Skip to the main content.
Talk to an expert
Talk to an expert
Featured Offer
Ambitious 50 →
6 months of Hire and Engage free for businesses under 50 people.

Hey Compono!

A coach that actually gets you.

Get 10 minutes free, then $15 a month. Cancel anytime.

Get Started ≫
Free tools for HR leaders

Listening
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

Changes their position in a meeting when somebody makes a better argument, visibly and without fuss.

Manager to employee

Draws out the person who has not spoken, and it is usually worth hearing.

Manager to employee

Summarises what somebody said accurately enough that they feel heard before disagreeing with it.

Manager to employee

Worth having them run the harder stakeholder sessions. Most of that work is listening rather than presenting.

Coaching

Ready to facilitate rather than participate.

Coaching

I made a point of asking the quietest person in [meeting] what they thought, and it changed the decision.

Self-evaluation
Meets expectations

Listens without interrupting and responds to what was actually said.

Manager to employee

Asks clarifying questions rather than assuming.

Manager to employee

Takes on board input that does not match their own view.

Manager to employee

Listens well one to one. The next step is doing it in groups, where the quietest input is usually the most useful.

Coaching

Worth summarising back before responding. It is slower and it stops half of all disagreements.

Coaching

I have started summarising back what I heard before replying, which has caught several misunderstandings early.

Self-evaluation
Needs development

Responds to the version of the point they expected rather than the one that was made.

Manager to employee

Talks over others in group settings, particularly when the topic is familiar.

Manager to employee

Input that conflicts with their view is acknowledged and then not used.

Manager to employee

Before responding, say the other person's point back to them. If you cannot, you were not listening yet.

Coaching

In your next three meetings, be the last to speak on each topic rather than the first.

Coaching

I answer the point I expected rather than the one made, especially on topics I know well.

Self-evaluation

I acknowledge input I disagree with and then do not use it, which is not the same as considering it.

Self-evaluation
Unsatisfactory

Colleagues have reported not being heard, and the pattern has continued since it was raised in [month].

Manager to employee

Decisions have been made without input that was offered and available.

Manager to employee

For the next month, summarise back before responding in every meeting, and I will ask the team whether it has changed. Six-week review.

Coaching

If the meetings are structured so nobody can be heard properly, tell me, because I would rather fix that than coach around it.

Coaching

People have told me they do not feel heard. I want to change how I run conversations rather than assume it is a misunderstanding.

Self-evaluation
No phrases match those two filters together. Clear one of them.
How do you write about listening in a performance review?

Rate what changed. Input that is acknowledged and then unused was heard, not listened to.

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.

Heard is not the
same as listened to.

Compono Engage surfaces what a team is actually saying, including the input that never makes it into a meeting, so listening becomes a measurable thing rather than an impression.

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 listening feedback?

Summarising somebody's point back before disagreeing with it, drawing out the person who has not spoken, changing position when a better argument is made.

How do you help someone who does not listen?

Have them summarise back before responding. It is slower and it prevents about half of all disagreements.

Can I use these phrases word for word?

Yes, with the real meeting or decision 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 →