?How to prepare for your Annual Performance Review

Performance review season is coming up and that meeting at the end of the year with your manager is not going cut it. I invite you to have continuous informal feedback check-ins and hold quarterly performance review conversations throughout the year.

Follow your instincts with the informal check-ins. You’ll know when the timing is right to ask the questions you need to gauge how you're performance is. It does not have to be a formal sit-down or a scheduled zoom meeting. It could be a P.S. right before a one-on-one with your manager ends or after a regular meeting.

I'm a big fan of P.S.'s. They have an "oh by the way" vibe and you don't feel icky and awkward when you ask the questions that you need . On e-mail they are a great gutsy strategy to ensure whatever you want someone to remember and act on soon, is noticed in writing.

Now back to performance reviews...

Manage a Brand Campaign that Speaks to your RESULTS

There's doing your job effectively and then there's marketing the fact that you do your job effectively and those are two very separate roles.

All day everyday, you want to manage the perception.

A gutsy reminder: before others have the chance to weigh in on your reputation before you do, first you decide what you want to be socialized regarding your performance.

So I’d like you to start your own brand campaign this week, that speaks to your potential and success next year. This involves working your internal network.

Who has your management’s ear?

Who are your advocates?

How well are you being seen and heard?

How often are you raising the red flags and calling out the elephant in the room?

Every once in a while, it's ok to throw a bomb in a meeting to demonstrate you have a pulse on a focus area that possibly no one is paying attention to, which can have a big impact on the team's overall outcomes.

Mindset shift: it's a Performance Preview, not Review

I’m here to remind you that this is an opportunity to become strategic about what the next year of your career looks like at your organization.

Rather than focus on what you’ve accomplished in the last year, looking backward (although I’m sure you have accomplishments under your belt) you can mention those projects, but I want you to avoid recapping the past too long because it can be perceived as a flat, dull status report.

I want you to reframe that conversation and speak to the future. In other words give them the sneak peek at your impact.

When you sit down with your management or clients I want you to give them a Performance Preview.? The performance preview is always forward-looking — it focuses on the future end state.

What are the results that your management and clients are looking for next year?

How can you demonstrate that you have a pulse on what targets need to be hit?

I want you to land the plane on this and then pivot to you, given your knowledge, experience and lessons learned and how you can meet those impact opportunities. Don’t forget to mention the team and other team members as well.

If you've read my book I cover this on page 189 in the chapter: "Speaking without Apology".

"Speak to your product, not to the process. People don’t buy into processes and best practices. They buy into results based on how emotionally moved they are when they make a purchase. Likewise, they buy into you as their trusted resource to help them reach their desired result—your work product on which you have built your reputation."

Speak the WE, not ME.

I also want you to show your understanding of what the roadblocks and obstacles are facing the team and how you see "us achieving those results" next year or next quarter (doesn't matter) and then move on to the glowing benefits.

You see, you reach the next level in your career when you are sharing valuable insights into the future but more importantly that you can demonstrate that you have a pulse on what that future impact looks like.

Communicating in this way is also how you manage the perception, express appreciation for the value of the entire team and where you are trusted for your ideas, recommendations and vision.

Be aware of what's being said behind closed doors

I'm a former tech executive, don't kill the messenger here - I'm sharing some inside secrets on what’s being said behind closed doors regarding your performance, by your management.

But first, please substitute the word “performance” with “results”. Many assume that these discreet meetings are roundtable discussions discussing people solely in the context of a ratings recap, such as the following:

"Jay did a great job this year removing that legacy process and nightmare we inherited. "

" Christina implemented a fantastic solution for our clients this year."

Yes these types of comments can come up, but realistically there’s little time to go very deep when discussing with everyone on the team. Compensation, bonus and title increases often include a group of managers who discuss the performance of each employee, and together, they will decide on whose role, rank, title or pay changes.

A Common Blindspot Putting your Performance Review at Risk

What most people don’t know about performance review discussions and why I’m writing you today, is that they happen before the management decision roundtable. Senior managers and executives are looking for and bringing in people to share their opinions about you, way before that official discussion happens. And if for any reason they don’t know you very well or can’t speak directly to your performance, they will take the advice of someone who does, usually someone they can trust.

Also important to know is that they want to know your accomplishments but they especially want to speak about your potential in terms of results with a focus on the future – their future initiatives; their future programs.

Will you help them get that new project off the ground next year?

Do you work well with others, especially across teams?

Do you make things happen and can you cut through bureaucracy when needed?

That’s the kind of intelligence going down behind closed doors and it’s happening weeks before the official meeting to decide who gets a higher compensation or title. All of those backdoor one-on-ones are feeding the performance review discussion.

If you’re going to be on anyone’s radar, you want to manage the perception and as a gutsy check-in, answer the question:

How do I want to be perceived?

As a gutsy homework assignment this week, I invite you to outline 3 things that you will communicate in your next 1-on-1 meeting that demonstrates your insight into what would make for a successful year for your management and clients.

Paint the picture for next year and stay two steps ahead of what's possible to create in terms of your RESULTS.

At the end of the day, it's not about you, it's about what you can deliver.

To your career success and making those gutsy moves.

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