160+ Performance Review Examples - From a Manager's POV

Performance reviews are essential for driving employee, team, and organizational growth—but they come with their own set of challenges. From recency bias and vague feedback to employee resistance and lack of managerial direction, these hurdles can impact their effectiveness.

That’s where well-crafted performance review examples can help. They offer structure, clarity, and inspiration for delivering meaningful feedback. 

In this blog, you’ll find 160+ manager performance review examples across roles, competencies, and performance levels—plus tips on framing them effectively.

How to Write an Effective Performance Review as a Manager

Most organizations have a pre-established format for writing an effective employee performance review. That said, the template for writing an effective performance review as a manager usually comprises: 

Step 1: Reviewing the employee's current roles and responsibilities

Step 2: Reviewing their past performances

Step 3: Highlighting their improvement areas 

Step 4: Identifying their strengths and weaknesses

Step 5: Provide them with a roadmap of actionable goals 

Step 6: Including a 360-degree feedback 

Step 7: Asking for inputs 

Performance review examples make your performance feedback impactful when delivered with clarity, specificity, balance, and a focus on the future.

Writing a review for yourself is often easy as you assess your performance, strengths, and weaknesses. This is usually a first-person perspective, fostering a sense of self-reflection and awareness. On the contrary, writing a review for others involves observing their performance from a second-person perspective. In this scenario, you might overlook their efforts to reach their unachieved goals. 

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160+ Performance Review Examples by Competency Area

Below are performance review examples by competency area. They are simple yet descriptive phrases that most employers have rated as positively influencing their performance reviews. We have collated the best in the market to ease your hurdles in picking the right sentence and word to deliver your feedback message. 

A. Productivity and Results Orientation

Job performance review comments examples based on productivity and results orientation are the first to go down the list. This section helps you evaluate your employees' potential to achieve the outcomes and meet goals and targets. Here are some positive and constructive job performance review examples under this category: 

Positive performance reviews examples:

1. "Consistently meets or exceeds targets with minimal supervision."
2. "Demonstrates strong ownership and accountability."
3. “You have a good working standard aligned with high productivity levels.”
4. “She is a high performer.” 
5. “She consistently exceeds her performance targets.”

Constructive:

1. "Needs to prioritize tasks more effectively to meet key deadlines."
2. "Can improve by focusing more on outcomes than effort alone."
3. “He is good with his deadlines, but his work requires excessive corrections.” 
4. “He finds innovative solutions, but he is reluctant to take up additional responsibilities.”
5. “He is proactive but must be aware of his job requirements.” 

B. Communication and Collaboration

The next thing to consider while writing an effective performance review for your employees is their ability to communicate and collaborate. These factors go hand-in-hand as a better communicator is always a better collaborator and vice versa. Here are some employee performance reviews in this section: 

Positive:

1. "Communicates clearly and adjusts tone effectively for different audiences."
2. "Fosters open, respectful dialogue across the team."
3. “Masters at clearly communicating with team members, ensuring everyone is on the same page.”
4. “She is excellent with her communication and collaboration with vendors.” 
5. “She demonstrates a positive listening attitude during team meetings.” 
6. “He is a great team player as he involves others in problem solving.”

Constructive:

1. "Should focus on active listening to strengthen team relationships."
2. "Needs to follow up on discussions to ensure alignment."
3. “He is good at communication, but he should improve his foreign skills too.”
4. “She welcomes diverse viewpoints but often takes credit individually.”
5. “She acknowledges others' support but lacks empathetic listening while interacting with others.” 

C. Initiative and Problem-Solving

Third, to go down in this list is the ability of your employees to take initiative and solve the complexities of real-world professional problems. This section helps you understand how proactive and innovative your employee is. Here are some of the best performance review examples in this section: 

Positive:

1. "Volunteers for complex challenges and proposes innovative solutions."
2. "Consistently anticipates roadblocks and acts preemptively."
3. “He is proactive in finding solutions to complex problems.”
4. “She is willing to take additional responsibilities outside the dimensions of her core job profile.”
5. “He proactively identifies efficiencies for optimising his performances.” 

Constructive:

1. "Could improve by thinking more independently before escalating issues."
2. "Sometimes avoids ambiguity rather than seeking solutions."
3. “She is an independent driver of her projects but needs to seek opportunities to learn and grow.”
4. “He proactively contributes his thoughts and ideas but needs to upskill himself to improve execution.”
5. “She takes project ownership seriously but needs to identify process improvement opportunities.” 

D. Leadership and Ownership 

Manager performance review examples are incomplete without assessing your employee's leadership and ownership potential. Leading by example is not every individual's cup of tea. Only those who are proactive problem solvers can lead and own the responsibilities. This section helps you to evaluate your employee's ability to guide, motivate, and empower their team in stressful scenarios. Here are some manager performance reviews in this section:  

Positive:

1. "Leads by example and motivates the team during high-pressure situations."
2. "Delegates effectively and builds trust within the team."
3. “She is quite helpful when mentoring her juniors.” 
4. “He is good at allocating tasks to his subordinates and will prove to be a great future leader.”
5. “She leads by example with her strong working ethic.” 
6. “He demonstrates great leadership by implementing an upward and downward feedback culture.”
7. “She is great at hiring skilled team members.” 

Constructive:

1. "Needs to work on giving consistent feedback to team members."
2. "Should take more accountability for team outcomes."
3. “She has a vision to lead but rarely shows appreciation for good performers.” 
4. “He delegates tasks appropriately but is often impatient.”
5. “She offers regular constructive feedback but appears unsupportive with the questions raised.”
6. “He can amplify team performance by making the environment more collaborative.”
7. “She has the scope to strengthen her leadership attributes for creating an inclusive culture within her team.” 

E. Learning and Development

Job performance review comments examples should also include employee assessments concerning self-learning and development objectives. These are powerful tools for individuals to grow and succeed in the organization by self-identifying their skill gaps and strengthening them through continued learning and development. Here are some examples of performance reviews in this section: 

Positive:

1. "Actively seeks feedback and applies it to professional growth."
2. "Pursues learning opportunities and shares knowledge with peers."
3. “He is always enthusiastic about participating actively in self-development training.” 
4. “She consistently leverages technology and e-learning for upskilling herself.” 
5. “He applies his acquired skills and knowledge in improving the processes and her individual and team productivity.”
6. “She is quicker in applying her acquired concepts to real-world scenarios.” 
7. “She is always eager to participate in cross-functional training sessions for broadening her knowledge.” 

Constructive:

1. "Would benefit from engaging more with learning resources."
2. "Needs to take greater initiative in skill development."
3. “He needs to work on completing his training assignments within deadlines.”
4. “She should focus on attending the external training for enhancing her skills.” 
5. “He needs to be self-motivated and work on ownership towards developing himself.”
6. “She can work wonders if she embraces changes and adapts to evolving functions within the organization.”
7. “Being open to communicating on her self-development requirements will improve her stature and provide opportunities within the organization.” 

F. Team Contribution and Peer Relationships

Evaluating your employee's contribution to the team and their relationship with their peers is also an undeniable part of the performance review process. While your employees can be great individual contributors, their ability to contribute to the team matters, as organizational success is a collective team outcome. Here are some top performance review examples in this section: 

Positive:

1. "Is a go-to person for cross-functional collaboration."
2. "Supports peers during critical moments and fosters team morale."
3. “She is a great team player and exhibits a great willingness to help and support others’ growth.”
4. “He is quite cooperative and helpful to his other subordinates.” 
5. “She creates a cohesive working environment for her team.”
6. “He praises the success of his subordinates within the team.” 
7. “She is quite respectful of others' deadlines and coordinates effectively.”  

Constructive:

1. "Could focus more on team goals rather than individual success."
2. "Needs to engage more constructively in group discussions."
3. “She is a great communicator, and can work on empathetic listening skills to make deeper connections with the team and stakeholders.” 
4. “He leads by example, and involving others in the tasks will help him bond with the team, ensuring positive collaboration.”
5. “She is quite independent, but balancing it with a collaborative approach in a team atmosphere will enhance her team outcomes.”
6. “She contributes actively to projects, and openly sharing credit can further strengthen team morale and trust.”
7. “He is good at establishing rapport with his team members, keeping his approach more open will uplift the team spirit and build trust.”

G. Time Management and Organization

While performing in an organization, the most important aspect is time management and organization. The one who excels in both wins the race. You need to assess while reviewing your employee's performance. They can be best with their individual and team contributions, but managing their time while organizing their routine is challenging, and most of them lose the race. Here are some examples of performance reviews in this section:  

Positive:

1. "Efficiently juggles multiple priorities without compromising quality."
2. "Delivers ahead of deadlines through strategic planning."
3. “He is truly a gem to the team when it comes to meeting the expected timelines.”
4. “She demonstrates great team-building skills by effectively communicating delays with the team.” 
5. “He is self-motivated to complete all his assigned learnings on time.” 
6. “She stays on her toes even during critical times.”
7. “He is effective in managing his timelines with a daily to-do.”
8. “She performs all her tasks with great dedication and hence is always on time with her deliverables.”
9. “She is great at using her time effectively so that you do not need to follow up with her for her assignments.”
10. “He avoids distractions to effectively manage his time while working.”  
11. “He delegates tasks effectively to manage his time.” 
12. “She shares her timeline requirements well in advance.” 

Constructive:

1. "She would benefit from setting realistic timelines for deliverables."
2. "Can improve structure workdays to avoid last-minute rushes."
3. “Improving time management and being organized can significantly enhance her work.”
4. “He can improve his communication skills to ensure time management within the team.” 
5. “Joining meetings as per schedule with help her collaborate better and improve team engagement.” 
6. “He needs to work on responding timely to urgent communications.”
7. “He should improve his time management skills to meet his deadlines.”
8. “He should learn to manage his time well under stressful situations.”
9. “Taking time to plan and prioritise each day may lead to improved time management and outcomes.” 
10. “Acquiring estimating skills will help him deduce realistic timelines while delegating tasks.” 
11. “Adopting proactive work habits can help ensure more timely completion of deliverables.”

H. Customer or Stakeholder Focus

Performance review examples focused on customer or stakeholder collaboration assess how well your employees understand and fulfill their expectations. This section considers how they communicate and build relationships with their counterparts and vendors. Here are some examples of performance reviews in this section: 

Positive:

1. "Builds lasting relationships with clients and anticipates their needs."
2. "Is proactive in managing expectations and delivering value."
3. “She often provides consistent results that her customers and stakeholders can count on.”
4. “He is good at his work. His customers and stakeholders often praise collaborating with him.”
5. “She is quite polite and friendly with her customers and stakeholders.”
6. “She gracefully deals with difficult vendors.” 
7. “He has a track record of achieving high customer satisfaction ratios.” 
8. “She proactively identifies potential customer issues well before they happen.”
9. “He consistently seeks customer feedback for improving her service and collaboration.” 
10. “He is adaptive in handling both customers and stakeholders to arrive at a win-win situation.” 

Constructive:

1. "Should adopt a more empathetic approach when addressing stakeholder concerns."
2. "Needs to improve turnaround time for client responses."
3. “He should learn to communicate with his customers for better collaborations.”
4. “She should understand why customer service training is quite important.”
5. “He has a good rapport with his customers, but can further develop skills to solve complex issues with customers.” 
6. “While she is proactive in her customer communication sometimes, she must strengthen her effectiveness by following up with her stakeholders promptly.”
7. “She is good at anticipating customer needs but needs to align with stakeholders' expectations.”
8. “He is good at handling regular issues with customers but has a scope of building confidence in complex scenarios.” 
9. “He has a good command of his communication with the stakeholders, but needs to communicate stakeholder expectations with the team members better.”
10. “She comes up with innovative ideas, and stepping up to take ownership of consumer outcomes can amplify their real-world impact.”
11. “He is good with his customer deliverables and can be further effective by ensuring effective stakeholders.” 

I. Creativity and Innovation

Every individual is creative and innovative in their unique way. Fostering creativity and innovation in performance reviews focuses on how well your employees solve the problems on their plate. Are they good at generating new ideas? Do they only create ideas, or are they good at implementing them? You should consider these questions while evaluating your employees in this area. Below are a few examples of such performance reviews: 

Positive:

1. "Brings new ideas that reshape outdated processes."
2. "Encourages experimentation and accepts failure as part of learning."
3. “She is proactive in developing creative and innovative solutions.”
4. “He demonstrates proactivity by launching creative initiatives in her presentations.”
5. “He is quite innovative with his advertisement skills and knowledge.”
6. “She fosters a sense of creativity within her team.” 
7. “He is an effective team collaborator in generating newer ideas for his team.”  
8. “He encourages a collaborative creative approach in exploring new ways of working.”
9. “She is open to actively listening to creative solutions from her team mates.”
10. “She sets the stage right with her breakthrough innovative ideas in every presentation.”
11. “She regularly contributes her innovative technical expertise in automating several projects and processes within the team.” 
12. “He always demonstrates a positive attitude in developing innovative solutions to the team’s complexities.”
13. “She is a creative problem solver. Whenever there is any uncertainty, she is the first to figure out creative solutions.”

Constructive:

1. "Could benefit from thinking more creatively when standard methods fail."
2. "He is quite good with his creative solutions and can contribute more proactively during brainstorming sessions."
3. “He has a lot of ideas and problem-solving strategies could help him solve innovation issues.”
4. “She is a good communicator of what the business expects out of the innovations team, and can enhance her execution skills to improve final outcomes.”
5. “She is quite appreciative of creative and innovative ideas within her team and building a deeper understanding of the ideas’ context could enhance her ability to support them effectively.” 
6. “Although he does not sound alert during the calls, he goes out of his way to think of something creative and innovative.”
7. “She is great at executing her creative ideas and prioritizing skills in creativity and innovation could help her with extraordinary results.”
8. “She is indeed an achiever team lead, but never encourages her team’s creativity to think out of the box.”
9. “He is quite appreciative of the new ideas but often fails to support his team with essential resources to find innovative solutions.”
10. “As a high-performing team lead, she can unlock even greater team potential by fostering a culture that encourages out-of-the-box thinking.” 
11. “She is a focused person, and identifying innovative solutions can further inspire innovative contributions in the team.” 
12. “He is punctual with his deliverables, and experimenting with newer ideas and approaches can bring more opportunities to the table.”

J. Role-Specific Examples (Optional Section)

Lastly, ask your employees to refer to self-evaluation performance review examples and rate themselves for their role-specific behavior. In parallel, you consider their roles, compare, and formulate your feedback accordingly. For example: 

Sales roles

Positive:

1. "You have been consistently achieving your set targets. Well Done! 
2. "Effectively builds rapport in internal and external communications."
3. “Always maintains a customer-first approach that yields positive results, ensuring customer retention”

Constructive:

1. “Can deepen product expertise to enhance technical objections.”
2. “He can heighten his impact by keeping his sales approach more consultative.”

Technical/engineering roles

Positive

1. "Your technical expertise always leads with proactivity."
2. “During product incidents, she showcases excellent problem-solving skills.”

Constructive:

1. "You are quicker to adapt to the changing market dynamics, but you need to be quicker with your troubleshooting skills, too." 
2. “Cross-functional communication can help her keep the business objectives and technical decisions on the same page.”

Marketing roles

Positive:

1. "You always make your presentations quite interesting and engaging for the audience."
2. “She uses customer insights and data analytics to better target strategies effectively.”

Constructive:

1. "Consider brushing up your expertise on a more structured approach towards effective problem-solving." 
2. “He should frequently seek feedback and work according to campaign performance data.

HR roles

Positive:

1. "You are excellent with your problem-solving skills."
2. “Takes initiative in developing strong learning and development programs”

Constructive:

1. "You communicate clearly. However, consider incorporating more techniques of active listening in your conversation."
2. “Needs to focus more on using data and metrics to drive people strategies.”

Annual Performance Review Examples

Some companies prefer annual performance reviews focusing on their employees' accomplishments, strengths, and weaknesses throughout the year. If your company has quarterly check-ins and then one consolidated yearly performance review, you can summarise your employees' year-long impact by focusing on their: 

• Goals 
• Achievements
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Discussing their developmental plans
• Setting future goals 
• Documenting the annual performance reviews

Here are a few annual performance review examples:

1. Exceeds expectations
   
   1. "While Neha exceeds expectations every year, she should always identify the loopholes in her performance and overcome them."
2. Meets expectations
   
   1. "Congratulations, Sameer! You have demonstrated a strong attitude toward your roles, responsibilities, and the organization's expectations. Keep it up!"
3. Needs improvement
   
   1. "While Sailee met key responsibilities, further focus on team collaboration is needed."

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How to Tailor Performance Reviews for Different Levels of Performance

Tailoring performance reviews for different levels is no rocket science. You need to focus more on clarity, actionable feedback, and specificity. Use a combination of strength-dependent and improvement-based performance review systems. Here is a gist of it: 

1. Top performers: Focus on growth opportunities and recognition
2. Solid performers: Encourage continued consistency and skill-sharpening
3. Underperformers: Focus on specific gaps and actionable improvement plans

Manager's Checklist Before Submitting a Review

Assessing your teammates becomes easier when you have a checklist of what you want to evaluate and how well you have assessed it. Here are some basic questions to include in your checklist for your self-assessment as a performance reviewer: 

1. Have I supported my comments with examples?
2. Is the tone fair and growth-focused?
3. Have I acknowledged effort as well as results?
4. Have I avoided generic phrases?