Performance review examples: how to talk about your work

Most people prepare for a performance review the night before and undersell themselves. These examples show how to turn everyday work into review-ready statements.

Describing achievements

Weak: "I worked hard on the project." Strong: "I led the stock-take project, finishing two weeks early and cutting discrepancies by 30%."

The pattern is: action, scope, result. Numbers help, but a clear before-and-after works too.

More examples:

• "I trained three new starters, and all three passed probation without extra support."
• "I noticed repeat customer complaints about delivery times, raised it with logistics and complaints dropped the following quarter."
• "I completed my safeguarding refresher and updated the team's referral flowchart to match."

Talking about development areas

Weak: "I need to get better at time management." Strong: "I missed two report deadlines in spring. Since then I have been using weekly planning sessions and have hit every deadline since June."

Show the fix, not just the flaw. If you did CPD to address it, name it: "I completed a time management course in April and applied the prioritisation method to my caseload."

Linking CPD to your review

Reviews go better when your learning connects to your objectives:

• Objective: improve data skills → CPD: Excel course, 6 hours, applied to monthly reporting
• Objective: prepare for team leader role → CPD: shadowed team leader, completed intro to management module

A CPD log with dates, hours and reflections gives you this without digging through emails.

Phrases for common moments

• Asked for your highlight: "The thing I am most proud of is... because it changed..."
• Asked about challenges: "The hardest part was... I handled it by... Next time I would..."
• Asked about next year: "I want to build on X by doing Y, and I would like support with Z."

Prepare in 30 minutes

1. List your five biggest pieces of work this year
2. Write one action-scope-result sentence for each
3. Pull your CPD entries and match them to your objectives
4. Pick one development area and write the fix, not the flaw

Log your CPD free on WorkplaceHero

Related reading

• How to arrive at a performance review fully prepared
• 10 pieces of evidence managers love to see in reviews
• CPD and your appraisal: how to show your value
• How to build a promotion case that gets a yes