Prepare for Your Review

It's that time again…….. annual performance review.

Employees: here are some tips for getting the most out of it.

Be Serious: This is your change to communicate with you manager about your importance to the team. Take advantage. The way you handle your review is evidence for or against your professionalism and maturity.

Be Prepared: have the proper forms, ask for examples if you need one. Do a self-evaluation highlighting your accomplishments during the year, areas where you struggled, your goals for next year, and your thoughts about your development needs.

Seek Clarity: If you receive feedback that doesn’t make sense or major goals that aren’t clear, speak up. It’s critical that you don’t leave confused, because your manager will expect you to begin thinking about (if not acting on) the suggestions right away.

Learn. After the reveiw you should have some new knowledge about your company, your job description, your team’s goals, and your manager’s likes and dislikes. Take a half-hour after your meeting and put that learning in the vault via an e-mail to yourself. Your review should be more significant than an exchange of forms and a few more bucks in your paycheck. It’s a development exercise, and the beneficiary is you.

Don’t Ask for a Raise. If the company has a standard increase amount don’t ask for a higher one. You will have ample time after the review to prove yourself for an increase. Managers often budget next year's salaries months ahead of time and only deliver the Remember your department has a budget.

Don’t Be Unrealistic. You are not perfect. Be honest evaluate yourself honestly.

Don’t Play Blame It On…. It is easy and tempting to say “I didn’t finish my work because they didn’t finish there work”. However, this should have been communicated prior to your review. Be responsible and take an active roll in your career path all year long.

Don’t Go Round for Round. This is not the time to debate. This is the time to present facts, learn and grow. Remember you and your manager may not agree on everything. Use this time to improve and be strengthen it will take you farther in the long run.

Managers. here are some tips for conducting the reveiws.

Start Early. Your goal is to think through each employee’s performance review ahead of time. Try to give yourself two weeks.

Annual Review not Recent Review. Don’t overemphasize recent events and de-emphasize earlier. If an employee previously shined in his job and has lately had more trouble, the annual performance review should address both periods

Verify Your Data. Get the facts and details before speaking on specific situations.Focus on Work. Look at the employee’s work. This is not the time to look at the employee’s outside of work behaviors, even if it has affected their work. Those situations should have been addressed prior to the review. Remember, you are to manage and lead your team all year round.Explain to them Their Raise. Employees want to really understand why their raise is what it is, and how theirs compares to the group salary increases overall.

Don't Compare. You can give the employee advice or refer the employee to another employee within your department or organization. Just do not compare them to the person. Each employee is their own individual. Keep in mind the EEO laws and regulations along with the company’s business objectives.

Don't Dominate. Allow the employee to do most of the talking. This is his or her moment. This is your time to evaluate and lead your employee to reach his or her full potential. This is the time where you find out their likes and dislikes and how they do or do not fit within the team.

Don't Be Afraid. It’s really hard to give tough feedback but necessary. You have the right to address real problems and concerns. However, once you lay out the tough feedback, don’t keep talking just to ease the awkwardness of the moment. Clamp your lips together and allow the employee to respond

Ask for Help. Have HR review each evaluation before it’s delivered. A careful edit will let you know where you’re being too harsh, too soft, or just confusing, and help you make the most of your annual one-on-ones.