Guide to Performance Reviews: Must-use Phrases and Examples

First of all, don’t feel embarrassed if you don’t know how to write an effective performance review for yourself. Writing about yourself can be challenging in all situations, and writing a self-evaluation or self-appraisal is no exception. You might be given specific sections to include in your performance review, so let these guide you if so, and try to choose the strongest examples of how you have excelled in each area over the relevant period of time. If you are free to choose what to include, then it becomes a multi-layered process. You must make a series of decisions in order to hone down your self-appraisal into the best shape possible:

• Which aspects of your recent performance do you want to include?
• What specific examples can you give to demonstrate your performance in these areas?
• How will you word these examples for maximum positive impact on your employer?

By working through these three stages in turn, you can start from a very broad question: “How well have you performed?” and translate it into a series of smaller, more specific and more manageable questions that allow you to craft very careful responses. Spend some time on this. Your performance review is likely to have some kind of impact on your career, whether in the short or long term. It may affect your future earnings for the duration of your employment. If possible – and if you have a friend, family member or co-worker you trust – you could ask someone to give you a second opinion before you give your self-assessment to your employer. Make sure you don’t breach any confidentiality if you do this.

The best performance review phrases are clear, concise and use strong positive words. Avoid negative and limiting language like ‘just’ or ‘only’. Where possible, include specific data – ideally numerical data – that qualifies or quantifies any claims you are making, so that you can make them less subjective. Remember SMART:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Timely

Apply these five elements to your performance review examples and they’ll help you hone in on the best items to include from your recent professional development.

Include Statistics

Try to combine statistics with specific examples of your own actions, where the two are connected. Example: “In the past six months I have increased my team’s output by xx percent, which I achieved by…” A combined quantitative and qualitative phrase such as this is a great way to make subjective statements sound more objective and evidenced.

Turn Negatives into Positives

If you know you have weaknesses, consider making them into learning opportunities. A performance review can target immediate future development. Example: “I would like to improve my xx skills. I will do this in the next x months by…” Some options include requesting workplace training, attending evening classes or online courses, or shadowing a superior to learn about a possible promotion role.

Previous Goals

Have you set (and met or exceeded) personal development goals in the past, for example in a previous performance review? Example: “I achieved my goal by completing online training xx days ahead of schedule. I have applied my new skills since by…” This not only recognises your achievement, but places it into a present and future context by showing how you use it to perform better in your job.

We’ve looked at some of the best performance review phrases, so now let’s consider some good performance review examples that give you more general ideas of the types of personal progress and career development you might want to mention.

Collaboration and Communication

Working well with others is a core ‘soft skill’ so if it comes naturally to you, or you have worked hard to develop your collaboration and communicative skills, it could be worth including. Clear communication is beneficial in every kind of working relationship, whether you’re speaking to your boss, your colleagues or your subordinates. Soft skills can be hard to put into concrete terms, but try to find tangible proof of when your collaboration or communication helped you to get the job done – and ideally, to go beyond minimum expectations and deliver significant added value for your employer.

Leadership Skills

Sometimes you have to step away from a flat team structure and take the initiative, especially if leading others is part of your job description. Give clear examples of when your leadership has led to positive results, helped your team meet its targets, or recovered a project from the brink of disaster. This is an especially good area to focus on, if you have good examples and evidence to back them up, as leadership skills are something employers look for when considering candidates for promotion.

Motivation and Commitment

Commitment to your job is a good attribute to demonstrate in performance reviews, so try to give some examples of when your motivation has had benefits for your employer. This can include some of the basics, such as a flawless attendance record or always arriving on time, but make sure your performance is objectively good. For example, working unpaid overtime can impress your employer, but could also be a sign that you fail to complete your duties within normal working hours, so be very careful to portray the positives while avoiding – or actively dismissing – the negative aspects.

Negotiation and Problem-Solving

Problem-solving is an important attribute for anyone in a more senior role, so including good positive examples in your performance reviews should position you well for promotion. Negotiation can also play a part in this, whether you are negotiating with another person, or simply finding the best compromise to reconcile a particular set of circumstances. If you have done this with success, it’s likely you will be able to demonstrate this in quite clear terms, for example by showing a project was delivered on time or on budget, or that a situation was resolved with a demonstrably positive outcome.

Technical Skills

This is one of the more concrete areas of personal development that can form part of your progress review. Give examples of any new technical skills you have acquired during the past year, for example:

• Analytics platforms for eCommerce, marketing and other data-driven roles.
• Editing packages for creative roles and multimedia production.
• Office suite software for general database management and other tasks.

Try to remember where you were a year ago (or 3-6 months if your performance reviews are more frequent) and list anything you’ve learned in that time. You can choose the best examples from your shortlist – you probably won’t want to include everything – but if you start by brainstorming all the skills, techniques and expertise you’ve picked up, then you should have plenty of options to pick between.

Finally, let’s look at a few more general performance review tips and tricks to keep in your toolbelt, ready to apply the next time your appraisal is due…

Know Your Role

It’s useful to revise your own job description. You should have a clear list of expected duties as part of your contract or particulars of employment. Double checking your role – even if you think you know it well – makes sure you know what your employer wants from you. This can help you decide what to mention in your own performance review. For example, you can combine times when you outperformed in your duties, with times when you carried out duties not normally assigned to you. However, try to avoid examples (or briefly summarise) where you met but did not exceed expectations. If you’re shooting for a promotion or pay rise, you should be able to show that you have performed above your current position with positive results.

Provide Evidence

If you can provide proof of your performance, do so. This helps to make your performance review more objective, so that your employer cannot refute that the positive outcomes you mention were a direct result of your own actions. Some examples of evidence you might be able to provide include:

• Analytics data and campaign tracking that shows positive return on investment.
• Positive third-party comments from customers or in the press.
• Direct positive feedback from your line manager or other superiors.

Make sure the evidence you include in your performance review is undeniably positive, and that it’s appropriate to use it in this context. As long as your appraisal is internal within your organisation, it’s unlikely you’ll have any concerns regarding confidentiality, but be sure to remove the names of colleagues if they’re likely to object to you quoting their comments to senior management.

Whether you’re writing a performance review for yourself or preparing some spoken words of self-appraisal for an upcoming meeting with your manager, here’s what to keep in mind:

1. Choose the best, most positive examples of your performance in the relevant period.
2. Use punchy, powerful wording to reinforce the positive impact of your actions.
3. Give evidence to support your claims so they cannot be easily dismissed.

By following the best practice for performance reviews we’ve given in this article and remembering these three crucial take-home points, you can put your best side across in your self-evaluation. This allows you to show yourself to be a committed worker who delivers on your personal and professional goals, to give yourself the best chance of getting a pay rise, promotion or bonus as a direct result.