6 Ways to Get a Performance Evaluation You'll Love and be Proud Of

It was a heartbreaking story of a performance review gone wrong.  By the time this client reached me she was convinced performance reviews were a rigged process designed to put people down.  

It can feel that way when performance evaluations are done wrong.
 
In her case, she trusted that the process would highlight her strengths as well as any opportunities for development.  That’s not what happened.  Instead, by the time her boss was done talking she felt like she was about to be fired and had nothing to offer her organization.
 
She was speaking to me for career coaching because she wanted to quit and find a different job.
 
This story might be familiar, and if it’s happening to you take heart (and don’t quit until you've read this blog).  While you feel at the mercy of the review process, and your boss’s perspective on your work, you can influence both to ensure you get the performance review you deserve.
 
Here are 6 ways to get a performance evaluation you’ll be proud of:

• Don’t wait until the review.  There is no such thing as a perfect performance review process (although some are better than others).  Work proactively with your manager through your one-on-ones to highlight your achievements at work (yes, get comfortable talking about them).  Not getting one-on-ones?  Book the time in your managers’ calendar at least once a month and send an agenda 24 hours in advance.  Ask for constructive feedback throughout the year.  Making this an everyday conversation instead of an annual one will increase everyone’s comfort level with the topics (achievement and development), reducing the chances of a bad surprise in your annual evaluation.
• Self-assess.  If completing a self-assessment isn’t part of your review process, do one anyway.  Ask for a blank copy of the review form (or find it on-line in your employee portal) and fill it out for yourself, identifying your accomplishments, and opportunities for development throughout the year.  You can submit it to your boss prior to your sit-down which means your manager will see what you’ve been up to all year and that can influence what’s included in their written assessment.  If you don’t want to submit it, just having filled it out for yourself means you can bring up accomplishments that may have been forgotten, as well as new skill development, etc. that you want noted in your performance review.
• List your accomplishments.  Canadian (or any other cultural) “nice” isn’t going to cut it.  You need to be clear on your achievements, and provide evidence.  Did you re-write a process that made things more efficient?  How many minutes does it save over how many times it’s used (you can say it’s an estimate)?  Completed work on competing deadlines with a high degree of quality?  Name it.  No shrinking violets here!  You can still be humble and state exactly why you rocked your job this quarter.
• Know your strengths and weaknesses.  Everyone has them and no one is perfect, so be self-aware and self-identify.  When you help your manager to see all the things you are really good at (and enjoy), you’ll get more opportunity to do them.  When you demonstrate what you learned through your mistakes, and what development you need to move up, your manager has a clear roadmap to support you (and so do you).
• Make the review a conversation.  So many reviews have information flowing one way.  Your role in a performance review is not to shut-up and listen.  It’s to listen, ask questions, bring in your perspective, remind your manager of things they have forgotten (accomplishments, context, etc.).  Any performance review where you are not prepared to advocate for yourself is a bad performance review – but that’s not on your manager alone.
• Don’t close the review without a future.  Sometimes you get a great review, which can be as soul-crushing as a bad review because there is no future; no future development, no ways to level-up, no interesting new challenges.  Even when you have a glowing review, make sure you discuss your future with your manager and what you need to get there – without giving this visibility, and getting your managers attention, support and ideas, you’ll feel stuck.

The truth is performance review processes are at best well-intentioned.  My client and I worked on re-opening her evaluation so she could feel comfortable staying in her role knowing she had a bright future there.  It wasn’t comfortable for her, but with perseverance (and through collaboration with her manager) she was able to shift her evaluation to one that highlighted both her accomplishments, and her opportunities.

Putting yourself in the driver’s seat, not just for the review, but all year long, means you’ll have a better evaluation experience and your career gets the love it (and you) deserve.

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