Performance Review is probably one of your least favorite exercises that you have to participate in and complete at work, at least once in a year. After all, we are all conditioned to fear of being ranked. It can be a cumbersome ordeal to sit through the performance review sessions with your managers talking about your positives and negatives, hits and misses, etc, in a given period. But if you see that as an opportunity to find more about yourself as an employee, you might start looking forward to it. This attitude can help you address your weaknesses, build on your strengths and achieve success and growth in your career. In short, it will help you bring the best out of your performance appraisal. So, it is essential to approach performance appraisals from a different perspective.
In order to get the best outcomes from a performance review, you can do the following.
Prepare for the performance review
There are so many exercises you can ace with impromptu performances. Performance reviews are not one of them, no matter how good you are at presenting yourself. It needs careful preparation. Review periods can extend to even one year, in case you are appearing for an annual review. If you do not prepare well, there is always a chance of missing out finer details that can make or break your career. You can follow the below mentioned steps to prepare for a performance review.
1. Spend enough time preparing
Spend a lot of time recollecting all your achievements during the review period, and assess how much you have achieved in relation to the goals you had set. List out things you have achieved and learnt, and make sure you do not miss out anything.
2. Go through your previous review
Go through the last review and the feedback your manager had given. See if you have worked on your weaknesses, met the goals and conquered the challenges mentioned in the previous review. Assess how you have grown in this review period and examine how your work has contributed to the progress of the organization towards its goals.
3. Collect evidences for your contributions and growth
When you claim to have achieved something, you need to back that up with evidence. Sift through documents, meeting notes, mails and messages from your peers, superiors and clients and collect the numbers, data and statistics that may prove your claims. This will give you the opportunity to establish your achievements as irrefutable.
4. Reflect on what you could not achieve
If you could not achieve some of your goals, reflect on why you could not achieve them. Identify the challenges you had in achieving them. List out the possible ways in which you can address your weaknesses and conquer those challenges in the next review period. Also, find out the potential ways in which your organization can help you.
5. Look ahead into the future
Compare how far you have come from the previous review period and where you stumbled. Based on those inferences, decide where you want to go, and consider setting some tangible ad reasonably ambitious goals.
6. Write them down in order
Note down everything in an order so that when you write the review, it has a logical flow to it. The presentation of things you have done goes a long way in bringing out the best outcomes of the performance review.
Present yourself better in the review
When you sit with your manager and review your performance, it is vital to keep the following in mind.
- Maintain a positive outlook.
- Be courteous and show respect.
- Highlight all your achievements and back them with the evidences you had collected while preparing for the performance review.
- Link them with your organization’s overall goals and emphasize on your contributions to the success of the organization.
- Listen fully and do not interfere when the feedback is given.
- Accept the fact that negative feedback can come from the manager.
- Accept criticism and do not take a defensive stance.
- Show eagerness to learn and improve.
- Take ownership of your performance.
- Mention your weaknesses, challenges and share your plans on how you plan to address them and do better in the next review period.
- Agree upon higher yet achievable goals with your manager for the next review period.
- Demand your manager to arrange trainings that will help you do your job better.
- Lay out your career plans and clarify where you want to see yourself in the organization on the long term.
- Mention how you contribute to your team and discuss about how you cooperate with other members of the team.
- Allow your manager to resolve conflicts with other team members, if any.
- Underline your eagerness to take up more responsibilities.
Follow-up on your Performance Review
Once your performance review is over, your manager will send you the feedback. You can take that as a guide towards improving your performance during the next review period. It is imperative to follow-up on the all the plans you have made and ensure that you implement all that in the next review period. Constantly review your own progress against the set goals and be self-critical of your own performance. Use the feedback given in the review to learn more about your performance and use it as an opportunity to develop yourself. Finally, discuss your progress periodically with your manager in an informal manner. Seek your manager’s support if needed.