Ten of the best performance management questions
A review is only as good as the questions behind it.
A performance review is only as good as the questions behind it. Without a frame, the conversation drifts to whatever is most recent or most awkward, and both people leave with different accounts of what was agreed.
These ten cover the ground most reviews should cover. They are a starting point rather than a script.
Ten questions worth asking
Goals and targets
How far did they meet the goals set for the period? Where targets were missed, was there a legitimate reason, and how does the employee account for it themselves? The explanation often matters more than the shortfall.
Achievements
What did they actually deliver, and how much did it matter to the organisation? Ask how teammates saw the contribution, and quantify any overachievement rather than leaving it as a compliment.
Technical skills
Is the expertise demonstrated rather than assumed? Which skills visibly improved over the period, and which need training in the next one?
Communication and collaboration
Do they work well with colleagues, stakeholders and customers? What do peers and direct reports say? Were there formal complaints, and was there praise from outside the team?
Policy and culture
Did they work within company policy and process? Were there governance issues? And did they add something to the culture rather than merely not damaging it?
Time management and burnout
Do they handle their workload and their time? Are there signs of burnout, and if they manage others, is anyone on their team at risk? This question gets skipped and should not be.
Professional development
Are they committed to learning? What did they complete during the period, and what training do they want next? A blank answer here is information.
Feedback and coaching
Did you actually provide feedback and coaching during the period, or is this conversation the first of it? This is a question about the manager, which is why it belongs on the list.
Adaptability
How do they handle change, ambiguity and problems nobody has seen before? Ask for specific instances rather than a judgement.
Values alignment
Does how they perform match what the organisation says it values? A 360 review usually answers this better than a manager can alone.
Then add your own
No standard list survives contact with a specific business. A retail company does not need the same appraisal process as a software company, and the questions that matter in finance are not the ones that matter in sales. Ask colleagues what actually predicts good performance in your function and add those, because the answers will be more useful than anything generic.
What a core framework buys you is consistency. Different managers asking different questions produces assessments that cannot be compared, which is how bias enters a process designed to remove it.
Where this is taught
Preparing for and conducting appraisals is a module of the Certificate in Performance Management, covering the structure of the meeting itself, 360 degree feedback and self review. There is more on the surrounding discipline on the performance appraisal training page and on running 360 reviews.