You finally sit down to review your team lead.

Slack is still pinging. A client wants an update. Someone’s asking about leave approvals.

And your “notes” are three screenshots, one vague memory from August, and a spreadsheet you already resent.

So you do what most people do under pressure. You improvise questions.

That’s how reviews become political.

Performance review questions for team leads are a structured set of prompts you use to evaluate a team lead’s impact across two lanes:

• Delivery: Did work ship, reliably, with quality?
  
  
• Leadership: Did the team become clearer, faster, and more capable because of this person?
  
  

The questions are not the review. The questions are the steering wheel. If they’re weak, you drift into “general impressions.” If they’re sharp, you get evidence, trade-offs, and a clean growth plan.

Why it matters (consequences)

Team leads sit in the most fragile layer of the org chart. They translate strategy into tasks, and team reality back into leadership language. When you review them poorly, you tend to see these patterns:

• High performers quietly disengage because expectations feel random.
  
  
• Mediocre performance gets rewarded because visibility beats substance.
  
  
• Managers burn time debating ratings instead of improving execution.
  
  

Also, feedback timing matters. Research-backed guidance consistently points to ongoing performance conversations, not a single annual event, as the healthier model for performance management.

Gallup’s work on feedback and engagement is blunt: people respond to meaningful feedback that feels current, not historical commentary that arrives once the year is basically over.

Now layer in realistic constraints I see all the time across African companies:

• You might manage across time zones and unstable connectivity.
  
  
• KPIs are fuzzy because roles are evolving fast.
  
  
• Documentation is inconsistent because “we’re moving.”
  
  
• HR may not have the bandwidth to design a perfect system.
  
  

That’s not a reason to avoid structure. It’s a reason to simplify it.

Common mistakes team leads make (and managers accidentally reinforce)

Here are six mistakes that turn reviews into awkward theater.

1. Reviewing personality instead of outputs
   
   
   
   • “You’re not proactive” is not feedback. It’s a vibe.
     
     
   • Replace it with: “In Q3, two launches slipped because dependencies were not surfaced early.”
     
     
2. Only asking retrospective questions
   
   
   
   • If your questions do not force a forward plan, you get apologies, not growth.
     
     
3. No evidence standard
   
   
   
   • You ask “How did the quarter go?” and accept a story.
     
     
   • Better: “Show me two shipped examples, one miss, and what changed.”
     
     
4. Mixing pay decisions with growth, without naming it
   
   
   
   • People hear “compensation” even when you mean “development.”
     
     
   • If you do both in one meeting, you need clean sections.
     
     
5. Using one question set for everyone
   
   
   
   • Team leads are not senior ICs. Leadership behaviors must be evaluated: delegation, coaching, clarity, operational cadence.
     
     
6. Letting the loudest stakeholder define performance
   
   
   
   • One angry internal customer can hijack the narrative.
     
     
   • You need multi-source input, even if it’s lightweight.
     
     

If you want a credibility check, you can compare these failure modes with how HR bodies advise managers to prepare, document, and deliver performance discussions. For example, SHRM emphasizes preparation, documentation, and clear expectations as core to effective reviews.

Step-by-step: How to run a team lead review using questions that get real answers

Step 0: Decide what this review is for (pay, promotion, growth, or all three)

Write one sentence before you schedule anything:

• Promotion readiness: “Can this person lead a larger scope with less supervision?”
  
  
• Growth: “What must change in the next 60–90 days for higher impact?”
  
  
• Calibration: “How does this lead compare to peers at the same level?”
  
  
• Compensation input: “What evidence supports pay decisions?”
  
  

If you do not pick a primary purpose, you get a messy meeting.

Step 1: Collect evidence fast (without building a spreadsheet monster)

Time constraint acknowledgement #1: you probably have 30 minutes for prep, not 3 hours.

Here’s the minimal evidence set that works:

• 3 outcomes shipped (links, screenshots, client notes, release notes)
  
  
• 1 meaningful miss (slip, incident, churn risk, quality issue)
  
  
• 1 people signal (retention risk, team conflict, onboarding fail, engagement pulse)
  
  
• 1 stakeholder signal (cross-functional partner feedback)
  
  

If you need a lightweight structure, this is exactly where a tool helps. I’ve seen teams stop the “where is the latest file?” chaos by using a single place to run reviews and store inputs. A module like Talstack Performance Reviews can hold self review, manager review, and 360 inputs together, so you are not chasing email threads. (It matters more than it sounds when review season hits.)

Step 2: Ask the right questions by category

You will get better answers if every question forces one of these:

• an example
  
  
• a metric or artifact
  
  
• a trade-off
  
  
• a change in behavior
  
  

Korn Ferry’s manager question set is a helpful anchor because it pushes for reflection and manager accountability (what helped, what hindered).

Step 3: Score with a simple rubric (so “vibes” don’t win)

Culture constraint acknowledgement #2: many orgs avoid direct scoring because it feels confrontational.

You can still score privately, then discuss evidence openly.

Use a 4-point scale:

• 1 = below
  
  
• 2 = developing
  
  
• 3 = strong
  
  
• 4 = exceptional
  
  

Force each score to cite evidence.

Step 4: Close with a growth plan and follow-ups

Documentation constraint acknowledgement #3: if you do not write the plan down, it becomes folklore.

Close with:

• Keep doing (2 items)
  
  
• Stop or change (1–2 items)
  
  
• Start doing (1–2 items)
  
  
• One capability build (skill)
  
  
• Next review date (30 or 45 days)
  
  

If you run OKRs, connect the plan to goals. If you don’t, write 2–3 quarterly priorities as pseudo-OKRs. A system like Talstack Goals is useful here because it ties review outcomes to quarterly targets and shows progress without manual updates.

Question bank: Performance review questions for team leads

Delivery and execution (run this when you need clarity on outcomes)

Use these when your team lead is “busy” but impact feels hard to describe.

• What are the 3 most important outcomes you owned this cycle?
  For each: what shipped, when, and what changed because of it?
  
  
• Pick one deliverable you’re proud of. Why?
  What would you do differently if you had two more weeks?
  
  
• Where did execution slip?
  Was it scope, dependencies, estimation, quality, or staffing?
  
  
• What did you stop doing to protect priority work?
  If nothing was stopped, you likely overcommitted.
  
  
• What risks did you surface early? Which ones did you surface late?
  What would “early” look like next cycle?
  
  
• How did you manage quality?
  Give an example of a bug, incident, or customer complaint and how recurrence was prevented.
  
  

Leading people (coaching, delegation, feedback)

This is where most team lead reviews are weak. Everyone asks about delivery and forgets that leads multiply or shrink capacity.

• Who on your team grew the most this cycle? What did you do to drive that?
  I’m looking for coaching actions, not “they’re talented.”
  
  
• Where did you under-delegate?
  What work did you keep because it felt faster to do yourself?
  
  
• How do you run 1:1s in reality?
  Frequency, structure, and one example where it changed an outcome.
  
  
• Give an example of tough feedback you delivered.
  What was the behavior, what was the agreement, what changed?
  
  
• What signals tell you someone is struggling?
  And what do you do in the first 7 days?
  
  
• How do you recognize good work?
  Specific examples, not “I shout people out.”
  
  

Research-backed sources describe feedback as part of formal performance management and also as developmental input like 360 processes. If you want to justify multi-rater feedback without sounding trendy, CIPD’s evidence work is a strong reference point.

Communication and stakeholder management

A team lead can ship and still be a problem if cross-functional relationships are brittle.

• Which stakeholder relationship improved this cycle? Why?
  
  
• Which stakeholder relationship got worse? What happened?
  
  
• How do you set expectations when priorities change?
  Describe the last time scope changed mid-sprint or mid-week.
  
  
• How do you communicate delays?
  What do you share, and how early?
  
  
• When you disagree with leadership, what do you do?
  Give one example. I’m testing maturity.
  
  

Planning and prioritization

This category matters a lot in Africa-based teams where fire drills are normal and roadmaps change.

• What was your planning cadence? Weekly planning? Sprint planning? Daily standups?
  If you have no cadence, you have reactive work.
  
  
• What did you deprioritize?
  Name it. Explain the trade-off.
  
  
• How do you translate company goals into team tasks?
  Show me the chain from objective to work items.
  
  
• What assumptions did you make that turned out wrong?
  What will you do differently?
  
  

Quality, process, and operational hygiene

This is the “unsexy” layer that keeps teams functional.

• What recurring issue did you eliminate?
  A repeated bug class, repeated customer complaint, repeated delay type.
  
  
• What process did you introduce that stuck?
  Why did it stick?
  
  
• Where is the team still fragile?
  Single points of failure, unclear ownership, missing runbooks.
  
  
• If you were sick for two weeks, what would break first?
  That answer points directly to documentation debt.
  
  

If you want a practitioner reference for the kind of “better questions” that extract specifics (proud accomplishments, goals met, blockers, manager support), Quantum Workplace’s examples are solid.

Hiring, onboarding, and capability building (if the lead owns people growth)

• How did onboarding go for new joiners?
  What was the time-to-productivity? What evidence do you have?
  
  
• What skills are missing on the team right now?
  And what is your plan: hire, train, redesign work, or drop scope?
  
  
• What training did you encourage or assign?
  What changed after?
  
  

This is a natural place to mention enablement tools without sounding like an ad. If you already run internal training docs or Loom videos, Talstack Upload Your Own Content can turn them into trackable learning content with quizzes. If you prefer external learning, Talstack Course Catalogue and Learning Paths can cover baseline skills (analytics, operations, project management) while you focus on coaching.

Values and culture in the day-to-day

Culture talk gets fluffy fast. Keep it behavioral.

• What behavior did you model that you want your team to copy?
  
  
• What did you tolerate that you should not have?
  
  
• When the team was under pressure, what did you prioritize?
  
  
• How do you handle conflict between two strong performers?
  
  

Self-review questions for team leads (send this 48 hours before the meeting)

Use these as the self-review template.

• What outcomes did you own this cycle? Link artifacts.
  
  
• What did you learn that changed how you work?
  
  
• What was the biggest constraint: time, tools, skills, unclear direction, staffing?
  
  
• Where did you drop the ball? What will you change?
  
  
• What do you need from me (manager) to do better work?
  
  
• If you could rewrite one decision you made this cycle, which one and why?
  
  

This aligns with the “preparation” emphasis you’ll see in manager guidance from sources like HBR and SHRM.

360 questions (peers + direct reports)

360 feedback can be high drama if you do it with no guardrails. Keep it short.

Peer questions (3–5 items)

• What does this lead do that helps you do your job better?
  
  
• Where do they create friction? One example.
  
  
• How reliable are they on commitments and communication?
  
  
• What should they keep doing next cycle?
  
  

Direct report questions (3–5 items)

• Do you get clear priorities from your lead?
  
  
• Do you get useful feedback that helps you improve?
  
  
• Do you feel safe raising risks or mistakes?
  
  
• What is one thing your lead could do to support you better?
  
  

If you want to operationalize this, Talstack 360 Feedback keeps it contained, and Competency Tracking helps you map feedback to leadership behaviors (delegation, coaching, communication) instead of random commentary.

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Quick Checklist (use this the day before the review)

• Confirm the review purpose (growth, promotion, pay input)
• Ask for self-review 48 hours before
• Pull 3 shipped outcomes + 1 miss + 1 people signal + 1 stakeholder signal
• Select 8–12 questions from the bank (do not freestyle the whole meeting)
• Draft 3 feedback bullets with examples
• Decide 2 goals for next cycle and how you’ll measure them
• Block 10 minutes after the meeting to write the plan

If you’re running reviews at scale, this is where lightweight tooling earns its keep. Teams often use Talstack Analytics to track completion rates, 360 response rates, and goal progress during review season, instead of chasing status updates.

Copy-paste scripts (keep it calm, keep it specific)

Script 1: Opening the meeting (2 minutes)

“Here’s what I want this review to do: align on your impact as a team lead, and leave with a clear plan for the next cycle.
We’ll cover delivery, leadership, and how we work with stakeholders.
When we talk about feedback, I’ll use examples. If you disagree, flag it and we’ll look at evidence together.”

Script 2: Delivering tough feedback without drama

“I want to talk about one pattern that hurt outcomes.
In [specific situation], we missed [specific result] because [specific behavior].
The impact was [stakeholder/customer/team impact].
Next cycle, I want you to do [new behavior] by [time], and we’ll check it in our 1:1s.”

Script 3: Turning the review into a growth plan

“For the next cycle, I want you to focus on two things.
One delivery goal: [goal + measure].
One leadership goal: [goal + measure].
What support do you need from me to make that realistic?”

FAQs 

How many performance review questions for team leads should I ask in one meeting?

Aim for 8–12. Fewer than 8 and you miss leadership behaviors. More than 12 and you lose depth. Use categories: delivery, people leadership, stakeholders, ops hygiene.

Should team leads get 360 feedback?

Sometimes. If you have trust and a basic feedback culture, yes, but keep it short (3–5 questions each group). CIPD’s evidence work treats multi-source feedback as a legitimate development input when handled carefully.

What if our KPIs are unclear or the role keeps changing?

Then your questions must test decision-making and prioritization:

• What did you stop doing?
• What trade-offs did you make?
• How did you communicate changing scope?

Also, write 2–3 quarterly priorities even if you do not have a formal OKR system. Make them measurable enough to reduce argument later.

What questions should I ask a team lead who is technically strong but struggles with leadership?

Use:

• Where did you under-delegate?
• Who grew because of your coaching?
• Give an example of tough feedback you delivered.
• What did you tolerate that hurt the team?

Then set one leadership goal that is observable (weekly 1:1 cadence, delegation plan, documented expectations).

How do I prevent bias and favoritism in team lead reviews?

• Require evidence for scores
• Use the same rubric for all team leads
• Pull one peer signal and one direct report signal (even informally)
• Write decisions down

SHRM’s manager guidance strongly emphasizes preparation and documentation to support fair, effective reviews.

Are annual-only reviews enough?

Usually no. Guidance from credible HR bodies frames performance management as a continuous cycle with regular feedback, not an isolated annual event.

What if I do not have time for all this?

You still have time for the minimum viable version:

• 30 minutes prep
• self-review template
• 10 questions
• 2 goals
• 1 follow-up check-in

The alternative is paying the time later in rework, attrition, and repeated misunderstandings.

Where can I find “good” questions that do not feel scripted?

Two good starting points:

• Korn Ferry’s question set for performance conversations, including manager accountability questions (helped vs hindered).
• Quantum Workplace’s examples that push for specifics and future focus.

One next step

Pick 10 questions from the bank above, paste them into a one-page review doc, and run your next team lead review with evidence links beside each answer. Then schedule a 30-day follow-up.