Questions to Ask Boss During Performance Review
Questions to bring to your own performance review, covering the feedback itself, how the rating was decided, where your pay sits in the range, and what is expected before the next review.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What stands out to you from my work this year?
Why ask it
A gentle opener that also tells you which of your projects registered. If your manager names work you consider minor, your visible contribution and your actual effort have come apart.
Is there anything in this review that is going to surprise me?
Why ask it
Ask early so you are not blindsided halfway through. It also invites your manager to lead with the difficult item rather than burying it after the compliments.
Where do you think I have the most room to improve?
Why ask it
Asking for the most, singular, prevents a list of minor points. Push for a specific instance if you get an abstraction like communication or ownership.
How does my work compare with what this level is expected to deliver?
Why ask it
Shifts the measure from your manager's impression to the written standard for the grade, which is what promotion committees actually use.
What feedback have you heard about me from other people?
Why ask it
Reviews usually aggregate comments from peers and other teams. Asking for the substance, without demanding names, surfaces the criticism that shaped your rating.
What should I start doing, stop doing, and keep doing?
Why ask it
The stop half is the one worth pressing on. Most managers can name something you should add far more easily than something you should drop, and the drop is usually where your time goes.
Which one skill should I work on first, and why that one?
Why ask it
Development lists longer than two items do not get done. The why matters, because it tells you whether the skill is for this role or the next one.
How was my rating arrived at?
Why ask it
Ratings are often adjusted in a calibration meeting rather than decided by your manager alone. Understanding the mechanism tells you what would actually change it next time.
What would I have needed to do to land in the band above?
Why ask it
More useful than arguing about this year's number. It produces a concrete description of the gap, which you can hold up next review.
Are there concerns about my work that have not been written down anywhere?
Why ask it
Unrecorded concerns are the ones that resurface at promotion time. Asking plainly makes them harder to leave unsaid, and the pause before the answer is informative.
What are the priorities for my role over the next six months?
Why ask it
Turns the review forward. If the priorities named do not match what you spend your week on, you have found a problem worth solving in this meeting.
What would a good review look like next time?
Why ask it
Asks for the target in advance rather than being measured against one you never saw. Write down whatever they say, in their words.
Where does my pay sit within the range for this role?
Why ask it
A more answerable question than asking for a raise, and many managers can answer it. Sitting at the bottom of a band and sitting at the top require completely different conversations.
What would move me up within that range?
Why ask it
Separates the pay question from the promotion question. In-range increases are often easier to obtain and are decided on different grounds.
Is a promotion realistic in the next year, and what stands between me and it?
Why ask it
Asks for an obstacle, which is harder to answer with encouragement. Budget, headcount, or an open role are legitimate answers and change what you should do next.
Where would you like me to take a bigger role?
Why ask it
Lets your manager point at work they want covered, which is the most reliable route to a stronger review than the last one.
How could I be easier to work with?
Why ask it
Blunter than asking about collaboration and it tends to get a real answer, since it gives your manager permission to describe friction without accusing you of anything.
What support or resources should I be asking for that I have not?
Why ask it
Frames a request as your manager's suggestion rather than your complaint, which makes headcount, tooling, or training easier for them to raise upwards.
What are your expectations for me between now and the next review?
Why ask it
Closes the loop with something you can be held to and can hold them to. Ambiguity here is what makes next year's rating feel arbitrary.
Is there anything else you have been meaning to tell me?
Why ask it
Ends with an open door. This is where the item your manager was unsure about raising formally sometimes finally comes out.
Getting the most out of your review
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Preparing
- Write one page of what you delivered, dated, with numbers or named outcomes. Managers write many reviews and will not remember your February.
- Read the level description for your grade if your employer has one, so you can talk about the standard rather than about feelings.
- Look up the pay range for your role if it is published, or ask HR whether one exists, before you discuss money.
- Pick three questions from the list above to ask for certain. A review rarely leaves time for twenty, and the ones you leave out are usually the awkward ones.
During the meeting
- Take notes, including quotes. What was said about your rating will matter more in six months than it does in the room.
- When criticism comes, ask for the example before you respond. Half of vague feedback dissolves under a request for a specific incident.
- Resist defending everything. Managers read a point-by-point rebuttal as confirmation of the feedback they just gave.
- If you disagree with something substantive, say so once, plainly, and ask what evidence would change their view.
Money and timing
The numbers are usually already set
By the time a review is delivered, ratings and increases have often been through calibration and budget approval. Use the meeting to learn how the decision was made and what would change it, and open the pay conversation on a separate day.
Ask about the calendar
Find out when increases and promotions are decided and when the case has to be written. Making your case two weeks after the cycle closes is a common and avoidable mistake.
Afterwards
- 1Send a written summary within a day: the feedback as you understood it, what you committed to, and what your manager committed to.
- 2Ask for a mid-point check-in halfway to the next review, so nothing is a surprise then either.
- 3Start on one piece of feedback immediately and mention it at the next one-to-one, so the change is witnessed rather than merely made.
- 4If the review contained something you consider inaccurate and it stays on the record, put your response in writing, once, without heat.