Your Performance Review: What to Do Before, During, and After

Nov 3

Boon Coach, Tricia Gehl

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! That glorious season of giving and receiving, when we find out if we’ve been naughty or nice. If we’re lucky, the presents are large, and we walk away from the big day feeling grateful and rewarded. I’m talking about the yearly performance review. Now, if thinking about your yearly performance review leaves you with visions of aspirin and ant-acids dancing in your head, there are some things you could do to prepare for a stress-free and productive conversation.

Before Your Performance Review

Think about what you want to talk about. We often think of performance reviews as something happening to us, instead of viewing them as an opportunity to actively participate and even drive the conversation. Spend some time before your performance review getting clarity around the following:

● Where you’ve made an impact
● Supporting data and specific examples that support your impact statements
● What you’ve gained during the performance year
● Which projects were most satisfying and fulfilling
● What you identify as your development goals and gaps
● Dream projects or assignments
● Projects and tasks you’d like to limit or let go of

Having clarity around these topics helps you craft a complete story, letting the other party know you’ve put a lot of thought into where you’ve come from and where you’d like to go

Send it in a letter. How many times have you walked away from a performance review and thought, “Ugh, I forgot to talk about…!” Once you’ve got clarity around what you’d like to say, consider sending it ahead of time. Sending a well-crafted note ahead of the conversation ensures that nothing will be missed, even if you don’t get to it during the initial conversation.

Here are a few things to think about when pulling together your pre-performance review communication:

Make it comprehensive, but readable
- Think: bullet points, short sections, succinct statements
Be clear on your agenda for the meeting and what you’d like to accomplish during that time
Include any applicable key players in your distribution list:
- Your manager
- Team leader
- Career coach
- Anyone who might have responsibility for or influence over your career progression goals

The goal here is transparency and making your intentions clear. Including all your professional development “Board of Directors” ensures everyone is aware of the impact you’ve made and the goals you’re looking to achieve.

Practice aloud. Using language that feels authentic to who you are keeps things flowing and conversational. Practicing aloud helps you identify which words or phrases feel most natural, allowing you to make any necessary word adjustments to ensure a smooth verbal delivery during the actual conversation.

Practicing aloud also helps you identify and examine any emotions that might pop up when you speak about certain topics, allowing you to work through them prior to your performance review.

Some things to pay attention for when practicing aloud:
● Any words or phrases that feel out of character or inauthentic to you
● Feelings of anger, resentment, or irritation that come up
● Your pace and cadence

Practice will help you feel more prepared. The more prepared you are, the more fruitful the conversation will be.

During Your Performance Review

Drive the conversation. Don’t be afraid to direct the conversation. Yes, a big part of the performance review is receiving feedback but discussing your developmental goals for the coming year is equally important.

This might sound like:

● “I want to make sure we leave enough time to discuss my development goals.”

● “Let’s earmark the last 15 minutes of our meeting for my 2023 goals.”

Having an agenda of your own demonstrates engagement and buy-in.

Own your “why” Take the time to clearly explain the “why” behind what you’re asking for. Does the project you’d like to work on honor one of your top values? Will the assignment you’re asking for help to close a skill gap that’s standing in the way of you and a promotion? Now is not the time to be shy. Share why this is so important to you and how your fulfillment will positively impact your performance.

This might sound like:

● “Creativity is one of my top values, so I’d like to work on a project that will allow me to use my creativity in a different medium.”

● “I haven’t yet functioned as Team Lead on one of our large accounts and need that experience before being considered for promotion. What opportunities are there for me to do that in 2023?”

If you explain how important it is to you, it might become important to the other party as well.

Share your “how” When I help clients prepare for any type of professional development conversations, I remind them not to forget the “how.” For example, if you’ve come up with a great stretch opportunity for yourself, add in one or two examples of “how” you might execute on this if given approval. This sends a message that you’ve thought about this strategically and might instill confidence in your manager that you’re fully capable of taking this on. Or perhaps you want to create a new role for yourself that would merge part of what you’re doing now with an essential task that’s currently not being prioritized.

Those conversations might start like this:

● “If I assist the Events team with planning this year’s Marketing All-Hands, I’d hand off this task to…”

● “I’d retain ownership of project X and project Y, but will move the others off my plate to focus 30% of my time on Y.”

Giving a few teasers as to how you might execute on ideas instills confidence and facilitates buy-in.

After Your Performance Review

Keep the receipts: Send out an email after your performance review conversation outlining what was discussed and agreed upon.

Assign the to-do’s: Indicate clearly who is responsible for each next step and when it needs to be completed.

Define the measurements: How will we define success?

Remember, your performance review conversation is for you. Did your manager forget an instance where you made a significant impact? Remind them! Have you been craving more strategy focused assignments? Ask for one! Use this opportunity to make sure you’re being heard and valued.

Interested in learning more about how Boon can help you and your teams? Schedule a Demo.