{"id":71252,"date":"2026-04-28T20:16:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clickuplearn.kinsta.cloud\/topic\/operations\/people-operations\/performance-review\/examples\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T21:57:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:57:40","slug":"examples","status":"publish","type":"learn","link":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/topic\/operations\/people\/performance-review\/examples\/","title":{"rendered":"Performance Review Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Real performance review examples showing what effective feedback looks like across different roles and situations. Includes strong and weak examples with analysis of what makes each one work or fail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":71055,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"learn_subject":[466],"learn_topic_type":[473],"learn_methodology":[],"learn_industry":[],"learn_role":[],"learn_difficulty":[522],"learn_tool":[],"learn_feature":[544],"class_list":["post-71252","learn","type-learn","status-publish","hentry","learn_subject-operations","learn_topic_type-example-page","learn_difficulty-beginner","learn_feature-docs"],"acf":{"display_title":"","related_posts":"","related_posts_title":"","quick_definition":"These performance review examples show the difference between vague, unhelpful feedback and specific, actionable assessment. Each example includes the review text, an analysis of what works or fails, and a rewritten version that demonstrates best practices.","selected_author":71507,"faq":[{"question":"How many examples should a performance review include?","answer":"Three to five specific examples for strengths and two to three for growth areas. Fewer than three makes the review feel thin and based on one incident rather than a pattern. More than five per category creates a document so long that the key messages get buried. Focus on the highest impact examples that illustrate consistent patterns."},{"question":"Should I include negative feedback in a written review?","answer":"Yes, always. A review with only positive feedback is not a review; it is a compliment. Frame growth areas as specific observations with clear next steps, not character judgments. \"Missed 3 of 9 deadlines due to late dependency identification\" is factual and actionable. \"Is not reliable\" is a character judgment that creates defensiveness without direction."}],"faq_heading":"","product_cta_primary":{"label":"Try ClickUp Free","description":"Track performance goals, link evidence to reviews, and run your review cycle in one platform.","url":""},"product_cta_secondary":{"label":"","description":"","url":""},"breadcrumb_label":"","hide_breadcrumb_switcher":false,"author_name":"","author_title":"","related_topics":"","example_description":"These examples show the pattern across five common review scenarios: strong performer, developing performer, underperformer, new employee, and leadership role.","example_scenario":"Performance reviews fail most often not because the manager has the wrong assessment, but because the feedback is too vague to be actionable.\r\n\r\n\"Needs to improve communication\" tells the employee nothing. \"Missed three project deadlines in Q2 because status updates were not sent until the day of the deadline, leaving stakeholders unable to adjust\" tells them exactly what happened, what to change, and why it matters.\r\n\r\nEach example covers a different situation managers encounter during review cycles: recognizing a top contributor without being generic, coaching a mid level employee with uneven performance, documenting performance issues for an underperformer, setting expectations for someone in their first year, and evaluating a manager on both individual contribution and team leadership. These five scenarios cover approximately 90% of the reviews most managers write.","example_content":"<strong>Strong Performer Example (Weak Version):<\/strong> \"Sarah is a great team player. She always goes above and beyond and is a pleasure to work with. Keep up the good work.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>Why This Fails:<\/strong> No specific accomplishments cited. No measurable impact. \"Great team player\" and \"goes above and beyond\" are filler phrases that could describe anyone. Sarah leaves the review knowing she is liked but not knowing what specifically she did well or what to focus on next.\r\n\r\n<strong>Strong Performer Example (Rewritten):<\/strong> \"Sarah led the Q3 product launch that generated $340K in pipeline within the first 30 days, exceeding the $250K target by 36%. She coordinated across engineering, marketing, and sales, resolving a critical API integration blocker in week 2 that could have delayed launch by 3 weeks. Her status reports were the clearest on the team, consistently following the agreed format and flagging risks 2 weeks before they materialized. For next year, I recommend Sarah take on the product analytics initiative to develop her data strategy skills, which would position her for the senior PM track.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>Developing Performer Example (Weak Version):<\/strong> \"Mike is doing okay but needs to be more proactive. He sometimes misses deadlines and should work on his communication skills.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>Why This Fails:<\/strong> \"More proactive\" is not actionable. \"Sometimes misses deadlines\" provides no data. \"Communication skills\" could mean writing, presenting, listening, or status updates. Mike has no idea what specifically to change.\r\n\r\n<strong>Developing Performer Example (Rewritten):<\/strong> \"Mike delivered 7 of 9 assigned projects on time this year. The two late deliveries (client reporting dashboard and vendor evaluation) both missed by 5 or more business days. In both cases, blockers were identified late because Mike did not surface dependencies during sprint planning. I recommend Mike adopt a dependency checklist at the start of each project and flag any cross team dependencies within the first 48 hours. His technical work quality is strong: the reporting dashboard, once delivered, required zero rework and received positive client feedback.\"","example_sections":null,"example_analysis":"The pattern across all strong examples is the same: <strong>specific evidence<\/strong> (what happened, with dates and numbers), <strong>clear impact<\/strong> (why it mattered to the business or team), and <strong>actionable direction<\/strong> (what to do next, with enough specificity to actually follow). The weak versions share the opposite pattern: abstract adjectives, no data, and no actionable guidance.\r\n\r\nWhen writing your own reviews, test each paragraph against this question: Could the employee read this and know exactly what to do differently (or keep doing) tomorrow? If not, it needs more specificity.","content_after_examples":"","page_components":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn\/71252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/learn"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn\/71055"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cplh_author\/71507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"learn_subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn_subject?post=71252"},{"taxonomy":"learn_topic_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn_topic_type?post=71252"},{"taxonomy":"learn_methodology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn_methodology?post=71252"},{"taxonomy":"learn_industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn_industry?post=71252"},{"taxonomy":"learn_role","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn_role?post=71252"},{"taxonomy":"learn_difficulty","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn_difficulty?post=71252"},{"taxonomy":"learn_tool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn_tool?post=71252"},{"taxonomy":"learn_feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickup.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn_feature?post=71252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}