50+ Smart Performance Review Questions to Ask Your Manager

Performance reviews aren’t just about receiving feedback—they’re a chance to reflect, ask the right questions, and steer your career in the right direction. By asking thoughtful, clear, and specific questions, you open the door to more meaningful conversations with your manager. 

A well-crafted performance review questionnaire improves your communication and career growth by:

• Making your conversation clear and concise 
• Preparing ahead of time.
• Being mindful of non-verbal conversation
• Keeping a watch on your tone 
• Practicing active listening 

In this blog, we’ll help you prepare for your next review with the right questions that focus on growth, alignment, and actionable insights.

Why You Should Ask Your Manager Questions During a Performance Review

Asking questions during a performance review is essential as it encourages you to have a constructive dialogue with your manager. A healthy conversation with your manager is more than just receiving feedback. It allows you to clarify your expectations and identify your areas of improvement. A healthy discussion with a preset questionnaire related to your performance review is crucial as it helps you actively participate in your career development conversation by obtaining insights from your manager. 

Key reasons for asking questions to your manager:

• Clarifying your expectations
• Identifying your developmental areas
• Aligning with the organizational goals
• Seeking feedback on your strengths and weaknesses
• Discussing your career progression
• Fostering a strong relationship with your colleagues 

How to Prepare Questions for Your Performance Review?

Engagement in performance review programs skyrockets when you ask the right questions to your manager. Good questions are the bridges to your dynamic dialogue for unmet targets, day-to-day victories, and the other elements related to your work. Here are some tips for preparing the questions around your performance review:

• Reflect on your past performance – What areas do you need feedback on?
• Align with your career goals – Ask about opportunities for growth
• Seek clarity on expectations – Understand how success is measured
• Focus on development – Ask about skills, leadership, and future roles

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50+ Smart Performance Review Questions to Ask Your Manager

While you sit down to prepare questions to ask the manager during the performance review, consider asking your manager questions related to the following:

• Your general performance 
• Goal setting
• Teamwork and group collaboration
• Culture and vision of the company 
• Specific skill development
• Process of reviewing performance 

Here are 50+ such questions for performance reviews for managers. 

A. Questions About Overall Performance

While asking questions about your overall performance, your key focus should rely on your goal achievement, work quality, productivity, and teamwork. Next, you should move on to questions about how good or bad you are at solving problems, communicating with others, adaptability, and overall professional development. Here are a few examples of overall performance review questions to ask the manager: 

1. How would you assess my performance over the past [six months/year]?
2. What are the biggest strengths I bring to the team?
3. Are there any areas where you think I should improve?
4. How does my performance compare to your expectations?
5. Have you noticed any positive changes in my work since the last review?

B. Questions About Feedback and Growth 

Good questions to ask a manager during a performance review include their feedback on your growth in the team and organization. For this type of questionnaire, you can focus on areas like where to improve, how to utilize feedback to develop yourself, and your preparedness for receiving constructive feedback. Here are a few examples of input and growth-related performance review questions to ask the manager: 

1. What is one thing I could start doing that would make the most significant impact on my performance?
2. Can you give me an example of when I performed exceptionally well?
3. Have you noticed any recurring challenges in my work?
4. How can I improve my collaboration with the team?
5. How do you see my role evolving over the next year?

C. Questions About Career Development and Future Goals 

Next on the list of questions for performance reviews for managers are your questions related to career development and future goals. For this section, your focus should be self-assessment, goal setting, career path exploration, professional development, and company alignment. Here are a few examples of performance review questions to ask managers:

1. What skills should I develop to take on more responsibility?
2. What career paths do you think align with my strengths?
3. How can I prepare myself for a leadership role in the future?
4. Are there any upcoming projects that would help me grow professionally?
5. How can I position myself for a promotion in the following review cycle?

D. Questions About Performance Expectations 

So far, we have covered overall performance, growth, and career development-related questions to ask your manager during a performance review. We shall focus on performance expectation-related questions to ask your supervisor during a performance review. For this section, you should be able to define whether the organizational expectations are definable and measurable to derive a concrete evaluation. Here are some examples of good questions to ask managers during performance reviews around this section: 

1. What specific performance metrics do you use to evaluate my work?
2. How does my work contribute to the overall goals of the company?
3. Are there any key performance indicators (KPIs) I should focus on improving?
4. How can I better align my work with team objectives?
5. What does success look like for my role over the next six months?

E. Questions About Leadership and Team Dynamics

Leadership and team dynamics are also crucial aspects to evaluate how good you are with both expectations. While discussing these two concepts, focus on understanding how a leader contributes to the team's performance, communicates effectively, and empowers their team members. This section should focus on building trust and collaboration, resolving conflicts, adapting leadership styles, empowering team members, and communicating feedback. Here are a few examples of good questions to ask managers during performance reviews around leadership and team dynamics: 

1. How do you think I contribute to the team culture?
2. What qualities do you see in high-performing employees that I should adopt?
3. How can I support my colleagues better?
4. What do you value most in a team player?
5. How can I be more proactive in solving team challenges?

F. Questions About Training, Learning, and Development

Performance upgrade is a continuous process. It is not just that with your achievement, you stop upgrading yourself to the next level. To climb up your success ladder further, you must have a backup of appropriate training, learning, and development. Here are some valuable questions to ask your manager during a performance review around this section: 

1. Are there any training programs or courses you recommend for my growth?
2. How can I develop new technical or leadership skills?
3. What books, resources, or mentors would you suggest for me?
4. Are there any industry trends I should focus on learning about?
5. How can I get more exposure to cross-functional projects?

G. Questions About Manager Expectations and Communication

Now, your manager will also have certain expectations from you. You can ask them specific questions related to goal setting, feedback and development, style of communication, transparency and visibility, and collaborating with the team. Here are some beneficial performance review questions to ask the manager: 

1. What is your preferred way of receiving updates and progress reports?
2. How can I make our communication more effective?
3. How do you prefer employees to handle challenges before escalating them?
4. How can I ensure I meet your expectations consistently?
5. Is there anything I should adjust in how I communicate with you?

H. Questions About Work-Life Balance and Well-Being

You cannot be productive all 365 days of the year. After all, you have a family too! Caring for your family is as important as spending time being productive for them. To discuss work-life balance and well-being, focus on your work schedule and hours, work-life integration, personal impact, stress management, physical and mental health, and flexibility. Here are a few critical performance review questions to ask managers around this section: 

1. How can I maintain a healthy balance between performance expectations and well-being?
2. Do you think I handle work stress effectively?
3. What advice do you have for managing workload more efficiently?
4. Are there ways I can improve time management without affecting quality?
5. How does the company support employees' well-being and work-life balance?

I. Questions About Compensation and Recognition

This is the most crucial section, as you should receive the proper compensation and recognition for your performance. Suppose you believe you have been going above and beyond your job expectations. In that case, it is now the time to ask the right performance review questions to ask the manager about your compensation and recognition. Here are the best questions to ask managers during performance reviews around compensation and recognition: 

1. How do you evaluate an employee's readiness for a raise?
2. What factors contribute most to salary increases in this company?
3. Are there any opportunities for bonuses or performance-based incentives?
4. What steps can I take to be considered for higher compensation?
5. How does the company recognize and reward outstanding performance?

J. Final Wrap-Up Questions 

Finally, you need closing questions to ask your manager during a performance review cycle. Keep this section as a casual give-and-take questionnaire. These are like brushing up questions to upgrade your skills and technical expertise. Here are some of them: 

1. What final piece of advice would you give me for professional growth?
2. What is one thing you think I should work on before our following review?
3. How can I take more ownership of my career development?
4. Is there anything else you'd like me to focus on improving?
5. Can we schedule follow-ups to track progress between reviews?

How to Ask the Right Questions Without Sounding Defensive

Asking the right performance review questions to ask the manager is essential to dig out the information you seek. You must ask specific questions to receive a particular answer. Here are some quick tips to frame good questions without sounding rude:

• Frame questions as opportunities for growth, not complaints
• Use a positive and open-minded tone
• Ask follow-up questions for more profound clarity
• Avoid yes/no questions—encourage detailed responses

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How to Use Your Manager's Feedback Effectively?

Receiving good feedback is key to your happiness, but constructive feedback nurtures your growth. Constructive feedback helps improve your performance competency, morale, and work engagement to a greater extent. Here are some tips for effectively using your manager's feedback: 

• Take notes and summarize key takeaways
• Create an action plan based on feedback
• Schedule follow-ups to show progress and accountability
• Seek mentorship or additional resources for development