Whether you're a manager or an employee, partaking in performance reviews can be a stressful situation.

It's not necessarily a joy having someone pick out all of your weaknesses and potentially hit you with tough questions you may not know the answer to. But it doesn't have to be all bad. It's easy to forget that performance reviews can also lead to positives, like hearing constructive criticism, improving employee engagement, or getting positive feedback regarding a project that was completed successfully.

A performance review, otherwise referred to as a performance appraisal, employee evaluation, or employee review, can be done monthly, quarterly, at each half, or annually. The overall performance of an employee or supervisor can be evaluated based on numerous criteria, depending on the type that is being conducted.