How to Handle Your Performance Review

Hi folks, this is the second one of my #communitycoaching series, based on questions sent me by my network.

"Hi Amit, my appraisal is coming up. How do I ensure my accomplishments are recognised?"

Well, I'm glad you asked!

Your performance review is an opportunity, not a curse

Your performance appraisal is a two-fold opportunity.

First and foremost, it is a way for you to get (hopefully) impartial feedback on how you are doing as a professional - both in terms of what you have done (impact) as well as how you have done it (culture). This feedback, if implemented with a positive attitude, will make you a better professional and potentially determine your future career trajectory. It is therefore literally worth its weight in gold!

Second, it is your only means to describe your impact and hence your worth to your organisation. Thus, a well-managed performance review can make a real difference in terms of your earning for the year.

So don't fear the process, embrace it!

How it typically works

In every company I have worked at, the appraisal process involves four things:

1. Your self-appraisal: Here you get a chance to describe your accomplishments in your own words
2. Your manager's review: This is your manager's impression of your performance in the period. Depending on the sequencing of the process, it is more than likely that your manager will use your self-appraisal as a basis for theirs. Most important, they will assign you a rating, which will eventually be used to calculate your bonus and annual increment.
3. Peer feedback: Most likely, nominated peers will also get a chance to present their views on how you have done
4. 'Calibration' meetings: In order to ensure ratings are fairly distributed, most organisations have a process of reviews where successively senior groups of employees meet to deliberate on the ratings of those below them in order to iron out inconsistencies across teams. This may or may not also include force-fitting ratings to a normalised distribution (a bell curve) in order to ensure most people receive the middle rating with fewer people at the two ends of the curve. Hence, most seasoned managers will want to have a strong defence for their outlier employees, especially for those with high ratings.

So how do you make the best of your performance review?

Have a story worth telling

The appraisal is not a time for window-dressing. Given the need to explain your rating to peers and superiors, you need to be a person of substance. Ideally, your performance is so strong that your candidature needs no selling. It should sell itself.

Write the story properly

This is your only shot at properly describing the value you added to your company so make the most of it.

• Focus on impactful achievements: Identify the most impactful 3-5 things you worked on, especially those linked to the goals/ KPIs/ OKRs that were set for you at the start of the period. Describe your progress against those goals, ideally using metrics of some kind. Be sure to establish how your work had a direct, positive effect on the metric.
• Explain the impact in layperson terms: Your superiors further up the chain may not appreciate the impact of your work, even if demonstrated through a metric. As an example, you might be very proud of having greatly improved the conversion rate of a segment of your customers but it won't be clear to others just why that is meaningful. Try also calculating the impact in terms anyone would understand eg. 'My work increased conversion from 2.1% to 3.8% for our highest-value target segment, resulting in an increase of $2.7M in revenue'. While only expert would understand the effort needed to move the conversion metric, anyone can appreciate the $ impact.
• Write enough, and not too much: Unless your project is something like 'launched Chandrayaan and successfully set it into stable lunar orbit' please don't be the person who writes one sentence and assumes it's enough to communicate your achievement properly. Conversely, don't vomit out a task list with a blow-by-blow account of every little thing you did either. Save that for your memoirs. A 3-4 line paragraph per item is ideal.

Prepare an elevator pitch for your manager

The concept of an elevator pitch comes from the startup world, where founders are encouraged to prepare a 30-second pitch that they can use on investors to quickly communicate their value proposition and get them interested in learning more.

At more senior levels, calibration sessions can go on for hours, with each candidate getting perhaps only a few minutes of discussion just like an investor pitch. Make it easy for your manager by providing them a 30-second summary to highlight your achievements and therefore explain just why you deserve your exceptional rating and perhaps a promotion.

Socialise your work with your superiors

For good measure, you could try to get 15 mins with some of your manager's peers and their manager to showcase your work to them. This will ensure that your manager is not the only person speaking on your behalf. 2-3 voices in your favour is enough to carry you forward.

This approach comes with some risk. If your work is not as strong as you think, you might do yourself more harm than good by exposing it to others. Left unconvinced, they could actually turn into voices of dissent, effectively squashing your case.

It's a marathon, not a sprint

I hope the above helps you better prepare for your appraisal.

However, the right approach is actually to practice these principles consistently, not just at appraisal time. Do great work, communicate it to a wide audience, actively solicit feedback and adapt on an ongoing basis. If you do all this, you won't actually need to prepare all that much for your appraisal. Your story will sell itself.

All the best!

Got career questions and don't know whom to ask? Drop me a line. Maybe I can help.