The performance review, sometimes it's an annual reoccurrence.
Sometimes it is quarterly. Sometimes it is monthly, depends on your organization.
But sometimes when it comes to preparing for the performance review,
it’s difficult to know what to say, what to ask for, when to say things and ask for things,
but the end goal is the same. We all want the performance review to set us up for success,
to set us up for opportunities in our professional future,
for promotions, and even opportunities
to shine and really be more visible and to step up in leadership
on all aspects of our career path.
And the most difficult part of a performance review is that this meeting with our managers,
our supervisors, or our directors is one of the most intense meetings
there can be, because it seems like it feels like there's such an imbalance of power
when you're meeting across from people who have a direct influence on your professional growth,
and they have decision-making authority on what opportunities that you have access to,
or even what budget you have access to.
And this is why most often, it can feel at quite an imbalance of power.
So, what I want to share with you in this video, are some real
strategies proven strategies that I've
shared with my executive coaching client on how to position yourself
for success
every time you have a performance
review. And also what are some things you want to consider when you are preparing for each session.
So I want to hear from you if you are having a performance review.
Comment below. I want to hear from you. How often are your performance reviews?
And what is the biggest single biggest struggle
you have each time you've had performance reviews in the past.
Alright, comment below. And let's go.
I'm in the car driving right now. And I want to share by,
I'm not driving, but I'm in the car right now in in motion,
but I wanted to make this video for you and share this with you because this is one of the biggest,
most common questions I do receive from clients and from my audience,
as well, with respects to being successful on the performance review. And I get it
the performance review can be one of the most stressful meetings to prepare for.
Because the essence of the question we have in our minds is how do we summarize a
whole year of work in just one 20 minute meeting
or if it's,
and if is not annual and its quarterly, how do we summarize
everything that we've achieved all of the goals that we have done,
how we have led our teams and our and our direct reports under us.
How do we summarize that in a very clear and succinct way?
But at the same time very powerfully and very influentially,
how do we do that? So I want to share with you some tips
because out there there's plenty of support on
for managers on how they can conduct these performance review.
But in my opinion as an executive coach, there's really not enough support on our side,
the employee side, on how to prepare for them.
Right? So here are some tips and I want to share these with you.
And I want you to take notes because information alone is not going to create transformation.
We need to implement the things that we have learned,
right? So, tip number one.
This is a process. Tip number one is context.
Okay. So number one is context. What do I mean by that?
The context whenever you are preparing for a meeting,
it's really important to know what is the context of the meeting.
And, of course, I'm not just referring to the fact that this is a performance review.
What I'm referring to is, for example, what is the review process look like?
Is there a clear structure that your director and manager usually likes to conduct these meetings?
What are some key questions that they have asked you to prepare for in advance?
And in these meetings, usually get a sense of how it is run,
right? Some managers prefer to be more structured that they have an agenda.
Some of them have forms that you need to fill out,
and some of them are completely open ended and they just want to hear from you.
What are your challenges? What have you done in the past quarter?
Or in the past or since the previous performance review?
So, it's really important that you come prepared knowing
what is that context. Because that will help you to set yourself
up for what am I going to bring to this
that can position me for the opportunities that I hope to receive
and that can position me to speak
clearly on what I have achieved? Right?
So know your role. What exactly is your role in preparing
for this meeting? Because it could be that your role preparing
for this meeting is to update your manager,
or your director on the major achievements of your team.
Your role could be even greater than that to prepare a little bit of
data to support how you have helped the company
grow and what metrics that
you can demonstrate that you have moved forward,
moved your teams forward. So understand the context of not just the structure of the meeting,
and how its run. But what exactly is your role in this meeting,
because make no mistake about it. You do have a role in this meeting.
You are not a passive participant. Right?
Career growth is not a past a spectator sport.
It is a sport that you participate in, you’re actively participating,
but you can't participate in it unless you know your role.
So, if you're new to your company, this is where you want to start talking to people.
Start getting some sort of, collect some context before your first review to know what you,
what role you play. And in addition to that,
when you know what role you play, you will also know what to bring to the meeting.
That's all part of the context and this will help you to prevent yourself from being caught off
surprised, during the meeting
or wishing you brought a piece of data with you or some metrics with you when you didn't. Right?
And finally, the last part of context role means that you got to know that
after this meeting it’s not just you have a meeting,
you submit your data, and that's it. No,
what are my responsibilities going to be after the meeting?
What am I going to take responsibility for? Because this meeting is to plan in there
some continuity. What are you going to move forward?
What are some of the gaps you want to fill? So what exactly are you going to design into that plan?
And the responsibilities you are going to articulate that
you're going to take on after the meeting.
So all of these things involve the context of your performance review that you want to be clear
of before you enter into your meeting with your manager. Tip
number two is contribution.
Right? Number one is context. Number two is contribution.
Now, this is something you need to do on a daily basis. On a daily basis document.
What are the contributions you've made to the company that are unique to you.
What are some of the things that you've achieved
for them? And it's not just a checklist of your day-to-day tasks that
how have you met deadlines This is how you have you contributed,
for example to the company's revenue,
to their profit margins, to their growth,
to their innovation, to their productivity and their effectiveness in the industry.
So these are very important for the company because it contributes to the company’s
perspectives and the overall singular mission,
that the directors and the c-suite are trying to achieve.
And even if you don't have a role directly related to sales,
make no mistake about it. You still have a contribution to revenue.
So, this is where, before the performance review,
it's important that you begin to get into the mindset where you're thinking it through,
like ripples in a pond, right? What happens in
if you drop a pebble into a pond?
It creates a ripple effect. You have concentric circles
of water expanding from the original point at which the pebble dropped in. That analogy,
is similar to you and your career path as well. You might be in your career
role, your job right now, you maybe it might seem like
you're in raw in involved in one singular thing.
For example, if you are currently a senior manager or if you are an executive,
but it feels like you're having some sort of individual contributor
role. But make no mistake about it.
Start to look at and have a develop a mindset of looking at,
what are the ripples in my pond? What are some of influences
I have? One concentric circle out of directly,
what my influence is? Because it's very easy to look at if I in my role right now,
what is my direct first-degree influence,
but most people don't aren't used to the practice of
what about any second-degree influences that I've had
as a result of my particular experiences
and my contributions? And this is what you want to prepare for and you can't see it immediately.
So that's why you want to develop that mindset.
Start to develop that to adopt that mindset right
now and look at the contributions you've been making.
And how is that the ripple effect contributing to the singular vision of the company?
Because that's part of the contributions. And this is a daily activity.
Keep on documenting that on a daily basis,
right? How did it grow revenue? How did it cut costs?
How did you contribute to financial processes?
All of the above are very important to the company's bottom line.
The other thing about contribution is know that this is what makes you irreplaceable.
And that's very important in terms of your career
trajectory, in terms of considering you for opportunities that might come up, promotions as well.
And speaking opportunities at having more visibility in your industry.
It's it what, it is what makes you irreplaceable
when you think it think of it like that from a second degree perspective.
Because most people when they do performance review,
they give a recollection of what they've done,
but what about the consequences, the real influences of what you've done?
They're not going to connect the dots for you, you must connect the dots for them.
And that is the single biggest part of your contribution.
If you have, if you're not learning anything
else from this video, take this into consideration
because this is the single most important that thing that I'm going to share with you in this video.
So if you're somebody, who's sitting and you're listening to this and you're realizing,
yes, that is so true, but I still can't see it.
I still don't know what my contributions are. I am.
I am noticing that I'm able to recount everything that I've done.
I've been able to I'm able to tell them all the projects I've completed.
But what do you mean? I still can't see how exactly it's related
to revenue in the company's bottom line.
If that's you, then I invite you to work with
me because I've done this for countless executives on how to develop that modality of thinking.
It's also how to develop that modality of communication to higher-ups
so that you can directly have an influence on them
when they're making decisions about your directory.
So if you want to receive these outcomes and you want that for your career growth,
and your personal growth as well. Then I invite you to book a
call. Below this video in the description,
there is a link to book a call with me.
And this is just an initial discussion where we're going to explore whether or not
it's the right fit for us to work together.
You're going to be either talking to myself or a member of my team.
And this is only for you if you're serious about being able to be effective at
meetings with your higher-ups, performance reviews,
maybe even discussions and regular meetings with Executives as well.
This applies. So if you're serious about having those
outcomes and you are wanting to step up in leadership,
then I invite you to book a call. And I look forward to seeing you on the inside. Tip
number 3 are challenges.
So you have context, you have contribution and number three is challenges.
So challenges, this is important in a performance review that you articulate
and you demonstrate in your communications,
how you overcame the challenges that were identified in the previous performance review.
And this is important, especially if the challenges have come up before that
previous community before that previous performance review as well.
You want to show that you've made progress.
Even if you haven't completely overcame the challenges in your previous performance review,
show through your communications and your clarity in your communications,
how you have taken the steps to make the progress
you've made up until now that is really important.
And here's a bonus point. When you are talking about your challenges a bonus point,
if you yourself have shown how proactive you've caught you were
at identifying your own challenges to overcome
and the progress you've made there as well.
Now either way, when you're talking about your challenges.
It's important that you loop it back to your contribution.
Weave the challenges within your contribution
so that they're not two completely separate and unrelated things.
They're very much related to each other
because what happens when you overcome challenges, you make a contribution.
So remember every time you talk about challenges it’s not an isolated topic. Bridge that back. Loop
it back into your contributions and that is tip number three.
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And now let's move on to tip number four, and five.
And with that, you'll have a complete strategy on how to nail your performance review
so that you can take your career to the next level.
Tip number four is current status.
So what do I mean by that? When you are communicating in your performance review,
it's really important that in your communications
you are illustrating that you completely understand your roles
and your responsibilities. That you completely understand
what is expected of you from your direct managers and even their higher ups as well.
That you completely have taken ownership of where you're at right now in your progression
when it comes to overcoming your and challenges, the previous steps.
And when it comes to overcoming,
when it comes to meeting the goals
and your responsibilities that you are going to take on even after this performance review.
This is an essential part of your communications as well.
When you were, when you are demonstrating your current status,
this shows that you have awareness.
You have reflective awareness, right?
Let's write that down. Comment below, reflective awareness.
And this is key, it’s not just an awareness of
what I'm weak at and what I'm going to be working towards and what my job title is.
It's reflective awareness. Where are you
exactly in terms of your personal progress,
your professional progress
and your progress with respect to your teams and the organization at large?
This is your in your ability to communicate.
When you communicate this effectively, they will truly see that
you've not just taken ownership of your higher
level responsibilities, but that you have a big picture vision. And guess what?
Every time, the next level of your career,
the promotion to director and c-level,
right, is going to need to be need to have a bigger picture perspective.
So when you communicate this effectively, your current status,
they will already see that you're positioning yourself for
those higher level positions because in your communication,
you have that reflective awareness, and you're able to see yourself,
not just isolated in your careers and your day-to-day.
But exactly how you fit in and where you are right now in your progression,
right? So that is tip number four, current status.
One more tip. Let's go. So tip number five is checklist.
So this is where you're going to demonstrate your proactivity.
And what do we mean by being proactive? Proactive means that it's going to show
when you have a checklist you are literally communicating,
what are your checklist of high-priority activities that you're going to take forward with you
after this performance review?
What are what is it that you're going to be dedicating yourself to? That
you're going to be dedicated to these high priority activities.
You're going to be implementing them. These are areas of improvement.
These are things that you're going to move your team forward.
How you're going to contribute to the company's bottom line
and so on, a checklist of things, and when you are able to articulate this,
this is your game plan and the game plan is in alignment with the corporate,
the company's singular vision as well. And that's what they want to see.
And it demonstrates that you're proactive, that you're somebody who's already planning ahead
of what you're going to do, you're capitalizing on the whole year's efforts by contributing
and do on an even bigger level on the next year.
And that's what they want to see. So when you implement these five things effectively,
this is where you're going to crush it on your performance review
and you're going to be able to demonstrate to whoever is present on that
performance review that you are somebody who is ready
and well positioned to take things to the next level.
So in summary, what are the five tips again?
They are number one is, context.
Number two is, contribution.
Number three are your challenges.
Number four is your current status and number five is your checklist.
So I hope this was helpful and I look forward to hanging out with you in my next video.
If you have click the link below
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