Team Leader Performance Review Templates

Team leaders have a profound impact on the overall performance and culture of a workplace. These leaders provide direction and vision to those who work in the organization and deliver on the firm’s value proposition. They create an atmosphere of trust and respect. Effective team leaders guide team members toward success.

These crucial duties require constructive and consistent performance reviews and feedback. Doing so will help you invest in your leaders’ success and provide them with the confidence, courage, and skills to lead by example.

Below, you will find team leader performance review templates along with insights on the value of performance reviews.

Performance Review Templates

We understand each team operates with different processes, goals, and challenges, so we encourage you to adapt these templates to best align with your objectives.

Team Leader Performance Review

Use this template to guide a quarterly review with your team leader. You may find it beneficial to first conduct peer reviews (see template below) in order to gain valuable insight for this discussion with your team leaders. Consider sharing these questions in advance in order to give the team leader the opportunity to reflect and come to the discussion prepared.

Employee name:
Department:
Position:

Reviewer name and title:
Review period:
Date of review:

Reflect on the past

• What were the highlights of your previous quarter?
• What were your goals from the past quarter?
• Did you achieve those goals?
  • If yes, what led to your success?
  • If not, what have you learned in the process?
• What has changed in your situation or with your team this quarter?

Look to the future

• What changes are you considering or exploring in your leadership approach?
• What are your goals/plans for the upcoming quarter?
• How are these goals aligned with your team and company goals?
• What are potential obstacles that might interfere with your goal?
  • What do you need in order to eliminate or reduce those obstacles?

Make a plan

• What actions can you take to achieve these goals?
• What support do you need from me to achieve your goals?
• How will you track or measure your progress on these goals?
• What resources will you need from others to achieve these goals?
• Who do you need to inform or consult with?

Employee signature:
Date:

Reviewer signature:
Date:

Peer-Review Template

It can be beneficial to allow colleagues and/or team members to share their perspective on the team. Having these discussions prior to meeting with your team leader can give you valuable insights into where to focus the discussion with your team leader.

Name:
Date:

Team-Leader Support

• How are your team projects/tasks/responsibilities going?
• How does your team leader support you on these projects/tasks/responsibilities?
• Where are there gaps in that support?
• Is anything missing that you need in order to effectively deliver on time and to quality standards?

Role Fit and Processes

• Is your current role an effective use of your skills and abilities?
• What ideas do you have about how we can better match your skills to your responsibilities?
• What processes on your team are operating smoothly?
• What processes need improvement?

Strengths and Developmental Opportunities

• What are the strengths of your team leader?
• What are some developmental areas you think your team leader needs to work on?

Why Is It Important for Team Leaders to Receive Performance Reviews?

Performance reviews benefit team leaders in five ways:

1. Full Transparency Communicates Feedback

A performance review is an opportunity to communicate positive feedback to team leaders on their strengths. It’s also a chance to provide constructive input in areas that may require improvement. Both types of feedback help team leaders understand how to be more effective in their roles and avoid surprises during year-end reviews.

2. Elevates Teamwork Skills

Each team encompasses a diverse array of personalities, skill sets, strengths, and weaknesses. Performance reviews help leaders boost team performance, which improves motivation and morale.

3. Facilitates Problem Solving

When the reviewer opens a discussion regarding progress towards goals, they may discover valuable insights on what is working or not working with the current structure, processes, and projects. The reviewer and the team leader can take this unique opportunity to collaborate, solve problems together, and overcome obstacles and setbacks in an effort to meet the teams’ business objectives.

4. Nurtures Ongoing Growth

An effective performance review centers on continuous growth. Thus, a review session not only provides an overview of strengths and weaknesses, it also addresses the types of actions the leader should take. These actions can be addressed in the next review, making the process a continual upward progression.

5. Improves Performance

Goal setting and regular accountability elevates results and work performance by 12 to 15%. Setting clear goals as a part of the performance-review process helps leaders stay focused and accountable.

How to Prepare for a Performance Review

Conducting a successful performance review requires four key preparatory steps:

1. Notify the Team Leader Ahead of Time

Let your team leader know about the performance-review meeting at least a week beforehand. Consider sending them an agenda for the meeting, including the potential discussion questions, as this will give them a chance to prepare in advance.

2. Prepare Constructive Input on Strengths and Development Areas

Craft a list of strengths and development areas for the team leader. Both the reviewer and the team leader should come to the meeting with specific, fact-based examples of each strength and area of development. This helps to focus the discussion on observable data to support a plan of action.

3. Focus on Actionable Solutions

Giving people feedback can be hard and uncomfortable. One way to overcome this barrier is to focus on actionable solutions rather than ruminating on past upsets, letdowns, or deficiencies outside of their control. This will encourage a productive, solution-focused conversation and help avoid common pitfalls. Invite the team leader to contribute actionable solutions that are within their sphere of influence and control.

4. Create a Psychologically Safe Environment

Nurturing a psychologically safe space is critical to leading a successful performance-review session. This may involve some or all of the following:

• Establishing clear norms and expectations to eliminate uncertainty or confusion.
• Actively encouraging open communication by modeling your willingness to address concerns directly.
• Demonstrating humility and receptivity when your team leader speaks up and share feedback with you, even if it is information that is uncomfortable for you to hear.
• Carefully listening to understand your team leader’s experience.
• Expressing genuine appreciation for the employee’s growth and contribution to the organization’s growth and efforts.

Invest in Your Team Leaders with CMOE

Invest in your current and prospective team leaders by learning about CMOE’s Leadership Development Workshops. With a goal to maximize their effectiveness, our proven workshops and solutions help leaders achieve their full potential.

Contact us for more information.