How To Better Prepare For Your Performance Review

Getting in the habit of tracking your accomplishments is a key career management strategy to better preparing for your 90 day, quarterly, 6 month or annual review. Assessing your own performance and being prepared to share examples, results and career growth is much more powerful (and feels better too) than waiting to be told how you rank. By doing so, you set a better direction for your career, and you are more likely to get what you want.

Here are 3 tip to better preparing for your next performance review:

1. Conduct a Self-Assessment. If you are not given a self-assessment form to complete prior to your review, be proactive and do it yourself. Assess your achievements and the results they produced. If you can relate the impact of your achievements back to a business objective (think of your manager’s goals) all the better. And remember: if you are having trouble recalling your achievements during your review period, you can bet your reviewer is having trouble too. Get in the habit of tracking your great work and keep a kudos file.

2. Know what you want. Is it a salary increase and if so how much? Is it a new title or promotion? Do you want to telecommute one day per week? Lead a project? Your performance review is an opportunity for you to ask for what you want while discussing your career achievements in a formal setting with your boss. Defining what you want makes it more likely that you will get it, instead of hoping your boss hands it to you.

3. Be an equal participant in the conversation. Your performance review is not a one-way conversation with you on the receiving end of it. Being prepared to discuss the results of your good work, areas of growth, and short and long-term career goals demonstrates that you are an active participant in your career. This is an excellent opportunity to ask clarifying questions, insert examples of your good work and share your forecasted goals for the next review period.

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