Performance reviews are key to offering helpful feedback to a manager or employee. But not knowing what to say or write can make the process downright painful, especially on a deadline.
When feedback is such a key part of boosting employee engagement, it's important to get it right.Unfortunately, many of today's performance reviews aren't anywhere as effective as they could be. In fact, Fast Company reports that 74% of younger workers leave reviews unsure about what their managers actually think of their performance.Why? Because those review lack good performance evaluation comments.
This mirrors the fact that, according to our 2017 Employee Engagement Report, 79% of employees don't think their organization's review process is all that good to begin with.No matter how good your performance reviews are, you could almost certainly do better. Here's a helpful list of 100 performance review examples — based off the book Effective Phrases For Performance Appraisals — comments that you should start including in your performance reviews in order to give your employees (or manager) the useful feedback they're looking for.
Keep in mind that these are starter phrases and you should be specific when you're writing any feedback for reviews.
Achievement
1. Achieves optimal levels of performance and accomplishment with / for ...
2. Provides strong evidence of [specific accomplishment]
3. Excels at developing programs / strategies that have delivered X results
4. Improved production by X% through [specific task]
5. Exceeded the original goal of X by X% through [specific task]
Administration
6. Continuously examines administrative effectiveness and seeks better procedures such as [tasks]
7. Develops successful administrative strategies such as [task] that led to [results]
8. Establishes effective systems for information retrieval through [task]
9. Improves administrative support systems through [task]
10. Keeps documents organized via [task] to avoid duplicate information
Coaching
11. Shows a sincere interest in employees and the solutions to their problems
12. Lends support and guidance to employees by [task]
13. Uses sound coaching techniques to solve disciplinary problems
14. Provides continuous coaching
15. Is highly respected by employees for sharing concerns, problems, and opportunities
Communication Skills
16. Effectively communicates expectations
17. Excels in facilitating group discussions
18. Keeps meetings action oriented by [task]
19. Effectively communicates upward, downward, and laterally
20. Enforces company policies and values without creating negative reactions
Cooperation
21. Encourages collaboration with the team
22. Shares ideas and techniques
23. Builds strong relationships with others by [task]
24. Displays a harmonious and cooperative spirit by [task]
25. Gladly shares expertise
Creativity
26. Seeks creative alternatives such as [examples] that drove [results]
27. Clever and imaginative when confronted with obstacles
28. Is continuously experimenting to drive [results]
29. Initiates and executes creative ideas such as [example]
30. Seeks new ideas and approaches
Delegating
31. Empowers employees with the authority and resources to achieve X results
32. Helps employees gain visibility through [task]
33. Encourages employees to solve their own problems
34. Delegates to match personal strengths
35. Delegates with clearly defined responsibility and authority
Improvement
36. Develops continuous improvement methods
37. Conceives of totally new strategies
38. Continues to grow and improve
39. Devises improved means of accomplishing results
40. Is continuously planning for improvement
Innovation
41. Develops innovative strategies such as [example] ...
42. Is very innovative under adverse conditions
43. Seeks innovative solutions
44. Fosters a curiosity for innovative possibilities
45. Promotes innovation by [example]
Interpersonal Skills
46. Recognizes the needs of others and reaches out to lend a helping hand
47. Establishes effective working relationships
48. Generates synergy
49. Builds on mutual dependence and understanding
50. Promotes the company culture among peers
Learning Ability
51. Displays an ability to learn rapidly and adapt quickly to changing situations
52. Shares learning experience with peers
53. Promotes a learning culture
54. Committed to continuously learning through [example]
55. Responds quickly to new instructions, situations, methods, and procedures
Management Ability
56. Provides team with support through [example]
57. Collaborates with individual team members to establish a development path
58. Holds employees accountable for their own results
59. Provides team with the resources needed to attain results
60. Provides support during periods of organizational change
Planning
61. Develops workable action plans
62. Creates flexible plans to meet changing opportunities
63. Effectively puts plans into action
64. Excels in developing strategic alternatives
65. Effectively formulates strategies, tactics, and action plans to drive X results
Potential
66. Is capable of distinguished performance in a higher-level position
67. Has reached the level for promotional consideration
68. Can handle bigger projects and assignments6
9. Is making a strong effort to acquire greater experience and skills to increase potential for advancement
70. Is enhancing growth potential through additional education and training
Problem Solving
71. Displays a practical approach to solving problems
72. Develops creative solutions
73. Turns problems into opportunities
74. Effectively solves problems rather than symptoms
75. Is skilled in proposing optional solutions
Productivity
76. Exceeds normal output standards
77. Continuously produces more than expected
78. Is an important contributor to the successes of the department
79. Makes a substantial contribution to the continued operation and growth of the organization
80. Consistently exceeds performance goals
Project Management
81. Completed X project with X results
82. Sets realistic timetables to keep projects on target
83. Is transparent with a project's progress
84. Makes effective use of all available resources when given a project
85. Clearly establishes project goals and objectives
Supervisory Skills
86. Gives consistent recognition to employees
87. Maintains a work situation which stimulates the growth of individual employees
88. Makes certain that employees have a clear understanding of their responsibilities
89. Is readily available for support to employees
90. Recognizes and deals with signs of employee burnout
Time Management
91. Consistently meets all deadlines
92. Prepares meeting agendas that are concise and time-saving
93. Keeps meetings on schedule
94. Respects the time of others
95. Makes effective use of discretionary time
Vision
96. Excels in living the organization's values
97. Promotes strong support of the company's mission and vision
98. Is able to turn visions into actual action plans
99. Demonstrates an ability to transfer vision into execution
100. Excels in contributing to the company's goals
Again, these phrases mean nothing unless you attach specific examples and data to them. To ensure a performance review is truly effective, remember to evaluate on data rather than assumption.