How to Conduct an Executive Performance Review: Best Practices and Templates

Your company already has a system for the performance review of individual contributors and managers. But what about the executives of your company? In the high-stakes world of executive leadership, performance reviews can profoundly impact your organization’s results.

This article is the go-to guide for executive performance reviews—packed with templates, best practices, and expert insights on navigating the unique challenges of evaluating those at the helm.

You’ll get the tools and knowledge to establish a fair, transparent, and effective performance review process for executives that drives organizational success and executive development.

Unique challenges in executive performance reviews

Executive performance reviews differ significantly from standard employee evaluations and even from assessments where regular managers participate due to a couple of key factors:

Dealing with the high stakes, complexities, and sensitivities involved

Leaders tend to handle multifaceted roles that encompass strategic decision-making, fostering innovation, managing stakeholders, and setting the organizational culture. Hence, executive reviews should deeply consider how leadership strategies align with and drive the broader corporate strategy—a level of analysis rarely present in standard employee evaluations.

For instance, if regular manager assessments typically focus on day-to-day performance, executive evaluations need a more holistic view, considering individual achievements and their impact on the entire company ecosystem.

Since these reviews heavily influence the organization’s future trajectory, the stakes are significantly higher compared to assessments for regular employees. Therefore, ensuring objectivity is crucial in executive reviews due to their high impact on the organization.

Ensuring executives are driving the company’s strategic objectives

Executive reviews emphasize strategic alignment, vision, and long-term goals impacting the entire organization. In contrast, standard employee appraisals often concentrate on individual tasks and short-term objectives.

Assessing executives involves evaluating their impact on the company’s overall direction, growth, and market positioning, which goes beyond the scope of most employees’ roles.

Relevant stakeholders (Board members) may lack the proximity or insight to offer feedback

Executives often miss out on getting the feedback they need. Joan Garry, who’s an expert in coaching executives, points out that these leaders don’t always get the support or the constructive pointers that can help them grow in their roles:

The people who should be giving feedback to executives, like Board members, might not be close enough to the day-to-day operations to give helpful advice. Or, they may hesitate to share honest feedback with someone in such a high position.

This lack of detailed, regular feedback can leave Executive Directors without a clear understanding of their performance, impeding their professional development.

Therefore, you need to create a structured approach to executive performance reviews, ensuring comprehensive, honest, and regular feedback.

The final goal is to foster an environment where continual learning and development are encouraged and ingrained in the leadership culture.

Key components of effective executive reviews

Effective executive reviews typically encompass the following key components:

• Clear role expectations and accountabilities: Your executives should have clear job descriptions, roles, and responsibilities aligned with the organization’s strategic goals. Use these as a point of reference
• Objective performance metrics: Executives work toward achieving specific business objectives. You can assess their performance against the progress against goals and OKRs
• Qualitative assessments: For a more comprehensive evaluation of an executive’s performance, we recommend running assessments starting with peers and direct reports
• Clearly communicated performance evaluation method: Your executives should stay in the loop with the timeline and components of the system. The last thing you want is blindsiding them with an impromptu evaluation. As a bonus tip, ensure your preferred performance management system remains adaptable to changing organizational needs and industry trends
• Alignment with long-term goals: Keep the organizational strategy and success front and center of the evaluation. Your executives are ultimately responsible for your company’s success, so their vision for the future is highly relevant for assessing their performance

Mark A. Pfister, CEO and Chief Board Consultant of M. A. Pfister Strategy Group, highlights seven core thematic elements that a C-level review should cover:

• Financial performance: Is the company meeting its expected and agreed financial performance?
• Mission alignment: Is the organization meeting customer and employee expectations and obligations?
• Talent development: Is the company’s overall knowledge base increasing? Are needed and new expertise areas being filled?
• Board partnership: Are the company’s executives partnering with the Board?
• Values & culture impact: Are the company’s executives able, willing, and actively infusing the organization’s values throughout all endeavors to protect and elevate the culture?
• Innovation alignment: Can the company’s executives simultaneously stay focused on the organization’s vision while not losing sight of the mission?
• Relationship building: Do the company’s executives cultivate relationships internally and externally?

He also suggests additional factors, such as e ESG, risk, and human capital.

Strategic executive performance review questions

Here are some strategic questions to include in a performance review for executives, focusing on their scope, impact, and alignment with organizational objectives:

Goal achievement and strategic alignment

1. How effectively have you advanced the organization’s strategic objectives over the past period?
   (Follow-up: What specific actions did you take to align your team’s goals with these larger objectives?)
2. What measurable impact have your initiatives had on the organization’s growth or competitive position?
   (Follow-up: Can you provide specific examples or metrics?)

Leadership and team development

1. How have you contributed to the development and growth of your leadership team?
   (Follow-up: What succession planning or leadership development initiatives have you implemented?)
2. How would you evaluate your leadership effectiveness in fostering collaboration, innovation, and alignment across departments?

Financial and operational performance

1. How have you influenced the organization’s financial performance, including revenue growth, profitability, and cost control?
   (Follow-up: What operational efficiencies or innovations have you introduced?)
2. What strategic decisions have you made that directly impacted key financial metrics (e.g., revenue, margin, EBITDA)?

Risk management and crisis leadership

1. How have you navigated risks or unforeseen challenges in your role, and what steps did you take to mitigate those risks?
   (Follow-up: How did your leadership impact the organization during uncertainty or crisis?)
2. What future risks do you foresee for the organization, and how are you preparing to address them?

Innovation and long-term vision

1. How have you driven innovation within your team and across the organization?
   (Follow-up: Can you describe initiatives that resulted in new product development, service improvement, or market expansion?)
2. What is your long-term vision for the organization, and what actions have you taken to ensure sustainable growth?

Stakeholder engagement and influence

1. How have you strengthened relationships with key stakeholders (e.g., board members, investors, partners) to advance organizational goals?
   (Follow-up: What impact did these relationships have on business outcomes?)
2. How would you assess your communication and influence with external partners and internal teams in driving strategic initiatives?

Organizational culture and change leadership

1. What role have you played in shaping and sustaining the organization’s culture?
   (Follow-up: How have you aligned cultural initiatives with the company’s values and business strategy?)
2. How have you led organizational change efforts, and what outcomes have resulted from those initiatives?

Corporate social responsibility and sustainability

1. What actions have you taken to ensure the organization meets its social responsibility and sustainability goals?
   (Follow-up: How have these initiatives contributed to the company’s reputation and long-term success?)

Self-assessment and continuous improvement

1. How would you assess your personal performance as an executive, and what areas do you see for your improvement?
2. What resources or support do you need to enhance your ability to achieve strategic goals in the coming period?

These questions are designed to prompt executives to reflect on their broader impact, leadership effectiveness, and contributions to the organization’s success while also driving accountability for future performance.

Executive director performance evaluation templates

County of Santa Clara’s Executive Leadership Performance Evaluation template

This Executive Leadership Performance Evaluation template from the county of Santa Clara thoroughly breaks down several key components of an evaluation process, starting from a self-assessment and getting the executive to identify their goals for the following year.

This template is excellent for getting executives to look beyond their progress and tap into the changes they want to see for their own department, leadership, vision, and inspiration.

Finally, a supervisor is asked to chime in and validate this self-assessment.

The Management Center’s sample ED performance evaluation form

This performance evaluation form from the Management Center is structured in four parts by logically progressing through:

• The results achieved
• How they were achieved
• Future plans
• A mix of feedback for Board and board self-reflection

Compared to the previous template, this one uses a Likert scale to analyze whether the executive’s performance met expectations.

Find out which performance rating scale would work best in your case by considering regular executive responsibilities and your performance review goals.

Executive Director Performance Appraisal from the Board & Administrator for Administrators Only journal

This Executive Director performance appraisal template ingeniously breaks down the executive review process into every individual’s core responsibilities.

This approach allows for both self- and board ratings to reflect upon the details of an executive’s performance by looking at past performance and results.

Best practices for conducting performance reviews for executives

Now that you’ve got the template ready, it’s time to tweak your performance review process for executives. Here are our top best practices:

Ensuring a common understanding of performance criteria

Communicate expectations early and regularly remind executive of these criteria to ensure they understand what’s expected of them and how their performance will be assessed.

You should also collaborate with executives themselves to set clear, measurable goals aligned with organizational objectives. Start by establishing specific metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate success, ensuring executives understand the criteria for performance measurements.

Sharing regular feedback

Set up periodic review meetings throughout the year, providing opportunities for consistent feedback. These sessions should occur at strategic intervals to address progress, challenges, and opportunities for improvement.

Don’t forget about the importance of real-time feedback. In addition to promoting a culture that relies on feedback, you could acknowledge achievements promptly to reinforce positive behaviors and contributions. Plus, address issues or provide positive reinforcement in real-time rather than waiting for scheduled review meetings.

Ensuring transparency

The classic advice of sharing performance expectations openly and consistently with executives and avoiding ambiguity applies to executives, too.

Plus, you’ll want to ensure they have access to a clear outline of the steps and timeline for the review process so they’ll know what’s next.

Involving various stakeholders

Make 360-degree feedback a must in your executive performance review process. Gather feedback from various stakeholders, including peers, subordinates, board members, and external partners. This provides a comprehensive view of the executive’s performance and impact.

Add peer assessments by encouraging fellow executives to assess (even if anonymously) the executive’s collaboration, communication, management style, and impact within the organizational ecosystem.

These insights will further provide a lateral view that complements feedback from superiors and subordinates.

Including a self-assessment

Self-assessments encourage critical thinking and give executives time to reflect on achievements, challenges, strengths, areas for growth, and their contributions to the organization’s objectives. Beyond this, self-assessment aids in identifying personal strengths and weaknesses, allowing executives to take ownership of their growth.

As you might have noticed, a lot of the templates above included a final board evaluation for this self-assessment, too.

Board members bring an independent perspective, assessing the executive’s performance from a governance standpoint.

So, these evaluations can assess the executive’s alignment with the Board’s strategic direction and objectives.

Taking advantage of tools and platforms that facilitate effective and fair evaluations

Leveraging specific tools and platforms can significantly streamline the executive performance review process while ensuring objectivity and fairness. The right tool can do everything from running 360 feedback processes to tracking goals and ensuring you can provide continuous feedback!

Considering the strategic nature of executive roles for picking a frequency

The frequency of executive performance reviews can vary based on organizational needs, industry dynamics, and the pace of change within the company. Generally, though, organizations run them on a quarterly or annual basis.

We’re fans of bi-annual and continuous check-ins. Opting for bi-annual or quarterly reviews will provide more frequent feedback and course corrections. This is especially useful in fast-paced industries where rapid adjustments and realignment are necessary. While these will give the formal feedback you need, you don’t want to skip on ongoing feedback.

Continuous check-ins enable a more dynamic approach, allowing for real-time adjustments and developmental discussions. This is a prerequisite to fostering a culture of continuous improvement and agility in responding to changing market conditions.

Measuring the qualitative aspects of executive performance

360-degree feedback is one surefire way to get accurate qualitative insights into the executive performance review.

You can pair this with behavioral assessments or psychometric tools to gauge leadership traits like adaptability, empathy, and resilience.

Alternatively, you can look at actual metrics and results. Evaluate executives’ past decisions, analyzing the decision-making process, rationale, and outcomes. Assess the quality of decisions based on risk management practices, evaluating the alignment of decisions with strategic objectives.

Download our free leadership competency model template to get a comprehensive list of key leadership competencies with over 250 behavioral indicators, performance metrics, and KPIs to assess your leader’s mastery of each competency.

Tailor the performance reviews for top leaders and ensure strategic success with Deel Engage

Deel Engage is a performance development software that makes implementing continuous development a breeze. We offer many different functionalities for enabling your entire workforce, from individual contributors to executives:

• Establish and track goals at departmental, team, and individual levels that align with the company’s objectives
• Consolidate these goals with performance reviews as an objective method to measure performance
• Conduct 360-degree evaluations without the hassle of scattered spreadsheets and overwhelmed managers handling the process
• Gather confidential feedback—through company-wide surveys, peer-to-peer performance input, or any other form—you have full freedom to design your feedback forms, fostering transparency and ownership of the process
• Evaluate and refine leadership skills by combining competency models, feedback, and learning

In addition, Deel HR, our truly global HRIS solution, is always included for free.

Book a free demo to learn how to automate performance reviews and talent management in your organization.