Giving a thorough and fair performance appraisal requires a lot of skill and a fair amount of work by your manager. If you are an active participant in the process by providing your manager with accurate details of your accomplishments spanning the timeframe — a highlight reel as it were — you’ll be doing yourself a big favor.
As a leadership coach, I’ve developed a few tips for how you can prepare yourself for your next performance review:
Share accomplishments with your boss.
It’s important to remember that your supervisor or manager is likely as overwhelmed as you are. Time is a limited resource for all of us. Your bosses already have their deadlines and statistics to meet, so writing accurate and fair performance evaluations for your team is no easy feat. Because of this, don’t expect your manager to have noticed every single one of your many accomplishments.
One of the kindest favors you can do for your supervisor (and ultimately for yourself) is to prepare an accurate and well-worded list of accomplishments for the past year and submit it on time or — better yet — early.
When you make this list, remember several important things:
- Bosses love numbers. Give accurate, quantitative information whenever possible.
- Review your job description. Give facts and figures to illustrate how you’ve met those requirements.
- Review last year’s review. How have you improved? How have you addressed any past issues?
Although your boss might be constantly busy with the office door shut, take the time to check in regularly. Don’t make it long and tedious. Hit the highlights, ask the questions you need to ask, then get out of their way.
Address areas of concern.
The most uncomfortable part of any performance evaluation is usually regarding how you plan to rectify any deficiencies or concerns. If you have any issues that you feel need to be addressed, bring them up, but be prepared to offer solutions. No one wants to hear about a bunch of problems in your working environment or your job when you don’t even have an idea of how to solve them.
Do your research before asking for a raise.
If you feel and can prove your service has been exceptional and you want to state your case for a raise, be sure you’ve researched current salaries for equivalent positions in your area. Without that information, you won’t have much traction.
Use your review as a guide for the rest of the year.
Ideally, you should start preparing for your next performance review only a few days after your previous one. Take some time to divorce yourself from any emotional connections to the evaluation. Re-read any documents you received in a quiet environment and consider the points that were made. Make notes, and put them in a coherent system. This system is your “study guide” for the next year.
If you want to advance in any organization, you’ll have to work for it. Take the time to put the effort into your performance review, and your dedication, attention to detail and desire to ascend in the organization will be readily apparent to your manager.
This article has previously been featured on Forbes