Preparing for Your Ongoing Performance Review
Aha Moment: The best preparation for your performance review? Always be ready for it!
A review of your work can be nerve-wracking. It’s even more daunting when you haven’t laid the groundwork for it.
You’ll never be caught off guard by a performance review if you’re always prepared.
It’s your chance to show your boss or superiors where you excel and the improvements you’ve made since your last review.
Accelerate your career with my free ebook. Download now!
Here are some ways to keep yourself ready for a performance evaluation.
Rate yourself
The way you rate yourself demonstrates to your boss how valuable you perceive yourself to be.
Create your own narrative based on your strengths and the ways your work has had a positive impact. Don’t be afraid to point out the relevance of your skills.
It’s important that you’re also open and honest about the areas in which you need to improve. It shows that you’re willing to learn and have a desire to develop specific skills.
Show examples
Show specific examples of instances in which you have creatively solved a problem or your work was a direct benefit to the company.
Make sure to highlight how your skills are relevant to the overall mission of the company and their broader interests and plans.
Use word of mouth
Get people to vouch for you. Make sure colleagues and superiors know about the wins you’ve had on the job and won’t hesitate to share them with your bosses.
Choose to build relationships with people who can benefit from your expertise and from whom you’ll gain an edge as well.
Don’t limit your interactions to just your department, but branch out to other departments, too.
Never underestimate the power of third-party validation!
Have a vision
You want your employer to get a sense that you have a plan for your future with the company.
Know where you’d like to go professionally and how you plan to get there.
Show your boss what you’d like to learn and how you’ll use those particular skills as an asset.
Your employer will be happy to see that you’ve put thought into your future and how your plans line up with the larger vision of the company.
It’s important that you have a sense of what all your efforts are adding up to.
Benefits of ongoing performance reviews
There are several reasons that ongoing reviews are preferred over annual evaluations.
- It’s less stressful. When feedback is ongoing, the fear of one big event is greatly lessened. The process will seem more natural as time goes on and you become more used to having a dialogue about your work.
- It’s empowering. Constant and consistent feedback will help you focus on the skills at which you excel, as well as give you the freedom to work on the areas you need to improve upon.
- It builds rapport and comfortability. If you’re frequently having a back-and-forth with your boss about your performance, your comfort level with her and with the process will grow. Conversing will become easier and it will seem more natural.
- It raises engagement. When the review process is ongoing, you are more likely to be mindful of each task that you undertake, knowing that it can be used as a positive event to share with your boss or as a learning experience.
Always be prepared
The important idea to remember is to always be ready for an evaluation by your boss or superiors.
Have examples in mind that you can share to demonstrate your relevance to the company, and express your vision for the future. Rate yourself with confidence and rely on word-of-mouth recommendations to confirm your performance review.
When you’re prepared, there’s no need to fear a surprise!
How do you keep yourself ready for an evaluation?