	You are not as fast as Sam.	Your average handling time is 9 minutes against a team target of 7.
Surprise problem	Your attitude has been an issue all year.	Raise it in the week it happens. The review only summarises.
Unclear next step	Work on communication.	Send a written update to the client every Friday by 4 p.m.

How do you reduce bias in a performance review?

Every reviewer has blind spots. Research shows how large they can be. In a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 2000, Steven Scullen, Michael Mount and Maynard Goff analysed ratings of more than 4,000 managers across two data sets, each rated by bosses, peers, subordinates and themselves. Rater-specific tendencies, which they called idiosyncratic rater effects, accounted for 62% and 53% of the rating variance in the two data sets. The managers’ actual performance accounted for 21% and 25%.

In plain terms: a rating often says as much about the person giving it as about the person receiving it. That is a strong reason to use evidence, specific examples and more than one perspective.

Bias check before you send a review

• Recency: do my examples cover the whole period, not just the last month?
• Halo or horns: am I letting one big success or mistake colour everything?
• Similarity: would I rate the same behaviour the same way in someone less like me?
• Evidence: does every judgment have at least one specific example?
• Language: have I described behaviour, not personality, and avoided always and never?
• Other inputs: have I included feedback from at least one other person?
• Surprises: is there anything here the employee is hearing for the first time?

Gallup’s 2024 guidance also recommends handling pay and promotion decisions in separate conversations from development. When money is on the table, people tend to stop listening to feedback.

How to deliver the review conversation

The written review is half the job. The conversation is where it becomes useful.

1. Open with the purpose. “Today I want to look back at the last six months and agree two priorities for the next six.”
2. Ask first. Start with the employee’s self-review: “What are you most proud of?” Then share your view.
3. Discuss, do not read aloud. Walk through the key points and invite reactions. Disagreement is useful information.
4. Agree priorities and goals. End with one or two development priorities and the goals for the next period, written down.
5. Book the first check-in. Put a date in the calendar within a month.

If the conversation is likely to be difficult, prepare with our guide to difficult conversations at work. For the ongoing check-ins, a one-on-one meeting template keeps them focused.

How often should you write performance reviews?

Many companies run an annual review, and some people go even longer. In a US employee survey Gallup published in 2024, 56% said they review their performance goals with their manager once a year or less. Gallup’s 2017 article recommended progress reviews at least every six months, and its 2024 guidance favours quarterly progress conversations.

A practical rhythm for a small or mid-sized company:

• Weekly or fortnightly: short check-ins on progress against goals, often as part of a one-on-one.
• Quarterly: a 30-minute progress conversation to review goals and adjust priorities.
• Twice a year: a written review using the five-part structure above.

With that rhythm, the written review becomes easy to write, because the evidence already exists. It also links naturally to how your team tracks performance week to week, which our guide to lead and lag measures explains. And it reinforces accountability at work, because commitments are reviewed while they still matter.

Summary

To write a performance review that helps, collect evidence from the whole period, ask for a self-review, and write five short sections: summary, results against goals, how the work was done, strengths to build on, and development priorities with next goals. Use specific examples and describe behaviour and impact, not personality. Check for bias, especially recency, and include more than one perspective. Most importantly, raise problems when they happen so the review contains no surprises, and hold progress conversations at least every six months.