Performance review questions that lead to useful examples.
The best starting questions are open enough for someone to tell you what happened and specific enough to connect the answer to a piece of work.
Questions for employees
Which piece of work are you most proud of? What was your contribution? What helped you do it well? Tell me about a difficult moment. What would you try differently next time?
Questions for managers
Which contribution did you observe directly? What changed as a result of the work? In which situation could this person take on more, and what support would make that realistic?
Follow-ups when an answer is vague
Ask for the most recent example. Ask what the person did and what others did. If they describe a result, ask how they know. If they describe a challenge, ask what they tried.
Questions to discuss together
Where do your views match or differ? What is one thing you want to recognize? What is one area to develop, and how will you know the support is helping?
Getting started