How to Prepare for and Participate in Your Performance Review

Preparing for the performance review helps employees focus on examining their performance in a more objective way. Do not walk into the review meeting not having thought about the review period. Be prepared to present your point of view.

• Review your previous year’s performance review and goals that were established for the current year.
  • What goals did you meet?
  • What goals did you not meet? Reflect on reasons for not meeting these goals. Be honest.
• Think of your performance in terms of a SWOT Analysis.
  • What are your strengths?
  • What are your weaknesses?
  • What opportunities do you see in regards to your performance?
  • What threats do you see with regard to your performance?
• Keep notes throughout the year to track your accomplishments and goals you have for the next year. 
• Ask your manager to review your list of accomplishments before finalizing your review.
• Be sure you and your manager are clear on the timeframe the review is measuring. It should be the time between last year’s review and this year’s review.
• Other general tips:
  • Be as detailed as possible when giving examples of performance.
  • Focus on your own behavior and not the behavior of others.
  • Have a realistic view of your own performance and attendance.
  • Review your position description for possible necessary edits.

• Remember that the performance review is about positive communication between you and your manager.
• Have a practical approach/input towards improving your performance and/or setting goals for the coming year.
• Suggest ways that your manager might remove barriers to your performance or ways to improve office productivity.
• Talk about career development.
• How to deal with expressed performance deficiencies:
  • Be open to receiving critical feedback, even when it might be difficult to hear or accept. We encourage you to clarify issues and your manager's expectations, if necessary, and respond accordingly when your manager has finished discussing the given topic. Talk in a calm, factual manner, rather than a defensive or emotional way.
  • If there were points that were correct, acknowledge those.
  • Take feedback as a reflection of another person's perspective. It is a good opportunity to learn something about yourself.
  • Accept responsibility. Blaming someone else is not the solution. If you believe that a colleague should be held accountable for something, ask that they be included in the dialogue too.
  • Stay engaged in the discussion and pay attention to your body language. Checking out of the discussion can send a message to your manager that you do not value their input or growing in your role.
• Treat the performance review as an opportunity to reflect and ponder your actions and non-actions. If you are able to act on both positive and negative feedback, leveraging your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses, you will have an advantage over your peers.
• Discuss necessary position description edits. Your manager should forward these to HRS.
• As a final tip, when leaving the review meeting, focus on the future and not the past.

Generally, it is primarily your manager’s responsibility to ensure that there are no surprises at review time. Managers should discuss positive performance and areas for improvement throughout the year. However, it is in the employee’s best interest to open up discussion about performance during the year, even if the manager does not initiate it. The sooner employees know where they are with regard to performance, the sooner priorities can be shifted or problems can be fixed. Communication is a shared responsibility.

• Regard your review as a learning opportunity. You should be able to take away valuable information about yourself, your reviewer, or on new goals/opportunities for the coming year.
• After reflecting on the meeting, contact your manager to clarify any comments that may have been vague or need further explanation.
• Develop your own supplemental plan of action for meeting goals for the coming year. Ask your manager for assistance, if needed.
• Ask your manager for performance feedback throughout the year if they do not provide it.