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Free tools for HR leaders

Coaching
and mentoring performance review phrases

24 phrases across four rating bands, for managers, coaching conversations and self-evaluations. Filter, copy, print. Free, no sign-up.

Start with the rating band that matches the person, then pick the voice you are writing in. Copy a phrase, then change the specifics so it names the real project, the real quarter, the real thing that happened. A comment that could describe anyone is the thing you were trying to avoid.

How these were written, and the five steps to a review that holds up ↓
Rating:
Voice:
24 showing
Exceeds expectations

Two people are doing work this year that they could not have done last year, and both point at them.

Manager to employee

Coaches by asking rather than telling, which is slower in the moment and much faster over a year.

Manager to employee

Gives difficult feedback in a way people can act on, close to the event.

Manager to employee

Worth formalising. Give them the new starters rather than leaving it to whoever sits nearby.

Coaching

Ready to coach other coaches, which is a different and rarer skill.

Coaching

I stopped answering [name]'s questions directly and started asking what they thought first, and they stopped needing to ask.

Self-evaluation
Meets expectations

Makes time for the people who ask and follows up on what was agreed.

Manager to employee

Shares knowledge rather than holding it as leverage.

Manager to employee

Gives feedback that is specific enough to act on.

Manager to employee

Good with people who come to them. The next step is going to the people who do not ask.

Coaching

Worth resisting the fix. When somebody brings a problem, ask what they would do before you answer.

Coaching

I have made development a standing item rather than something that happens when there is time, which means it now happens.

Self-evaluation
Needs development

Answers the question rather than developing the person, so the same questions keep arriving.

Manager to employee

Development conversations happen when there is spare time, which means they mostly do not.

Manager to employee

Feedback is encouraging but rarely specific enough to act on.

Manager to employee

Schedule development separately from delivery. Anything sharing a meeting with a deadline loses to the deadline.

Coaching

Praise that is not specific reads as politeness. Name what they did and why it worked.

Coaching

I answer questions instead of building the person, which is quicker each time and slower every year.

Self-evaluation

My feedback is kind and vague, and I know which half is useful.

Self-evaluation
Unsatisfactory

No development conversations have taken place with most of the team this year, after this was agreed in [month].

Manager to employee

Knowledge that only they hold has not been shared despite repeated requests, creating a single point of failure.

Manager to employee

A documented monthly one-to-one with each person, starting this month, with development as its own agenda item. Reviewed in six weeks.

Coaching

If there is genuinely no time for this, that is a workload conversation and I need it framed as one.

Coaching

I have not developed my team this year. I want development scheduled rather than left to whatever time is left over.

Self-evaluation
No phrases match those two filters together. Clear one of them.
How do you review coaching and mentoring?

Ask who can do something now that they could not a year ago. If the answer is nobody, the coaching was pleasant rather than effective.

How these were written

Written, not calculated. Each phrase names a situation, an observable behaviour and its effect on the work or the people around it. Bands run from exceeds expectations to unsatisfactory across three voices: a manager writing about somebody, a manager coaching, and a person writing their own self-evaluation.

Assumptions
  • Phrases are starting points. Drop in the real situation or the comment reads as filler.
  • The four bands assume a four-point scale. On a three or five-point cycle the band is a sorting device, not a score.
  • Written for Australian workplaces and Australian English.
  • Check the constraint before rating the person. Workload, authority and what happened to the last person who tried shape most of what gets written up as an individual failing.
  • Unsatisfactory-band comments assume a dated record already exists and the issue has been raised before.
Sources

What to do about it

Good phrasing rescues a review that was already done properly. It cannot rescue one where nobody wrote anything down until the week it was due.

1

Start from your notes, not from this list

Open what you recorded during the year, pick what really happened, then find the wording. The other order produces a fluent review that says nothing.

2

Name the situation in every comment

The real project, the real quarter, the real result. Only one person could have earned it.

3

Match the band to your evidence, not the conversation you want

A generous rating on somebody you privately consider a problem is how next year's difficult conversation ends up looking like it came from nowhere.

4

Pair every development comment with a support step

Training, a pilot, a pairing, a cadence. Criticism without a path forward produces defensiveness and reads badly to anyone reviewing the file later.

5
Where a tool helps

Read your reviews as a set

If the same competency is the gap across a function, that is a capability gap in how the team was built rather than a dozen development plans.

Answering is quicker.
Asking is faster.

Compono Engage reads how a team is actually working, so you can see whether people are being developed or simply being used.

Step 5 asks what your reviews say together. That is very hard to answer from a folder of review documents and straightforward to answer from capability data.

See how it works
Compono Engage
8%+
reduction in turnover

Common questions

What are examples of coaching feedback?

Asking rather than telling, giving difficult feedback close to the event, going to the people who do not ask for help.

How do you help a manager who does not develop their team?

Schedule development separately from delivery. Anything sharing a meeting with a deadline loses to the deadline, every time.

Can I use these phrases word for word?

Yes, with the real person and the real growth named.

These phrases are starting points, not finished comments. Change the specifics so each one is true of the actual person and the actual situation, because a comment that could describe anyone is the thing you were trying to avoid. Review comments can later be read as evidence in an employment matter, so anything you take from the unsatisfactory band should match a dated record you already hold. Last reviewed July 2026.

Next step

HR Glossary

Competency framework

The bands above are competency ratings. This is what a competency framework is, and how the levels are meant to work.

Read the definition →Related tool

eNPS calculator (employee net promoter score)

Reviews name the gap one person at a time. This one sizes it across the team.

Run it next →Buying

Requirements builder

Score the platforms you are looking at against the two risks, must-haves first.

Build the scorecard →Talk to us

Bring us your review cycle

A conversation about what your reviews are telling you as a set, not a demo script.

Talk to us →