Performance Management

Top 100 Performance Review Questions You Should Ask Your Executives For Better Leadership Insights

Wraps up in 16 Minutes

Author: Gavin Altus

Published On April 27, 2026

Are you staring at a blank performance review template, wondering what to ask the person who technically outranks you?

You’re not alone. Reviewing executives is one of the most underutilised and frankly, underdone practices in Australian organisations.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most businesses spend enormous energy reviewing junior and mid-level staff but barely scratch the surface when it comes to assessing the people at the top.

Yet research by Gallup found that managers and executives account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores.

In other words, the person at the top sets the tone for everyone else.

A well-structured executive performance review doesn’t just tick an HR box.

It builds accountability, uncovers blind spots, strengthens culture, and ultimately drives better results across the whole organisation.

Whether you’re a HR leader, board member, or senior people manager, this guide gives you 100 sharp, well-structured performance review questions for executives you can ask them, broken into meaningful categories, with the context you need to use them effectively.

Let’s get into it.

Why Executive Performance Reviews Matter More Than Most People Think

Most executives receive feedback through results, revenue targets met, projects delivered, and headcount grown. But results alone don’t tell the full story.

An executive who hits their numbers by burning out the team is not performing well.

A leader who avoids difficult conversations, micromanages, or fails to develop their direct reports creates organisational damage that won’t show up on a spreadsheet until it’s already too late.

According to a Deloitte survey, 86% of business leaders agree that leadership effectiveness directly impacts organisational performance, yet fewer than half of organisations conduct structured executive reviews with consistent questions and frameworks.

That gap is where things go wrong.

Executive performance reviews done well should:

Create genuine accountability at the top level
Surface behaviours that impact culture, retention, and engagement
Identify development opportunities for senior leaders
Strengthen alignment between the executive’s work and the company’s strategy
Build a psychologically safe environment where honest feedback flows upward
Now, here are the 100 questions that make that possible.

Category 1: Vision and Strategic Leadership (Performance Review Questions 1-10)

Good executives don’t just manage. They lead with clarity and purpose.

These questions test whether your executives set a compelling direction and bring their teams along for the ride.

1. How clearly have you communicated the organisation’s long-term vision to your team?
2. Can you describe a specific instance where your strategic decisions led to a measurable business outcome?
3. How do you ensure your team’s daily work connects to the broader organisational strategy?
4. What major strategic priorities have you set for the next 12 months, and why those?
5. How do you anticipate and respond to disruption or market shifts in your area of responsibility?
6. When your strategy hasn’t delivered as expected, how have you adapted?
7. How do you balance short-term performance pressure with long-term strategic investment?
8. In what ways do you think beyond your function to consider the wider business ecosystem?
9. How do you involve your team in shaping strategic direction?
10. What’s one strategic opportunity you believe the organisation is currently under-exploiting?

Category 2: Communication and Influence (Performance Review Questions 11-20)

An executive who can’t communicate is like a GPS with no signal, technically functional, but not getting anyone anywhere useful.

11. How do you tailor your communication style for different audiences, board, team, clients, and stakeholders?
12. Can you share an example where your communication led to a significant shift in organisational behaviour or culture?
13. How do you ensure important messages land clearly across teams with different levels of context?
14. How do you handle situations where your message is unpopular but necessary?
15. How regularly do you seek feedback on your own communication effectiveness?
16. How do you use storytelling or narrative to make complex business information accessible?
17. When decisions change, how quickly and transparently do you update your team?
18. How do you create space for your team to raise concerns or challenge ideas?
19. What steps do you take to ensure remote or hybrid team members feel equally informed and included?
20. How do you communicate failures or setbacks within your team or to the broader organisation?

Category 3: Team Development and People Leadership (Performance Review Questions 21-30)

The best executives build other leaders.

These questions help you assess whether your executives grow people or just manage them.

21. How do you identify and develop high-potential talent within your team?
22. Can you provide examples of people you’ve directly developed who have moved into senior roles?
23. How do you ensure your team has the skills and capabilities needed for future challenges?
24. How do you approach underperformance on your team, and can you share a real example?
25. What do you do to retain your top performers?
26. How do you build psychological safety so your team members can take risks and learn from failure?
27. How do you ensure diversity and inclusion goals are met within your team beyond just policy compliance?
28. What does your approach to succession planning look like within your area?
29. How do you coach your direct reports differently based on their individual development needs?
30. What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made as a people leader in the past 12 months, and what did you learn from it?

Category 4: Decision-Making and Problem-Solving (Performance Review Questions 31-40)

Executives make high-stakes decisions sometimes with incomplete information, tight timelines, and significant consequences.

These questions reveal how they think under pressure.

31. Walk me through a significant decision you made in the last 12 months. What was your process?
32. How do you weigh short-term risk against long-term value when making major decisions?
33. Can you describe a time you made a decision that didn’t work out? How did you respond?
34. How do you gather input from diverse stakeholders before making significant calls?
35. How do you avoid confirmation bias when evaluating options?
36. When do you make decisions independently versus seeking broader consensus?
37. How do you handle situations where you need to make decisions under significant ambiguity?
38. How do you ensure accountability once a decision is made and delegated?
39. What frameworks or models do you use to evaluate complex problems?
40. How do you know when to reverse a decision versus staying the course?

Category 5: Accountability and Results Delivery (Performance Review Questions 41-50)

Accountability is the backbone of executive performance.

No fluff, no excuses, just an honest assessment of whether the executive delivers what they commit to.

41. What were your three most significant commitments from last year, and how did you track against them?
42. How do you hold yourself accountable when you fall short of a target?
43. How do you balance holding your team accountable while maintaining strong relationships?
44. Can you describe a time you called out underperformance in a peer or stakeholder and how you handled it?
45. How do you set meaningful KPIs for your team that go beyond lagging financial indicators?
46. What systems or habits do you use to track your own progress against goals?
47. How do you handle competing priorities when all of them seem urgent?
48. How do you ensure your team delivers on time without sacrificing quality or well-being?
49. What’s one area where you consistently under-deliver, and what’s your plan to address it?
50. How do you celebrate wins and recognise achievement within your team?

Category 6: Emotional Intelligence and Self-Awareness (Performance Review Questions 51-60)

Research by TalentSmart found that emotional intelligence accounts for 58% of performance in all types of jobs.

At the executive level, this becomes even more pronounced.

51. How would your direct reports describe your leadership style, and how does that compare to how you see yourself?
52. How do you manage your own stress in high-pressure situations, and what impact do you think it has on those around you?
53. Can you share a time when your emotions influenced a decision in a way you later reconsidered?
54. How do you respond when someone challenges you publicly or critiques your decisions?
55. How do you ensure your personal biases don’t affect your talent decisions?
56. What feedback have you received about your leadership that genuinely surprised you?
57. How do you know when you’re operating from fear versus confidence?
58. How do you build genuine trust with people who report to you, not just compliance?
59. In what situations do you tend to be at your best as a leader, and when do you find leadership most difficult?
60. How do you model the behaviours you expect from your team?

Category 7: Culture and Values Leadership (Performance Review Questions 61-70)

Culture is not a poster on the wall. It’s what happens when no one’s watching.

These questions reveal whether your executives actively build and protect it.

61. How do you personally reinforce the organisation’s values in your day-to-day behaviour?
62. Can you describe a specific situation where you had to defend the company’s values under commercial pressure?
63. How do you handle it when a high performer demonstrates values inconsistent with the company’s culture?
64. How do you create an environment where everyone feels they belong regardless of background, identity, or seniority?
65. How do you ensure psychological safety across your team, especially during periods of change?
66. How do you approach building trust with teams that were already established before you joined?
67. What cultural issues do you see emerging within your area of responsibility, and what are you doing about them?
68. How do you ensure meetings and team rituals reflect the values of the organisation?
69. How do you model vulnerability as a leader, and why do you think that matters?
70. What do you think the culture of your team says about your leadership?

Category 8: Innovation and Change Management (Performance Review Questions 71-80)

Australian organisations face rapid change, technological disruption, shifting consumer expectations, regulatory change, and geopolitical volatility.

These questions test whether your executives can lead through it.

71. What significant change have you led in the past year, and how did you bring your team through it?
72. How do you create a culture of innovation where people feel safe to experiment and fail?
73. How do you identify when a process, system, or strategy has outlived its usefulness?
74. How do you balance the risk of innovation with the stability the business needs?
75. Can you share an example of a time you championed change that wasn’t initially popular?
76. How do you ensure your team has the capacity to adapt when priorities shift rapidly?
77. What do you do to stay current with trends, technology, and external forces in your field?
78. How do you manage the human side of change, particularly those who resist or struggle?
79. What’s one area of your function you’d redesign from scratch if you had the opportunity?
80. How do you evaluate which new ideas to pursue versus which to deprioritise?

Category 9: Stakeholder Management and External Relationships (Performance Review Questions 81-90)

Executives don’t just lead teams; they manage upward, sideways, and outward.

These questions explore how well they do it.

81. How do you manage competing expectations from the board, leadership team, customers, and your own team?
82. Can you describe a time you managed a difficult stakeholder relationship and what the outcome was?
83. How do you build strong external partnerships or client relationships that create genuine business value?
84. How do you escalate concerns upward without undermining the organisation’s reputation?
85. How do you ensure your team has visibility and profile with key stakeholders across the business?
86. How do you handle situations where a peer executive’s decisions negatively impact your area?
87. How do you build collaborative relationships across functions to drive organisation-wide outcomes?
88. Can you describe a time you influenced a key external decision or partnership in the past year?
89. How do you balance your organisation’s interests with those of customers and the broader community?
90. What relationships have you invested in this year that you believe will deliver long-term value?

Category 10: Self-Development and Future Growth (Performance Review Questions 91-100)

Great executives never stop learning.

These final questions assess whether your leader is evolving or coasting.

91. What formal or informal development have you pursued in the past 12 months?
92. What feedback have you actively sought this year, and what did you do with it?
93. What capability do you believe you need to develop most in the next 12 months?
94. Who are the people inside or outside the organisation that you actively learn from?
95. How do you maintain your own energy and resilience in a demanding executive role?
96. What’s one leadership belief you’ve held for a long time that you’ve recently had reason to question?
97. If you were to repeat this year, what would you do differently?
98. What’s your honest assessment of your readiness for the next level of responsibility?
99. What support do you need from the organisation to continue developing as a leader?
100. What legacy do you want to leave in this organisation, and how are you building it right now?

How to Use These Performance Review Questions Effectively

Asking 100 questions in a single performance review is not the goal.

That would be exhausting for everyone involved, and frankly, your executive would probably leave halfway through to “take an urgent call.”

Here’s how to use this performance review questions list smartly.

Select 8-12 questions per review cycle. Choose those most relevant to the executive’s role, the organisation’s current priorities, and any known development areas.

Rotate categories across review cycles to cover all dimensions over time.

Share questions in advance. Give executives at least 48 hours to reflect before the conversation.

This isn’t a pop quiz; it’s a leadership conversation that deserves genuine preparation on both sides.

Pair with 360-degree feedback. These questions work best when combined with structured feedback from the executive’s direct reports, peers, and key stakeholders.

Document answers and commitments. Don’t let good insights evaporate.

Capture specific commitments, agreed development actions, and follow-up timelines in writing.

Create psychological safety for honest dialogue. Executives often receive polished, curated feedback that tells them what they want to hear.

Create a review environment where honesty is valued more than comfort.

A Note on Frequency

Annual reviews alone are not enough for executive-level leadership development.

Best practice supported by research from McKinsey and the Australian HR Institute (AHRI) suggests quarterly check-ins with structured touchpoints, supplemented by a comprehensive annual review.

Executives move fast. A once-a-year review means waiting 12 months to course-correct something that might have been fixed in a quarter.

Final Thoughts

Asking great questions is one of the most powerful tools an organisation has for developing its leadership.

These 100 executive performance review questions aren’t just a checklist; they’re an investment in the kind of leadership that builds great teams, drives sustainable results, and creates organisations worth working in.

The Australian business landscape is competitive, fast-moving, and increasingly demanding of authentic, values-driven leadership.

The executives who thrive in this environment are the ones who actively seek feedback, reflect honestly, and commit to continuous growth.

Start with the questions. Have the honest conversations. Then watch what happens to the rest of your organisation.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What questions should be asked in an executive performance review?

An executive performance review should cover strategic leadership, communication, team development, decision-making, accountability, emotional intelligence, values alignment, innovation, stakeholder management, and personal growth. The best questions are open-ended, specific, and connected to real examples, not vague or easily answered with a yes or no.

2. How do you evaluate executive performance?

Executive performance evaluation works best when it combines quantitative metrics (financial results, KPIs, strategic milestones) with qualitative assessment (leadership behaviours, culture contribution, team development, stakeholder feedback). A 360-degree feedback process, structured review conversations, and ongoing check-ins all contribute to a complete picture.

3. What are good performance review questions for managers?

Good performance review questions for managers focus on how they lead people, deliver results, develop talent, communicate, handle conflict, and model company values. Questions like “How do you support your team’s development?” or “Describe a time you handled underperformance, what happened?” reveal leadership quality beyond surface-level metrics.

4. How often should executive performance reviews happen?

Executive performance reviews should happen at least annually as a comprehensive review, with quarterly check-ins to discuss progress, priorities, and development. Some organisations also include mid-year formal reviews. Irregular or infrequent review processes signal that leadership accountability is not a genuine priority.

5. What is a 360-degree review for executives?

A 360-degree review for executives gathers structured feedback from multiple perspectives: direct reports, peers, the board or CEO, external stakeholders, and a self-assessment. It provides a complete view of how the executive’s leadership reaches every level, not just upward. 360 reviews are particularly effective at revealing blind spots that single-source reviews miss.

6. How do you give constructive feedback to an executive?

Give constructive feedback to an executive by anchoring it in specific observable behaviours and real examples, not personal character judgements. Use a structure like the Situation-Behaviour-Impact (SBI) model. Be direct but respectful, focus on what’s changeable, and keep things forward-looking. Executives who operate in high-accountability environments generally respond better to clarity than to cushioned feedback.

7. What should an executive self-assessment include?

An executive self-assessment should include an honest reflection on strategic contributions, leadership behaviours, team development outcomes, missed opportunities, key learnings, and development priorities for the next review period. The best self-assessments are specific and candid, not polished PR statements about how much the executive has accomplished.

8. Why is leadership performance review important?

Leadership performance reviews are important because executives have a disproportionate impact on organisational culture, employee engagement, retention, and business outcomes. Holding leaders accountable to the same standard as the rest of the organisation reinforces a culture of genuine accountability and demonstrates that no one, regardless of seniority, is exempt from growth and feedback.

9. What KPIs are appropriate for executive performance?

Appropriate KPIs for executives include financial results (revenue, margin, cost management), people metrics (engagement scores, retention, talent pipeline strength), strategic milestones (product launches, market expansion, transformation progress), stakeholder satisfaction, and operational efficiency. A balanced scorecard approach that combines financial and non-financial metrics provides the most complete view.

10. How do you measure leadership effectiveness?

Leadership effectiveness can be measured through direct team engagement and retention rates, 360-degree feedback scores, achievement of strategic goals, quality of decision-making over time, culture survey results, and the strength of the executive’s talent pipeline. No single metric captures leadership effectiveness: it requires a multi-dimensional assessment approach.

Disclaimer:

The information provided in this blog post is intended for general educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute professional HR, legal, or organisational development advice. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the content, individual organisational circumstances vary significantly. Readers should consult qualified HR professionals, legal advisors, or organisational development specialists before implementing performance review processes in their organisation. The author and publisher accept no liability for decisions made based on the information contained in this article. References to research and statistics are cited in good faith from publicly available sources at the time of writing.