How to Prepare for a Performance Review in 5 Steps
Performance reviews are a regular part of every employee’s career. They typically occur on an annual or bi-annual basis and are designed to highlight individuals’ successes and areas of improvement.
These meetings aim to give constructive criticism and are a chance for direct feedback on how to achieve your goals for the year ahead. Typically, performance reviews will be conducted in a one-to-one setting with your manager, though depending on your organisation, it may also include an additional management or HR representative.
It is important to remember these aren’t one-sided discussions. It is a valuable opportunity to talk with your manager; whilst they aren’t the most comfortable conversations, they can highlight the next steps to achieve your career goals.
Here are a few simple tips to consider:
1. Prepare ahead of time
To have the most effective review, preparation is key. First, list your accomplishments from the year, and refer to the goals you set in your last performance review. Ideally, these will be personal performance goals, not company level. Alongside each goal, think about what you have done to achieve this and have examples to hand to discuss through. Having detailed quantitative and qualitative goals and collecting as much evidence of your contributions is helpful.
- Examples of quantitative goals – Revenue hit, projects completed, number of clients onboarded, chargeable hours, utilisation rates
- Examples of qualitative goals – Relationships built, client satisfaction, quality of work output, taking client ownership, support of colleagues/team
The evaluation of these goals should be a conversation, and your preparation will provide talking points to discuss collaboratively with your manager.
2. Think about the future
Alongside what you have already achieved, consider your future goals for the next 12 months and beyond. Reviewing your career goals (and how you might achieve these) enables you to work back through the steps from where you want to be in the future and how you will get there.
For example, you may want to think about the following:
- Are you happy with your current career path?
- Would you like to try a new role/department?
- Are you looking to learn a new skill or additional responsibility?
- Would you like to be involved in managing people/leadership?
- Your path to promotion?
These future goals are not static; they may change and adapt throughout the years (you may also have several possible career routes that appeal). Therefore, it is important to discuss your future goals with your manager, as they can be a support in helping you reach these.
3. Ask questions
This is your opportunity to ask your manager questions. Perhaps you want to know:
- What the company or team goals are for the coming year, how will these be measured, and how will they be communicated when these goals reach certain milestones?
- What are your specific metrics for doing a good job, and how will these be tracked? What happens when you meet or exceed these targets? What should you do if you are concerned about not meeting these targets throughout the year?
- What outside of your job description is expected (if this is broad, this could open up a discussion of title expansion or increased remuneration)
- Do you need something from the company or your manager you aren’t getting? Does their management style get the best out of you? Be positive in broaching this subject, and give them suggestions on what would suit you and why.
4. Communicate Effectively
- Be intentional with what you say – don’t overcomplicate the discussion, and be direct and specific, using examples and scenarios throughout. The more precise you are, the more valuable the review will be.
- Two-way communication is vital in performance conversations. Neither party should dominate the discussion. It is essential to be an active participant in reviewing your strengths and weaknesses.
- It is important to anticipate constructive criticism. Whilst it may be uncomfortable, be open-minded and be honest with yourself about your areas of improvement before your review; this should give you a chance to prepare a response to these.
5. Discuss the next steps
Towards the end of your review, summarising key points and putting together an actionable plan is a good idea. You can also put future dates in the diary to follow up.
Those five steps — preparing ahead of time, thinking about the future, asking questions, communicating effectively and discussing the next steps — will help you prepare for your performance review to get the most out of it.