How to Run a Performance Review: A Manager's Step-by-Step Guide

What is a performance review, and what is it for?

A performance review is a structured conversation, usually held once or twice a year, in which a manager and an employee look at the work done against agreed objectives and decide what happens next. Acas, the UK's workplace relations service, describes reviews (also called appraisals) as covering what an employee does well, where they can improve, whether they need more support or training, and their career development.

That list is shorter than most review forms. A review is not a verdict on a person, and it is not the only time feedback happens. It is the moment when a year of observations gets written down, checked against the other person's view and turned into a plan.

Most review trouble comes from asking one meeting to do too many jobs: coaching, pay decisions, promotion cases and legal record keeping. This guide treats the review as one step in a cycle and keeps the other steps in view.

What does the full performance cycle look like?

The review sits inside a cycle with five stages: planning, monitoring, developing, rating and rewarding. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management uses exactly these stages to describe performance management in the federal government, and the sequence works for any organization. Its own summary is blunt: performance management involves much more than assigning ratings.

Planning means setting expectations and goals, and the measures that show whether they are being met. Monitoring means ongoing feedback and regular progress reviews, which help catch problems early. Developing means building the capacity to perform through training, new assignments and better work processes.

Rating is the formal evaluation against the plan, and rewarding is recognition, from a sincere thank-you to formal awards.

1. Plan: agree objectives and how you will know they are met.
2. Monitor: hold regular check-ins and give feedback as things happen.
3. Develop: arrange training, stretch work or process fixes.
4. Rate: assess the period against the plan and write it down.
5. Reward: recognize the work, formally and informally.

If the review meeting is the first time someone hears how they are doing, the first two stages were skipped. Fix those and the meeting gets easier.

How do you prepare before the meeting?

Preparation is where most of the quality of a review is decided, and it starts months before the meeting with a record of the work. Keep a running note per person: finished projects, feedback received, problems that came up and how they were handled. Without it, reviews skew toward whatever happened in the last few weeks.

Acas recommends SMART objectives: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Check last period's objectives against that list before you judge the results, because a vague objective cannot be fairly scored. Acas also says objectives should be fair and reflect the person's usual work and workload, so account for what changed during the period.

Also settle what the review will and will not decide before you start. If a promotion or pay change depends on it, tell the employee how that link works, so the conversation is not read through worry about money. Clarity about purpose lowers defensiveness more than any phrasing trick.

Send the employee your agenda a few days ahead and ask them to write their own view of results, obstacles and wishes. A self-review costs them an hour and gives you information you do not have.

• Collect notes, results and feedback from the whole period, not the last month.
• Check each objective: was it clear, was it realistic, did circumstances change?
• Ask the employee for a short self-assessment before you write yours.
• Decide the two or three messages that matter most, and cut the rest.
• Book enough time and a private room, or a quiet video call.

How do you run the review conversation?

Open with the purpose, let the employee speak first, and keep every point tied to specific work. A simple order works well: confirm the agenda, hear their view of the period, share yours with examples, discuss the gaps, and close with next steps.

Use examples, not labels. "The onboarding guide shipped two weeks late and three teammates had to wait" can be discussed. "You are disorganized" cannot.

Our guide to giving feedback covers a four-step script for delivering these points, and it applies directly here.

Take notes during the meeting, but tell the employee you are doing so and why. Do not type through their answers; pause and look at them when they speak. Afterwards, read your notes back against the plan you set out to cover, and add what you missed while it is fresh.

Leave real room for the employee to talk. Acas notes that reviews can give employees a chance to ask for support, which only happens if they are asked. A question such as "What would have made this period easier?" often surfaces a blocker that the manager did not know about.

1. Agenda and purpose (two minutes).
2. Employee's view of results and obstacles.
3. Your view, with two or three concrete examples each for strengths and gaps.
4. Discussion: what to keep, what to change, what support is needed.
5. Objectives for the next period and a development step.
6. Summary and the date of the next check-in.

How should you write the review so it is fair?

A fair written review describes observed work against the agreed objectives and nothing else. Acas advises keeping a written record of the discussion and sharing it with the employee afterwards, which lets them correct factual errors and shows that the record matches the conversation.

Several habits protect fairness. Cover the whole period instead of the latest event. Use the same questions for everyone in similar roles.

Separate the work from the person, and avoid words that describe character. Check your draft for words such as "attitude" and replace them with the behavior you saw.

If your organization uses ratings, apply them to the objectives and standards in the plan. OPM notes that the rating of record is the summary of performance against the plan across the full appraisal period. Ratings that drift away from the plan are the ones people dispute.

What do you do with a poor review result?

A poor result should never be a surprise, and the review is where you agree a support plan, not where you first raise the problem. If you have been giving feedback during the year, the review confirms a pattern. If you have not, say so honestly and set a shorter review window.

State the gap against the objective, ask what is getting in the way, and agree specific actions on both sides: training, clearer priorities, a different workload or more frequent check-ins. Write the plan down with a date. Acas points out that reviews can help resolve performance issues by giving the employee a chance to ask for support, so build that into the plan from the start.

Be careful with timelines. A plan with no date turns into another vague promise, and one with a date every week is a burden for both people. Pick a first checkpoint within a month, name what will be visibly different by then, and put it in the written summary.

If the problem continues after support has been given, involve HR early and follow your organization's formal process. The review notes become part of that record, which is another reason to keep them accurate and specific.

How often should reviews happen, and what should fill the gaps between them?

Acas says employers should hold reviews regularly, ideally at least once a year, and that informal feedback, coaching and regular check-ins should continue alongside them. Many organizations now hold lighter reviews twice a year or quarterly, with a yearly discussion of development and pay kept separate.

The gaps matter more than the meeting. Gallup's 2022 analysis of engagement recommends one meaningful conversation per week with each team member, 15 to 30 minutes long. Our guide to one-on-one meetings explains how to run those so that the formal review has nothing new to reveal.

The same Gallup piece reports that only one in three managers are engaged at work. A manager who is stretched thin will skip check-ins first, so protect that time on your own calendar and report on it to your own manager.

When does software help with performance reviews?

Software helps once the process is stable, and it cannot fix a process that is unclear. Start with the template, the questions and the schedule on paper. If those work with ten people, tools can handle a hundred.

Tools typically cover review forms and cycles, goal tracking, reminders, feedback collection and reporting. Comparing them is its own task: see our performance management software category and the notes on 360-degree feedback software if you collect input from peers.

Rolling out a tool in the middle of a review cycle causes confusion, so start it at the beginning of a new period and run the old and new forms side by side only if you must. Check three things before you buy: whether managers will actually use it between cycles, whether you can export reviews and goals if you leave, and whether the vendor's pricing grows with your headcount. A tool that makes forms prettier but leaves the conversation unchanged has not improved the process.

Which biases creep into reviews, and how do you limit them?

The most common review errors are recency (the last few weeks dominate), similarity (favoring people who work like you) and leniency or harshness applied across a whole team. None of them needs bad intent. They appear when a manager relies on memory and a general impression instead of a record.

Three habits reduce them. Keep dated notes through the period, so the first quarter weighs as much as the fourth. Write down the evidence for each judgment before you choose a rating or a summary word.

Ask a peer manager to read two or three of your drafts and challenge any statement that has no example behind it.

Calibration meetings, where managers compare how they apply standards, help in larger organizations. Their purpose is consistency of standards, not forcing results into a fixed distribution. Bring the evidence, not impressions, and let the plan's objectives be the reference.

How do you run a review with a remote or hybrid employee?

A remote review follows the same structure, but it needs more deliberate attention to visibility and to the format. Remote employees often do work that the manager does not see directly, so lean on outputs, written updates and feedback from colleagues instead of presence.

Use video, not a phone call, for the conversation, and share the written draft in advance so nobody is reading it for the first time on a screen. Allow extra time at the start for the employee to speak, because silence on a call is harder to read. Our guide to managing a hybrid team covers the daily habits that make remote reviews easier.

A review template you can copy

A one-page template is enough if each section forces a specific answer. Adapt the wording to your culture, and share the blank form with the employee before the meeting.

• Objectives from last period: result, evidence, what got in the way.
• Strengths: two examples of work worth repeating, with the effect each had.
• Growth areas: up to two, each with an example and a proposed action.
• Employee's view: what they want more or less of, and what support they need.
• Next period: three objectives written as SMART objectives, plus one development step.
• Follow-up: dates of the next check-ins and the next review.

Both sides sign off the written summary, and the employee keeps a copy.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a performance review meeting take?

Plan for 45 to 60 minutes for an annual review, and 30 minutes for a lighter mid-year check. That leaves time for the employee to speak first, for two or three concrete examples from you, and for agreeing next steps. If the discussion needs more time, schedule a second short meeting instead of rushing the first.

How often should you hold performance reviews?

Acas advises employers to hold reviews regularly, ideally at least once a year. Many organizations add a mid-year conversation. Between formal reviews, keep up informal feedback and regular check-ins so nothing in the formal review is new to the employee.

What should you say in a performance review?

Start with the purpose and ask for the employee's view. Then name specific results and behaviors, strengths first, and the gaps with examples. Close with objectives for the next period, the support you will provide and the date of the next check-in.

Avoid labels about character.

How do you prepare for a performance review?

Collect notes, results and feedback from the whole period. Check last period's objectives for clarity and fairness, ask the employee for a short self-assessment, decide the two or three messages that matter most, and book a private space with enough time.

What is the difference between a performance review and a one-on-one?

A one-on-one is a frequent, informal meeting about current work, obstacles and support. A performance review is a formal, less frequent look back over a full period against objectives, with a written record and a plan. Regular one-on-ones make reviews shorter and calmer.

Should pay be discussed in the same meeting as the review?

Many organizations separate them, because people hear little else once pay comes up. If your process combines them, discuss development and results first and give the pay outcome in a clearly marked final part or a separate meeting, using the same objectives as the basis.

Sources and further reading

• Reviews and appraisals - Performance management, Acas
• Performance Management Cycle, U.S. Office of Personnel Management
• Is Quiet Quitting Real? (2022), Gallup