Describe your managers, competencies, and review cycle. Makeform creates a manager evaluation form with behavior-based ratings, not-applicable choices, and focused comments for HR review.
Route evaluation responses to Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a review scenario, adapt it, or send it into the builder. Each example shows a practical structure, not a live AI result.
Audience
Employees evaluating their direct manager
Format
Competency ratings with two comment prompts
Prompt size
349 chars
Example form structure
Competency ratings with two comment prompts
Department and manager being evaluated
Sets clear priorities and expectations
Communicates changes in a timely way
What should this manager continue doing?
What one change would help most?
Suggested routing tags
Leadership
Communication
Follow-up needed
Ask about observable manager behaviors rather than personality. Employees can answer more consistently when a rating describes what the manager does.
Step 1
Define
choose observable leadership behaviors
Step 2
Collect
invite employees and explain confidentiality
Step 3
Review
compare themes, ratings, and comments
Step 4
Act
agree on focused development steps
Better upward feedback
Ask one clear idea at a time, let employees choose not observed, and leave space for context.
Replace vague leadership prompts with statements about priorities, decisions, listening, coaching, and follow-through.
Use one labeled scale and include not applicable so missing experience is not forced into a score.
Pair ratings with continue and change prompts so HR receives specific examples.
Choose the review moment
Match the evaluation occasion to HR's decision, then keep questions employees can answer from experience.
A full review aligned with manager expectations and development.
Repeatable questions about communication, clarity, and support.
Early feedback about role clarity and team support.
Contributors evaluate decisions and coordination on completed work.
Build the review
Provide your competency model and review context, then refine the questions for employees.
Name the audience, period, manager group, expected behaviors, and scale labels.
Remove double questions, add not observed, limit demographics, and explain response handling.
After low ratings, request an example; ask everyone for one behavior to continue and one improvement.
Read ratings with comments, protect small groups, and turn repeated themes into development steps.
Evaluation design choices
Choose a quick pulse, full review, or multi-perspective evaluation based on HR's goal.
Field guide
Use six focused sections to move from context to ratings and examples without repetition.
Review context
Ask which manager, project, or review window the response covers. For anonymous collection, avoid employee identity fields and explain collected metadata.
Leadership & direction
Ask whether priorities are clear, tradeoffs are explained, decisions are timely, and commitments are followed instead of rating leadership broadly.
Communication & listening
Cover timeliness, useful detail, listening, and respectful disagreement. Keep meeting quality separate from availability.
Coaching & support
Ask whether feedback is specific, one-on-ones are useful, blockers are addressed, and development has next steps. Include not observed.
Fairness & trust
Ask whether expectations are consistent, contributions are recognized, concerns are handled respectfully, and constraints are explained.
Examples & next actions
Request one behavior to continue and one change to try. Remind employees not to add unnecessary sensitive details.
Related tools
Connect upward feedback with self-evaluations, performance reviews, and engagement surveys.
Collect role-aware feedback from direct reports, peers, and other collaborators.
Open toolGive managers a parallel reflection before their development conversation.
Open toolCreate structured evaluations for managers reviewing employee performance.
Open toolInvite employees to document outcomes, challenges, and development goals.
Open toolMeasure broader workplace conditions alongside manager-specific feedback.
Open toolProvide an ongoing channel for suggestions and workplace observations.
Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for HR teams designing upward feedback that managers can use.
It lets employees assess leadership behaviors they experience, including priorities, communication, listening, coaching, fairness, and support. HR can combine ratings and comments for development. State the review period and intended use.
Ask whether the manager sets expectations, explains decisions, runs useful one-on-ones, gives feedback, removes blockers, recognizes work, and handles concerns respectfully. Include not observed plus continue and change comments.
It depends on the program. Small teams, demographics, and detailed comments may identify someone even without names. Explain how responses are collected, combined, shared, and retained; omit identity fields when unnecessary.
Use one labeled five-point agreement or frequency scale. Keep its direction consistent, include not applicable or not observed, and make every statement describe one behavior.
A fuller annual or semiannual review can pair with a short quarterly pulse. Reviews may also follow a manager's first 90 days or a project. Allow time to observe and respond to change.
Review distributions with related comments, separate not observed from negative ratings, and combine small groups when needed. Summarize repeated behaviors and give the manager a few priorities.
Yes. Makeform supports unlimited free forms and responses, including generating, editing, and publishing your manager evaluation form. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge; it does not unlock additional response capacity.
HR should identify repeated strengths and improvement themes. Agree with the manager on one or two observable actions, support, and a check-in date, then communicate appropriate follow-up to employees.
Make upward feedback easier to give and use.
