Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer & Financial Projections
How Do You Write a Performance Review for a Small Business Employee?
Your Best Employee Might Leave Without Ever Hearing She Was Good.
You never sit down with your team to talk about their work. They know what they are doing, you figure. Then your best worker leaves for a competitor, and a customer starts finding short orders. Business consultant Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, has worked through this with 1,000+ owners. This page covers how to write a one-page performance review that actually helps people.
Last Updated: 11/08/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
The Definition
What Is a Performance Review?
Short Answer
A performance review is a scheduled one-on-one where a manager and an employee look at that person’s recent work against what the role requires. The best small business version fits on a single page, starts with the employee’s own assessment, and closes with a strength to keep, an improvement to make, and a target to hit.
One-page review = job standards + their self-assessment + a strength + an improvement + a target
Doctor Owl, in Plain English
“You told the whole crew what you thought of each of them, all at once, and they nodded. Nodding is not a review. Ask them first.”
How This Guide Works
Need the answer fast? Read the Short Answer above and the numbered steps. Want the full picture? Follow Grist, a mole who runs the mill from Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series, as he has never once told his crew how they are doing. His story shows up in a few short gold notes along the way. The math sits in one section, clearly marked.
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Meet Grist: Thirty Years, No Word
Some lessons stick better as a story. Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series teaches business through a forest full of small business owners. Doctor Owl, a dry-witted consultant who lives in the Lone Oak, helps them fix the same problems real owners face.
Today he is at the Low Root Mill, where Grist the Mole has run the millstone for thirty years. Grist does not talk much, and he has never told his crew how they are doing. His best worker ever, a young shrew, just left for a bakery over the ridge. And Louie, who buys flour for his café, has started finding sacks that come up short.
Why It Matters
Why Do Small Businesses Need Performance Reviews?
Without a regular conversation, people guess how they are doing. Good workers do not hear that they are valued, so a competitor’s offer looks better than it should. Struggling workers do not hear what to change, so small problems become habits.
Reviews have a bad reputation because many are once-a-year lectures with a form nobody reads. A short, regular, two-way performance review is different: it is the cheapest retention and quality tool a small business has.
In the Fabled Forest
The shrew was the most skilled worker the mill had ever employed, with an ear for the millstone sharper than Grist’s own. She left after three years, and Grist realized he had never once told her she was good.
What Goes On It
What Should a Small Business Performance Review Include?
- The job’s standards. Three lines, specific and measurable, taken from the job itself. Tie them to a simple key performance indicator where you can.
- Their view first. Ask how they think it has gone before you say anything.
- One thing to keep. Something specific they do well.
- One thing to change. The single most important improvement, with how to do it.
- One goal. Something to learn or achieve by the next review.
In the Fabled Forest
Grist’s first attempt: he stayed up past midnight writing notes on all four crew members, then read all four pages aloud to the whole crew at once. The crew nodded through all of it, praise and complaints alike, and then picked up their tools. Nothing changed.
Running It
How Do You Hold a Performance Review Conversation?
Meet one person at a time, privately, for about twenty minutes. Read the standards. Ask how they think it has gone. Listen. Then agree the keep, the change, and the goal, and write them on the page. Hold reviews on a schedule, such as twice a year, so they are routine, not a sign of trouble.
If performance is seriously below standard, the review is the start of a clearer plan, not the end. See feedback on poor performance.
In the Fabled Forest
The young mole who fills the sacks said he was fast and tied them tight, but sometimes guessed which cart they went on. Keep: being fast and cheerful. Change: fill every sack to the line and weigh one in ten. Goal: by spring, learn to adjust the flour chute himself.
The Numbers
What Did Twenty Minutes Per Person Fix?
Here is what the mill’s first real reviews cost in time and what they changed.
| Result | |
|---|---|
| Time per review | About 20 minutes |
| Total for a crew of four | About 80 minutes |
| Short sacks found by the café, next two weeks | 0 of 10 |
| By the end of the month | 40 full sacks in a row |
Step 1: The cost. 4 people × 20 minutes = 80 minutes, twice a year.
Step 2: The return. No more short sacks to the café, a customer who sent a thank-you note, and a crew that knows the standard.
Step 3: Your version. Add up review time for your team. Compare it with the cost of one quality problem or one good person leaving.
Illustrative numbers from the book. Use your own team size and quality measures.
Step by Step
How Do You Write a One-Page Performance Review?
Four steps for each person on your team.
Write three standards for the job.
Specific and measurable, from the work itself.
Ask for their view first.
How do you think it has gone? Then listen.
Agree one keep, one change, one goal.
Write them on the page together.
Schedule the next one.
Twice a year is a good rhythm for most small businesses.
In the Fabled Forest
Doctor Owl’s scroll for Grist set the rhythm at twice a year and put the crew member’s own view at the start of every conversation.
Grist’s Full Story
What Did Grist Write to the Shrew?
This page gives you the short version. The book gives you the whole month: a millstone dressed alone for thirty years, a page about each crew member written until two in the morning, four creatures who nodded, twenty minutes with the door shut, a note from the café, and a very short letter sent over the ridge.
Every chapter of Human Resources for Small Businesses works the same way. One owner, one problem, one real idea you can use on Monday, plus a one-page worksheet to do it.
A Business Consultant’s View
What Would a Consultant Put on a Review Form?
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA · Business Consultant
A review form Dr. Paul builds for a small business fits on one page and has five boxes: three job standards at the top, the employee’s own view, one thing to keep, one thing to change, and one goal with a date. That is all. Long forms with ratings on twenty competencies take an hour to fill in and nobody remembers them a week later. The short version gets used, and it is easy to look back at last time’s goal. He also coaches owners to let the employee talk first, because most people already know where they are struggling and will say so if asked. The owner’s job is mostly to agree, clarify, and write it down.
FAQ
What Gets Asked Most About Reviewing Employees?
How do you write a performance review for a small business employee?
How often should small businesses do performance reviews?
Should the employee speak first in a review?
Keep Going
More on Managing Performance
This is foundation 13 of 20. These pages build on it. New to a term on this page? Every one is in the human resources glossary.
Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, business consultant and author with 14+ years of experience and 1,000+ clients served. Hiring, paying, or managing a team and want a second set of eyes? See business consulting and prices.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, employment, or other professional advice. Figures are illustrations. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.