So, do you prepare for your performance review? Like, really prepare – meaning that you have a list of your accomplishments. You know what you contributed to your organization. You have your learnings from the projects that didn’t go as expected. You know which of last year’s goals you hit. You have goals for the coming year. You know your training options. You have questions for your manager that will provide you with additional insight. That’s a lot.
Most people don’t do this. And to be fair, most people aren’t given training on how to prepare for a performance review, how to think about it strategically, and how to effectively use the review to help them advance their careers. Consulting is a major exception to that; as are some very progressive companies, like Google, that may even offer “office hours” for newbies working on getting ready for their performance reviews.
Top performers prepare
What I’ve heard from managers time and again is that their best team members come to performance reviews well prepared. In talking with people who have demonstrated excellent growth in their careers, they say that getting ready for their performance review is one more part of their work they take very seriously. Even if they never received formal training on how to specifically prepare, they have worked out a system for themselves to ensure that they have all the details of their projects, contributions, personal development goals and a plan at the ready for their review.
To provide a perspective for the ISACA community on how to really prepare for performance reviews, I reached out to leaders with experience at well-known companies (including Google, Nike, Gap, McKinsey, and Infosys) and public accounting.
Here are 10 great insights they shared:
- Know yourself and how you respond to feedback. Are you open to hearing criticism or feeling fearful about hearing hard things? What are your strengths and weaknesses when receiving feedback? Think about how your personality plays into your performance review and what you can do to create an open, positive, receptive mindset. Doing this ahead of time will boost your confidence.
- Think about your communication style and how you want to present and manage the meeting. For example, you may be on the more reserved side and might not feel comfortable directly stating a key goal that is important to you. Let’s say you want to work toward being promoted next year. You need to find the words and an authentic voice to say this. If you practice stating your goals and career needs, this important task will be much easier once you are in the midst of the review conversation.
- Have your list of important projects ready. (Keeping a Project Journal really helps with this task! See my article on LinkedIn with respect to this.) What value did your work offer the company? The more you think about your company’s goals and metrics, and the alignment of your work to that bigger picture, the better. There is some heavy lifting to do here to articulate this well. It’s worth spending the time. Another pay-off: The more often you practice finding the sync between your work and your organization’s critical objectives, the more second-nature this will become. This is what leaders do. It’s an important way to improve your strategic thinking.
- What about projects that didn’t go well? Good managers know that people learn from mistakes. Your manager will be looking to hear from you what you learned and what steps you have taken to ensure that the same error doesn’t happen again. Or, what are you continuing to work on to improve your overall competency in the area that needed improvement.
- Review last year’s goals. Which ones did you hit? Which ones were missed or put to the side? What are your goals for the coming year? Research and outline your training options. Free and cost-effective options will be appreciated by your management at a time when many companies are still reining in expenses.
- Have your own agenda (say, three key topics) and your questions ready. If you could use help growing a particular skillset, ask about that. What competencies are most important to work on for promotion? In your manager’s mind, what is the timeline for promotion? Would your manager be open to giving you a stretch assignment or the opportunity to shadow someone? The more you can bring to the table, the better your manager will get to know you and be in a position to help you.
- Peer reviewers. If external reviewers are part of your company’s review process, think about who really knows your work. Think about your key interfaces. Think about those people you might have butted heads with and what they might have to say. The weak move is to cherry-pick your friends and allies as peer reviewers. Managers will instantly see this when they read the feedback. The bolder move is to actually reach out to the person who you may not have agreed with and see if they are open to providing feedback.
- Building deeper relationships with key interfaces and getting feedback throughout the year is a smart play to put into practice in 2022. If there are people who can be advocates for your career, grab the steering wheel and set up a quarterly meeting to get their input. This is especially critical for managers looking to move up.
- There may be critique and feedback that you don’t like. The leaders I spoke with all said that being defensive and offering excuses for why something happened is not going to help your case. If an important fact has been misremembered, you can set the record straight, but don’t get into the weeds. Poise under pressure is your best response.
- Feedback is a gift. Say thank you. Give it your consideration. If it is instructive, great. But, if it isn’t, you don’t necessarily have to do anything with it.
One of my mantras as a coach is “You are the CEO of your own career.” A senior HR leader I spoke with for this article who has worked in the Big 4 and in industry at major technology companies told me, “If the professional is not willing to own their career, nobody else is going to do the hard work for you. It is your responsibility to come to the table prepared.” Wise words.
The ball’s in your court – grab it and make your next performance review meeting one that fully supports your career development for 2022 and beyond.