In this course you learn to conduct performance and appraisal interviews professionally. You practise conversation techniques, giving feedback and dealing with resistance.
Free cancellation up to four weeks before the start, so feel free to book now.
In brief. Conducting Performance and Appraisal Interviews is a 2-day classroom course. You can take it in Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Rotterdam among others, or online, in a group of no more than 8 participants. The price is EUR 1250,- excl. VAT per participant, including course materials, lunch on location and a certificate of attendance. We also run this course for a team or department in-company.




Your trainer: Saar, Rob, Emma or Joris 1.258 evaluations in total, averaging 8,8. View the trainers
Conducting performance and appraisal interviews requires preparation, structure and the right conversation techniques. In this course you work on a professional approach that motivates your staff and results in concrete agreements.
In this course you will learn how to conduct performance reviews and appraisal interviews in a professional manner. You will gain insight into the differences between the two types of interview and discover when to use which within the Performance Management Cycle.
You work on thorough preparation, a clear conversation structure and the deliberate use of conversation techniques such as listening, probing and summarising. You also practise evaluating objectively, giving and receiving feedback, and dealing with emotions and resistance. Tools such as the STAR method and SMART objectives are covered in detail.
The course is practical in nature: you actively work with realistic situations from your own working practice, so that you can apply what you have learned directly in your conversations with employees.
For teams and organisations. If you want all managers in your organisation to prepare and conduct these conversations in the same way, we offer this course in-company for a management team or a group of managers. In consultation with you, we use examples from your own workplace.
After this course you will conduct appraisal and performance review meetings that make a difference. You know the difference between the two types of meeting and when to use each within the Performance Management Cycle.
You prepare meetings in a structured way and stay in control during the meeting itself. By listening attentively, asking follow-up questions and summarising, you get to the heart of the matter more quickly. You map out your employees' strengths and pitfalls objectively using the STAR method.
You will also deal better with emotions and resistance at the table. You give and receive feedback in a way that motivates, and you close conversations with clear conclusions and SMART agreements that you and your employee can genuinely work with.
This course is intended for (HR) managers and team leaders who want to become skilled in conducting appraisal and performance review meetings. Whether you have just started managing people or already have years of experience: you will learn how to conduct these conversations professionally and effectively.
The course is also suitable for team leaders, heads of department, coordinators and business owners with staff who hold annual performance, appraisal or review meetings with their employees, in any sector.
The course is practical and interactive in design. After an intake, the trainer tailors the programme to your learning objectives and your working situation. You actively practise with realistic conversation exercises, role plays and case studies from your own practice. You receive direct feedback from the trainer and the other participants.
We work in small groups of no more than eight participants, so there is plenty of room for personal attention and for practising new conversation techniques. A safe learning environment is central: you can experiment with new skills and discover what works for you. Theory and practice alternate continuously, so you can apply what you have learned directly in your own performance and appraisal interviews.
No specific prior knowledge is required for this course. It does help if your work involves performance or appraisal interviews, or if you are about to take on a role in which you will be conducting these interviews.
None in particular.
The course is given in Dutch as standard. The trainer speaks English. English-language course materials can be used. If at least 3 participants register, the course can also be given entirely in English.
Would you like to organise this training for a whole group or several groups? This can be cost-effective. For example, we can tailor the content entirely to your organisation, and training a whole group is also cheaper.
Are you looking at large numbers of participants or a complete academy? That involves a great deal. Consider planning and communication, for example, or identifying and agreeing the objectives and content of the training. Or differences in level, feedback mechanisms and safeguarding. Fortunately, Learnit has extensive experience in this field (more than 25 years) and we are happy to help you through this process.
Request a quote More about Conducting Performance and Appraisal Reviews in-company
2 training days. In order of date.
No suitable start date? Send us a date request, and we'll look at the options together.
Plan your own group on a date that suits you, at your office, at our premises or online. We tailor the content to your day-to-day work, and training a whole group is cheaper than individual bookings.
Ratings from participants after completing their course, across all courses by this trainer.
“The content is perfectly matched to the target group. Pleasant course, learned a great deal. Thank you!”
“Very well thought-out course. Theory, applying it yourself, role play (which elements work and which do not), role play again. So that all facets were covered through repetition. Training is repetition. The trainer created a very pleasant atmosphere and had perfect expertise.”
“A course with personal attention for the participants, in a pleasant environment and a good location.”
"Excellent, with a good focus on the aim of the course. Because the course was interactive, it was not difficult to stay focused."
“The course was well put together and I got a lot out of it. You could clearly tell that the trainer is an expert in this field and beyond. We also covered a number of matters (briefly) that were not directly related to the course itself. I found the intake interview beforehand surprising. I noticed that it allows you to make a good start on the course straight away.”
“I had a private course instead of a two-day course. It was intensive, but incredibly instructive. I notice that filming gives a lot of insight into the way you conduct a conversation. Beforehand I thought it would be a long day, but in the end the time went very quickly. We were able to cover a lot of topics and the variety keeps you sharp. I am very satisfied with the trainer. The personal approach and the link to the previous course in particular were very good.”
“Very well organised, well prepared and enjoyable to follow and take part in. Good course material and extra information for after the course. Learnit Training is a professional organisation that devotes a great deal of time to thorough preparation and to the course itself.”
“This course puts you in a better position to apply personal and business objectives in a professional and human way.”
"The course is enjoyable and instructive, and the use of video analysis during the role plays is certainly an added value. The material was partly new and partly familiar to me, but even so it was good to refresh the parts I already knew."
“The content was very good and well tailored to our company. The trainer was highly knowledgeable and was able to give many recognisable examples. The intake interview beforehand was good too.”
“An instructive course with plenty of room for feedback, questions and brainstorming. The trainer presented the topics clearly and in a relaxed manner, which was very pleasant. She also left plenty of room to deal with questions.”
"It is a course with plenty of room for real-life problems. The set-up also gives you enough time to practise cases."
“A course focused on the practical side of performance and appraisal interviews. You learn not only the standard actions, but also the reasons behind them. That makes it immediately applicable!”
“A useful course at an organisation where both the materials and the trainer score more than adequately!”
“It was very pleasant to attend a course at Learnit. There was a lot of personal attention for everyone and we were pushed out of our comfort zone in a "comfortable" way in order to get better at holding professional conversations.”
“The course gives you insight into your own communication style. Thanks to the group dynamics you also learn things from others, which is very pleasant. Through role plays you practise situations in which you previously got stuck. With the knowledge from this course you go into conversations with more confidence.”
“The course was practically oriented, so you could try out what you had learned straight away in practice. The feedback on the second day was also very welcome.”
“I found the 'confrontational conversation skills and delivering bad news' course interesting. There is a theoretical grounding (general communication, communication specifically aimed at the 'roles' you can adopt in communication, the distinction between the questions 'do I have something to ask?' and 'do I have something to say?' when giving feedback, an explanation of the 4G model that you can apply in practice straight away, using INGE and LSD, etc.) and also a large practical element. That keeps the participants active. The role-play actor was experienced and responded well to the participants' input. The trainer is experienced and managed to put us at ease and offer a clear and safe environment, so that we could make good use of the training day to practise common situations from our own work. In the end we spent most of the time on confrontational conversation skills and less on delivering bad news, but we were given a number of useful pointers on that too.”
“Very useful if you work with people.”
“Excellent course, a good combination of theory and practice with instructive practical assignments. The trainer made it great fun.”
“The Conducting Early Warning and Absence Interviews course was very valuable. Through practice-based exercises and direct feedback, she taught us how to prepare difficult conversations properly and conduct them in a respectful and results-oriented way.”
"This course is certainly to be recommended. During the course you are given various tools that are very easy to apply both professionally and privately. After this course I became more aware of how to conduct a conversation properly, whatever kind of conversation it is."
“A lively course geared to the participant and their needs, with plenty of practice, so the day flies by and you learn a great deal without feeling that you are cramming.”
“a very enjoyable, instructive and realistic course that is genuinely useful in practice.”
“Good preparation, good content, well delivered.”
"It is a course with plenty of room for real-life problems. The set-up also gives you enough time to practise cases."
“Nice and concrete and easy to apply in practice.”
"This course is well worth recommending if you want to examine and improve your own communication style."
“I started this course without any experience. Within two days I had held several conversations and, just as importantly, I learned the reasoning behind the attitude I adopted and the questions I asked. Thanks to the personal approach, I was able to make my own learning objectives known and achieve them! Instructive, personal and enjoyable!”
"The course gives you an impression of how to conduct certain conversations, which comes up a lot in our work... so it was very useful"
“Learned a lot and gained new insights; the alternation between receiving information and then being able to practise within the group and process the information was very pleasant.”
"The course is enjoyable and instructive, and the use of video analysis during the role plays is certainly an added value. The material was partly new and partly familiar to me, but even so it was good to refresh the parts I already knew."
“The course was practice-oriented and matched the wishes and input of the participants perfectly. The course leader sensed what was needed and gave the course a varied structure with (a short piece of) theory, practical applications and role play. I would certainly recommend this course!”
"A well-organised course with a method you can apply in practice. The clear explanations and general communication made it a pleasure to take this course."
“An instructive day that prompts reflection and improvement.”
“A highly passionate and experienced, qualified trainer. Which meant we got the very most out of the course. On the whole a very professional outfit with good communication beforehand.”
“It is a tailor-made course and highly applicable in practice!”
"It is an instructive course that you can use at work but certainly also in your private life. Everything is explained and practised step by step. You also take home a nice book with even more useful tips and interesting material."
“It is a tailor-made course and highly applicable in practice!”
“Because the needs and wishes were analysed in advance, it was a tailor-made course. An exceptionally capable, professional and experienced trainer who takes the course to a high level. We were impressed by her communication skills and her qualities as a job applicant. We learned a great deal and can now continue on our own with the assignments we were given.”
“A very valuable and inspiring course – highly recommended! I recently took part in the Interview Techniques course and I am extremely enthusiastic about the content, the set-up and the guidance. The course was well structured, practice-oriented and full of insights that I could apply in my work straight away. What I found particularly strong was the way the trainer combined theory and practice, with plenty of room for interaction, reflection and input of your own. The atmosphere was also very pleasant and motivating, which only benefited the learning process. I would certainly recommend this course to anyone who wants to explore communication in more depth and is looking for practical tools as well as new inspiration. In short: an investment in yourself that is absolutely worth it!”
“An enjoyable and above all educational course that helps you improve your communication. Becoming aware of what you say and processing (in the right way) the communication you receive. Definitely recommended for anyone who wants to develop themselves.”
“A very pleasant webinar that gives good tips on conversation techniques. Ideal for me too, because I could watch it at a time of my own choosing.”
“Good atmosphere, good value for money, learned a lot. The theory is clear, and the role plays and exercises tie in with it well. You gain many new insights in a playful way. I am much more aware of communication and apply the techniques!”
“An interesting and highly applicable course in the field of communication. A good refresher and made very applicable by the trainer, Job.”
“A very interactive course with plenty of room for your own input and situations that occur on a daily basis.”
“It is an excellent course with many practical assignments. You are given plenty of tools for steering a conversation as effectively as possible.”
“A highly passionate and experienced, qualified trainer. Which meant we got the very most out of the course. On the whole a very professional outfit with good communication beforehand.”
"In this course I learned to analyse why conversations go the way they do. What does a conversation trigger in me, how do I then react, how would I like to react and how can I go about that? What might a conversation trigger in the other person and how can I deal with that? A lot of attention was paid to personal learning objectives. As a result, the content of the course matched what I wanted to achieve well."
“I found the content of the course very good. The trainer addressed all the cases and went into each one individually. The feedback given was received very positively.”
Yes. Up to four weeks before the first day of the course you can cancel free of charge, without giving a reason. You then receive a credit note or, if you have already paid, a refund. If you cancel later, you pay part of the course fee: 25% between four and two weeks before the start, 75% in the two weeks before it and 100% in the final week. Moving to another start date is free of charge up to two weeks before the start, after that 50%. Sending a colleague in your place is always possible. Read the cancellation terms.
Free cancellation up to four weeks before the start, so you can secure a place now.