A performance review template for a team of 5 to 50

Most small companies do not need a twenty-page review form. They need four or five good questions, an honest conversation, and a written record both people can look back on. These question sets are built for that.

How the cycle works

Each person writes a short self review. Their manager writes a review of them. If you want a wider view, two or three peers answer a shorter set of questions. The manager reads the self review before finishing their own, then the two of them meet. The manager decides when the written review is released to the employee, ideally right before the conversation.

Review twice a year if you can manage it, and once a year if you cannot. The first cycle is the hardest, so keep it light.

Self review

Manager review

Peer review (optional, shorter)

Pick peers who have worked with the person recently, and keep it to two or three. A single reviewer who dislikes someone should not carry the whole result.

A rating scale people can use

If you use ratings, write down what each number means before anyone fills anything in. Here is a plain version.

• 1. Well below what the role needs right now.
• 2. Some gaps. A plan to close them is needed.
• 3. Meets what the role needs. This is a good rating.
• 4. Often goes beyond what the role needs.
• 5. Consistently well beyond. Rare, and hard to earn.

Tell managers that a 3 is a good result. Otherwise every rating drifts upward and the numbers stop meaning anything.

Tips for writing the manager review

• Pull examples from your 1:1 notes and from the goals the person set. You will remember the last month much better than the first five.
• Write about work, not personality. "Delivered the onboarding revamp two weeks late and flagged it early" is something they can act on. "Disorganized" is not.
• Do not surprise anyone. If a point in the review is new to them, the review is the wrong place to say it first.
• Keep it to one page. If you cannot, you are trying to say several things at once.

The review conversation

Give the employee the written review shortly before you meet, not a week ahead. Start by asking how they read it. Spend most of the time on the next six months: one or two goals, one growth area, and anything they need from you. Write down what you agree, and set the goals in the same week.

For a step-by-step plan, read how to run your first performance review at a small business. For help with the self review, see our self-evaluation examples.

Common problems and how to handle them

A manager has too many reports. Reviewing eight people well takes about four hours of writing, more if the notes are thin. Spread the cycle over two weeks, and have managers start with the people they know least.

Someone writes one line per question. Send it back, kindly, with an example of what a useful answer looks like. A review that says "good job" is no use to anyone a year from now.

The self review and the manager review disagree. That is information, not a failure. Open the conversation with the gap itself: "You rated this period a 5 and I wrote a 3. Walk me through your view."

Someone is new, or changed roles mid-period. Review only the time in the current role, and say so at the top of the form.