The annual performance review can be nerve-wracking for even the most diligent employee. For many employees, it’s the only individualized feedback they receive about their performance all year. This year, rather than taking a backseat to your performance review, take the wheel and ensure that you receive more valuable feedback and a better chance for success in your career with these four tips.
Start Documenting Now
Part of the hiring process is explaining the performance standards for the job. Whether it’s a simple list of job duties or a highly specialized rubric with concrete benchmarks, too many employees don’t look at this document again until their performance review. Then, they are forced to comb through their memory to justify why they excelled in their position. Keeping an ongoing log of when you’ve gone above the call of duty takes only minutes a week and can help you justify excellence in your position. Managers don’t always recognize the ongoing contributions of each individual employee so maintaining a running log of where you’ve excelled in the past year can give your manager a better idea of your job performance throughout the year.
Ask Probing Questions
While you hope your performance review is positive, only getting good feedback can hamper your ongoing success in a company. You need areas to improve performance to excel in your career but many managers shy away from bringing anything negative to the table. Get the truth about your job performance by asking probing questions about your performance. If your manager mentions that you could take more initiative, give him a scenario that pertains to your position and ask what that would look like. While an upbeat review may make you feel good, it doesn’t benefit your career. Focus on where you can improve by asking questions and working with your manager to form a plan to improve your performance.
Set a Meeting for Follow Up
Once the performance review is finished, you should have a good idea of two to three job duties that could use improvement. It’s not enough just to know that; you need to correct it. Setting up a follow-up meeting helps you twofold. First, it gives you a second chance to review your performance with your manager and second, it ensures that your manager knows you’re making changes to improve. Ask your manager for a follow-up performance review meeting in the next three to four months to go over areas that need improvement. Even if it’s just twenty minutes, that extra bit of face time can help ensure you’re focusing on the right areas to improve your job performance.
Request a Mentor
Few employees are a jack-of-all-trades and those that are work hard to achieve that title. Don’t get discouraged with a middling annual performance review and don’t resign yourself to improving on your own. Instead, ask your manager for a mentor. Pairing yourself with someone who excels where you don’t is a great way to build your professional network and show major initiative all while improving your job performance. Asking for a work mentor is a great way to learn more about your job and show a passion for your company.
The annual performance review may be seen as a formality for most employees but ambitious employees can gain a lot of information and insight from theirs. Whether you’re aiming for a promotion or simply want to be the best person in your position, use these four tips to plan for your performance review and gain valuable knowledge about your place in the company.
