15 questions for managers to ask during performance reviews

Frequent feedback drives better conversations between employees and their managers. It builds stronger relationships and makes people more committed to their work. But effective performance reviews don’t come naturally to all managers so it’s helpful to have guidance on the questions to ask to get the best from your team.  

It doesn’t matter if you’re having an annual performance review, or a more regular one-to-one, your focus is on getting to know your employees. Use the questions below to explore engagement, experience, development and aspirations in a way which will help you and them get the best from their work. You’ll find:

• Performance review questions for managers about engagement
• Performance review questions for managers about employee experience
• Performance review questions for managers about personal development
• Performance review questions for managers about current and future roles
• How to set managers up for success in performance reviews

Initial performance review questions for managers to ask

You might think performance is the first topic to cover, after all, it’s a “performance” review. Yet diving straight into performance can slow the conversation. Many people feel uncomfortable discussing how they’re getting on without some pre-amble first (even when they’re doing a great job). So, ease them in and start by exploring employee engagement.

Asking questions about pride in their work and job satisfaction gives you great insight into how your employee feels about their role and the workplace in general. And it’s a perfect opportunity for you, as their manager, to acknowledge their concerns and address any workplace obstacles which are limiting their connection with the business.

Here are four questions you could use to explore employee engagement.

1. What aspect of your performance are you most proud of?

Taking pride in your work is an important factor in employee engagement. Getting a clear answer to this question identifies the employee takes at least some care and pride in their role. As a result, they settle into a more confident and relaxed frame of mind for the rest of the conversation, allowing them to highlight their strengths.

It’s also easy to follow this up with more specific questions about particular accomplishments and apply an easy segue into any successes they might have forgotten.

2. How would you describe your level of job satisfaction?

You need to know how your employees feel about their roles. Jobs and feelings can change, so roles that were initially rewarding can morph into something unfulfilling or stressful. People experience:

• Development or promotion opportunities that don’t materialize
• The nature of the role shifting over time
• A realization they don’t really like their job.

When you ask about job satisfaction during a performance review, be clear you aren’t judging the response. It doesn’t matter whether the employee answers positively or not. You’re merely looking to understand their workplace satisfaction and provide any support that’s needed.

3. Is there anything you’d change about the workplace?

Some people will have a list as long as your arm of things to change, others a few key ideas. The important thing is to open the discussion. You may also ask whether anything in the workplace is impeding them from performing at their best in their role.

Encourage your employees to offer suggestions and commit to updating them later with next steps. That piece is critical. People know you can’t change everything, but getting asked for ideas and then being ignored is a sure-fire way to reduce engagement, rapidly.

4. How aligned do you feel with company objectives?

Great questions for managers to ask in a performance review focus on assessing alignment. You want to know the extent to which employees understand or identify with the goals of the business. And employees with high alignment can be great for overall engagement.

You’ll often see this in organizations with laudable goals, like charity organizations or companies developing greener technologies. But it’s also worth inquiring about an individual’s understanding of their objectives, because a lack of clarity can harm employee engagement and reduce productivity.

Questions exploring employee experience during a performance review

This isn’t a section focused on how long someone’s been in a role, or whether they’ve delivered certain projects. Instead, this is about the broadest factor contributing to employee performance.

Employee experience is composed of many different aspects that make up someone’s overall view of work. We’re talking connection to colleagues, levels of stress, feedback, and external impacts. So, let’s explore a few questions managers should include in performance reviews to address the main elements and make sure your bases are covered.

5. How connected do you feel to your colleagues and the organization?

Understanding, and influencing, someone’s social wellbeing (your sense of belonging) is essential for a team’s long-term success. The more connected you feel to the team members around you, the more likely you are to work effectively in your role. You’ll be:

• happier
• more supported, and
• more productive

So, getting a sense of where social connection can be stronger is a great conversation to have.

It can also easily transition into conversations about regular social (and optional) interactions. You could organize anything which encourages deeper social relationships which support and strengthen your team, like:

• book club
• lunch time cycling group
• paintballing event

6. How do you like to receive feedback from me? Is there anything I could do differently to communicate more effectively?

Performance evaluations serve as a great chance to build relationships with team members. And show them you might need to learn too.

Some people love a shout out, others prefer a quiet thank you. Some like written guidance on a task, others prefer to chat it through and summarize back to ensure they’ve understood.

By asking questions about individuals’ preferred styles in performance reviews, you can make sure you tailor your response to the needs of the individual. And that has a huge impact on how effectively you teach, motivate, and recognize everyone in your team.

7. What are two things I could do differently to make work easier for you?

This is well-placed as a follow-up to questions about communication and feedback preferences. It allows you to explore other aspects of work with your team. And it shows you aren’t just focused on giving them feedback, but are also open to it yourself.

If they struggle to think of things, why not explore options around:

• Department processes or systems
• Sign off delays
• Meeting structures

Find out what management style works best for your employees and then identify what changes you can make to improve things, even where it will require practice on your part.

8. Is there anything outside of work that might be affecting your performance?

You won’t ask this question every time, but if there’s been a change in motivation, or a dip in general performance, it’s possible an external factor’s the cause.

It’s important to take care when inquiring about an employee’s health, but there are circumstances when it’s necessary to understand more. You may also need to look at reasonable adjustments**. And you must ensure work is accessible for people with disabilities or chronic health conditions. So, identify any physical barriers, ergonomic equipment or mental wellbeing support which might make life easier in the short- or longer-term.

9. How much stress have you experienced in the last month?

Many managers don’t like asking questions about stress, especially not in performance appraisals. Yet not all stress is bad, and identifying issues in the workplace can help you proactively address concerns.

Besides, not only does this question give you a sense of an employee’s work/life balance, it helps you understand more about their mental wellbeing**. And businesses are becoming increasingly aware of the impact of poor mental health, and the need to support you team as well as you can.

**If you’re unsure how best to ask your employees about their physical health or mental wellbeing, get support from your Human Resources team. Ensure any medical information stays confidential. And secure the employee’s permission before disclosing details to anyone else.

Performance review questions to discuss personal development

Most people want to feel their work is going somewhere. After all, when was the last time you heard someone say the words “dead-end job” like they were a good thing?

It’s what makes questions concerning an employee’s journey of personal development great for managers to ask in a performance review.  Around 65% of employees want more feedback, so ask questions directly about their expectations of promotion, skills they want to develop, or areas they want to improve. And then give them feedback and recognition which will help them to get there.

10. What areas will you focus on in the next three months to help you improve, grow, and develop?

Autonomy is a great motivator. And when managers phrase the question like this in a performance review, it encourages people to take responsibility for their own development. Not everyone will have ready answers, so you might need to guide them in some self-exploration initially. Offer ideas around:

• areas they would benefit from training or development
• opportunities to mentor another member of the team
• broadening their commercial understanding or technical knowledge for new projects
• secondments or cross-functional roles to build new relationships
• reading certain books or listening to podcasts to help generate ideas or systems changes

Once they get used to the idea, asking people regularly how they’d like to develop builds their enthusiasm and they more actively seek the support available to achieve their personal goals.

11. What in your current role has left you feeling disappointed?

Understanding where employees feel they’ve struggled (with appropriate input from their manager) is vitally important in planning for future performance. It helps you identify opportunities for their development, growth and support. It also gives you insight into their motivation – what drives their satisfaction? What causes them to get upset?

If an employee can’t pinpoint any disappointments, managers can lead here. But the important element is to work the answer through. People learn far more from disappointment and frustration, than from sailing through with no issues, so encourage them to reflect and learn so they can avoid the same feeling next time.

12. Are there any new skills you want to develop?

Whether it’s getting to grips with a new computer application or developing leadership skills, driven employees have things they want to learn. So you need to know what those are. As their manager, you’re best positioned to facilitate their growth and you might discover their interests play directly towards future business plans.

There’s an old quote which says “what if we train them all and they leave?” “What if we don’t and they stay?” comes the answer. Managers should be looking for employees who want to change. People who want to develop new skills and expand their knowledge year on year. Asking questions in someone’s performance appraisal is a great way for managers to get to grips with the interests and expectations of their team.

Questions for managers to ask during a performance review around current and future roles

Analyzing the current and future roles and responsibilities for employees helps managers in succession planning. It also makes you better prepared for business scenarios that may lie ahead. So understand how your team members are feeling and make proactive plans to support their growth. And look to upskill for future business needs.

13. What do you see as your next role or career move?

You may have asked your employee this at interview, but when was the last time you checked how they feel? People’s long-term goals can change, especially if they’ve been with an organization for a long time. By expressing more interest in your employee’s personal development, you can spot potential opportunities and flag any risks if you think someone’s going to resign.

Very few people will honestly tell you they want to leave the business. But when you ask about their aspirations you begin to understand what motivates them every day. Encourage them to be honest – do they want to step up or sideways within the organization? Or do their answers suggest their real plan is out? Once you know what they’d like their next step to be, think about the tools, training, and resources which will help them progress towards that target role.

14. What would you like to do less of moving forward?

No-one loves everything about their work. And by understanding those things your employees could live without, you gain an opportunity to reorganize their work or their schedule and keep them more engaged.

You don’t have to stick to task-based elements either. Perhaps they’d like to change the frequency they’re in the office or be able to chat with you directly on a more regular basis. So use performance reviews as a way to ask questions which help you learn about their pain point. And see what you can do to make changes which will also re-introduce more of the role they love.

15. What can we do to help you meet your goals?

Managers often avoid this. There’s almost an assumption employees should be able to get there on their own. But they don’t, nobody does. So, ask specifically what the company can do to help them progress their career and reach their goals.

Find out what skills they have, what else they’ve learned and understand their outlook and long-term ambitions. That way, you can work together to remove any barriers, devise effective professional development plans, and see improving performance thanks to higher engagement.

Performance review questions are a two-way exchange

Gone are the days when performance reviews were a one-way “conversation” with managers telling the employee what they ought to think and write. Performance reviews are a means to gauge how an employee stacks up against the business expectations, and also how well the role and its management meet the expectations of employees.

The key to success is clear two-way feedback and an understanding from managers on what and how to ask questions. Choosing the right questions to ask in a performance review isn’t easy, and getting it wrong can change the effectiveness of the performance review as a whole. But using the questions above should give you a really good start point.

You’ll avoid leading questions which should ensure honest answers. And be wary of your biases which might unintentionally trip you up.

When you sit down with your team member, you’re looking to build the relationship. Start easy and find out about their day, week, or current priorities. You can even ask if anything’s on their mind, and revisit any issues they’ve mentioned to you in previous reviews.

Championing performance best practice means looking at all aspects of the employee experience. And finding out what really makes people tick. So next time you go to do one, remember: there’s more to a performance review than questions on performance. You need to get to know the person sitting behind that too.