What is a performance review template?
A performance review template is the structure a review is built on: the competencies being assessed, the rating scale applied to each one, and the open-ended questions that turn a number into an actual conversation. Without a shared template, every manager invents their own format — which makes calibration across a team close to impossible, because there is nothing consistent to compare.
The template above gives you that structure immediately. You bring the specific competencies that matter for your team; the rating scale, the self/manager comparison, and the goal-progress section are already built.
What's in the download
- Self-Review sheet. The employee rates themselves 1–5 across five competency categories, adds a comment per category, and lists progress against their goals for the period.
- Manager Review sheet. The identical structure, completed by the manager independently — same competencies, same scale, same layout — so the two sheets sit side by side without translation.
- Filled-in example sheet. A completed review for a fictional mid-level employee, showing what a specific, useful comment looks like versus a vague one, and how a self/manager score gap gets called out rather than smoothed over.
How to use it — 4 steps
- Adapt the competency list. The five categories in the template (communication, ownership, collaboration, technical/functional skill, delivery) are a reasonable default — swap in the specific competencies from your own competency framework if you have one.
- Send the Self-Review sheet first. Employees complete their own ratings and comments before seeing the manager's — this surfaces where someone over- or under-rates their own work, which is itself useful signal for the conversation.
- Complete the Manager Review sheet independently. Don't look at the self-review while rating — rate based on your own observations first, then compare.
- Review the gaps together. Any competency where self and manager scores differ by 2 or more points is the actual agenda for the review conversation — not the competencies where you already agree.
Self-review vs. manager review: what changes
Using one template for both sheets is deliberate, but the two conversations aren't identical. A self-review is where employees tend to either underclaim wins they should own, or overclaim on competencies they haven't gotten real feedback on yet. A manager review should draw on specific, dated evidence — this is where a running log of check-ins, 1:1 notes, and completed goals earns its keep, because "how did Q2 actually go" is a much easier question to answer with receipts than from memory in the week before reviews are due.
Common mistakes this template is built to avoid
| Mistake | Why it backfires |
|---|---|
| Different questions for self vs. manager review | Nothing to compare — the review becomes two unrelated documents instead of one shared conversation. |
| Rating with no comment | A number with no evidence is not defensible in a promotion or compensation conversation six months later. |
| No goal-progress section | Competency scores in isolation miss whether the person actually delivered on what they committed to. |
| Recency bias | Without notes from earlier in the cycle, only the last few weeks get remembered — see how to run a performance review cycle for how to build a running record instead. |
For real, worked examples of review language at every performance level, see performance review examples and performance review phrases. If you're building the underlying framework this template scores against, start with the competency matrix template.