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Traditionally, during the performance appraisal, you only discuss the performance and progress of the past (half) year. But that doesn't give a complete picture: someone's performance depends on many more factors!
We recommend modernizing your HR cycle and conducting performance appraisals in the new style. That's why you'll find 10 example questions for a modern performance appraisal here.
👉 Curious about more example questions? Download this free performance appraisal template
The advantages of a modern performance appraisal
The starting point of a good performance appraisal is that you not only assess a team member's performance, but also make room for giving and receiving feedback – from employees too. It goes both ways!
These are the most important elements of a 'new style' performance appraisal:
- You discuss not only performance, but also topics like job happiness, professional growth and feedback
- It's two-way traffic: there is also room for employee input
- It's not a standalone conversation, but part of a continuous dialogue within a modern HR cycle
10 questions for a good evaluation or performance appraisal
To conduct a transparent and useful performance appraisal, it's important to ask the right questions.
This gives team members insight into the themes that influence their evaluation, and you can guide them on concrete points they can improve.
At Learned, we use 5 themes that form the guideline for an objective, transparent performance appraisal: job satisfaction, performance, development, learning goals and feedback about the organization.
These are the best questions to ask per theme 👇
Job satisfaction
1. How did you experience the workload during the past period?
2. What were the most inspiring projects and/or activities that gave you the most energy?
Performance
3. What are 3 achievements you're proud of?
4. What were the biggest obstacles to your learning goals and how did you solve them?
Development
5. Which talent do you want to further develop in the coming period?
6. What new skills do you want to learn in the coming period?
Learning goals
7. What are your three biggest learning goals from the past period and did you achieve them?
8. Do your learning goals for the upcoming period remain the same?
Continuous improvement
9. What would you like to see improved within the organization, and how?
10. Describe the collaboration with your manager/team/direct colleague in 3 words and indicate in which areas collaboration can be improved.
Preparing a performance appraisal as a manager
A meaningful, modern performance appraisal is mainly about giving and receiving feedback.
Here are some points to keep in mind when sharing feedback with your team members:
- Prepare well for the conversation (for example with these example questions!)
- Give concrete examples
- Keep it constructive: ensure a good balance between positive and negative feedback
- Stay professional and try to keep emotions out of the conversation
For giving good, constructive feedback, you can use the 4G feedback method. This ensures an open conversation where the employee can also give feedback back.
Tip 💡 By using the themes from the performance appraisal as a basis for informal 1-on-1 conversations, you can work towards making your entire Performance Management process objective.
Conduct modern performance appraisals with Learned
Want to conduct the most useful performance appraisals possible? Our HR software for objective evaluations helps you with that!
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