The employee performance review offers supervisors and staff
alike a rare opportunity to engage in an open dialogue, but in reality, the
process often inspires more dread than enthusiasm. For managers, the piles of
paperwork and hours of conferences that reviews require can subtract valuable
time from other pressing matters. Employees, on the other hand, often see the
review process as little more than a yearly ritual with no real significance.
But like so many other things in life, your performance
review is no more or no less than what you choose to make of it. Setting aside
a bit of time to prepare before your annual review may end up advancing your
career prospects dramatically.
To Transcend the Routine, Declare Your Self-Awareness
At properties that are part of a chain, managers may be
required to conduct employee performance reviews based on a standard sequence
devised by the corporate leadership. Even those who have greater latitude in
the process may choose to stick with the established routine in order to save
time.
However, even in the most structured review, you can subtly
influence the process and help steer the outcome in your favor by displaying a
quality that surprisingly few employees ever bother to cultivate:
self-awareness. Even if you've had some rough patches in your work performance,
you can alter the dynamic of your review in your favor by telling your boss
that you recognize and want to fix any problems.
Be a Proactive Partner in the Review Process
For a variety of reasons, many employees are cynical about
reviews and aren't sufficiently invested in the outcome of their review to
prepare or plan for the process. Others take constructive criticism personally
and bristle at the very idea of being evaluated. By spending a little time beforehand
thinking about your performance and devising a few simple strategies for
improvement, you'll have a sizable advantage over many of your peers.
Whether or not your employer adheres to a set format in
performance reviews, sticking to a structure of your own design in the
discussion can help you demonstrate strategic thinking, eagerness to improve,
and value to the company. This strategy is easiest to apply in interview-based
reviews, but they can also be modified to fit almost any review format if you
keep a few basic structuring principles firmly in mind.
A Simple Format for Enhancing Performance Review Success
You can demonstrate self-awareness, eagerness to improve,
and value to the company in many ways during your review. The most effective
way to do it is to focus your answers on a few key challenges and strategies
for improvement that you've identified in your pre-review preparation. Experts
suggest that you tailor your answers, responses, and comments during the review
to fit this pattern:
- Identify
the three biggest challenges facing you in your position
- Seek
ways to overcome these challenges
- Describe
how these changes will benefit the company
Consistency is the Key
- Your
boss's impression of your performance during the review counts for much
more than you think. Respect the process and prepare for it as you would
for any other important meeting whose outcome will impact your career
path.
- Don't
make the mistake of ignoring your boss's assessment of your performance;
after all, getting a sense of how your managers view your contribution to
the team is the main point of a review. However, it is possible to
acknowledge your manager's input while still targeting most of your
responses to the issues and strategies for improvement that you've identified
beforehand.
- This
approach will help bring a sense of focus and consistency to the process,
as well as developing a clearer set of standards by which your boss can
judge your growth before the next review.
All of the preparation in the world can't replace the one
factor that your boss will definitely be looking for: a sincere willingness to
accept responsibility for any shortcomings and commit to future progress. Top
it off with a reminder of how these plans will connect to the company's goals,
and a favorable appraisal is virtually guaranteed.