How to Prepare for a Performance Review, Good or Bad!
Learn about ways to deal with what your boss has to say about you. Will it be good or bad? Discover how to prepare for a performance review. Performance reviews are a normal process that management, as well as employees, experience on a routine basis. Since they happen fairly regularly, it is best to master them now and learn from the tips listed below on how to prepare for a performance review. Will what they say be good or bad?
How to Prepare for a Performance Review
No matter what outcome you are expecting from the evaluation, it can be a stressful time. No one likes to be judged in the workplace, especially by their superiors. There are a few things that you can do to get an idea of where you stand. Think about your reactions and responses ahead of time, even during this potentially emotional time.No one wants to be shocked or overly disappointed by the results of the evaluation. It is important to be ready for whatever is about to be said to you during this type of meeting. It would be best if you handled whatever comes your way with poise and professionalism. From these meetings, employers decide if you will get a raise or promotion.
How you act or react can affect an employer's decision to keep you with the company or let you go. Of course, there is much pressure riding on this meeting, especially now that you are aware of why they use them. This importance is why being prepared for something as important as an evaluation like this is imperative.
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Do You Know How to Prepare for a Performance Review?
Although people (managers included) often dislike performance reviews are they are a necessary element in the workplace. That is why when you can do things both mentally and physically to make yourself ready for them, you should. Follow this list of tips below about how you can better equip yourself for an evaluation.- Do Your Own Self-Evaluation
Does your boss doesn't talk to you regularly about your job performance? If not, then you may not have a clue about how you compare to your peers and the company's goals. The only way you can get a sense of how well you rate is to evaluate yourself before you walk into the meeting with your manager.
Take a look at the work you have completed on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. Compare your productivity to your peers and identify any big achievements or mistakes that you have made. If you Look at a concrete example you may be better able to answer an abstract question about your work like “How can I improve my effectiveness and productivity?”
Auditing your work and laying out your successes and failures may put you on the right track to getting a good estimation of where you stand for your review. Talk to some of your coworkers and find out where they think they are. It is even better if the boss has already evaluated them. Then, compare their information with what you have done. - Prepare for the Worst Both Mentally and Physically
It would help if you toughened up your mind before you walk into your meeting. Get ready for anything negative that your boss is going to say about your work. Use constructive criticism and learn how to improve yourself from it.
The reason they conduct these evaluations is to show employees what they need to work on, so most likely, your boss will have some negative things to say. In addition to accepting the criticism, you should be ready to ask the appropriate questions and make valuable statements about improving your job performance. These actions demonstrate that you are serious about improving yourself.
If you are worried that your boss may undervalue your abilities, bring some quantifiable proof of your success along with you to the meeting. These facts will show your manager how hard you have been working. Showing them the statistics and successes of your work demonstrates that you came into the meeting ready to make your case and receive suggestions for professional improvement. - Don't Drop the Ball
After the evaluation is complete be sure to thank your reviewer for taking the time to discuss your strengths and weaknesses, letting you improve yourself professionally. However, you now must process this information after the meeting is over.
Take the list of suggestions showing what you need to improve upon and determine a plan to display definitive progress. Track your progress and record it. When a positive trend begins to show, go back to your boss and show them how seriously you were about using the advice they gave you. No matter how poorly you had performed initially, showing improvement is a reassuring quality to a manager. If you don't know where your effectiveness is lacking, how can you expect to improve? Even the top employee can have room for improvement.