It’s the time of year when many of you are writing your self-assessments and participating in annual reviews.
Some of you will hear bad news. You didn’t meet expectations. You failed to achieve your professional goals. You won’t qualify for a merit increase, and let’s be honest: most people see their worth and contribution to the company reflected in the annual pay raise.
Here is my simple request. I am asking you to NOT freak out.
I know, I know. It’s tough.
As your friendly HR advisor, I want you know that you cannot re-litigate 2009. It is pointless to write a legal brief that defends your behavior and makes people see you in a different light. You can appeal your performance review and ask for more money, but it rarely ends in your favor. It makes you look punitive and vindictive. People will say, “He just doesn’t get it.”
Please keep your head about you and don’t take it all so personally. Spend some time figuring out how you’ll make 2010 the last year where your company’s assessment process pierces your heart and deflates your ego. Think about a new job. Think about a new career. Think about living the kind of life where it doesn’t matter what your boss or supervisor thinks about you.
You do this. I know you can. Make 2010 a year of change — not a year of anger and resentment.
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Some of the executive leadership team asked their direct reports to write a self assessment. Our Center Director kept calling his a Self Examination, each time I got up and walked out telling him I wasnt going to assist him with that
Great point. If you don’t agree with your review, turning it into a ‘boxing match’ with your manager will do you more harm. Prove them wrong in the next few months. Here are some performance review tips you might be interested in. http://bit.ly/9Qf7N3
Great advice! Nice to see the how “other side” views the assessment and performance process. Even if it is our RIGHT as employees to defend our behavior, we should of defended our behavior, our work, and actions, everyday via numbers or customer feedback (depending on your career). More often, employees need to step up, turn the dials up and produce more to show their boss, manager etc.. what they can do vs what they are “not” doing.
2010 should be a year of ABILITY!
Always consider the source, If you don’t respect someone why would you what they think?
A year of change … sounds good … but still it requires lots of ingredients to make it happen (little bit of resentment sometimes boost it up).. though still sometimes wonder to not again land-up in yet another cycle.. or the phrase grass is greener the other side should not loose its further chasm… peaceful analysis should lead up to some answers.. i guess so..!!
@Adowling OMG, please, I want no part of a self examination. Ha!
@Nathanial I like to tell people, “Don’t take this shit so seriously.” I often hear, “My livelihood depends on it.” I ask, “Who’s fault is that? Fix it.”
@Pyr I’m not sure it’s your right to defend anything, actually. You can write a response or a diatribe, and maybe the HR person will stick it in your file, but it’s not your right protected/afforded by the Constitution. It’s your right to quit, get a new job, find a new boss, or be self-employed. Challenging the assessment of your performance review at a private employer is a privilege — if anything. That’s why I’m all about kicking the whole infrastructure in the teeth.
@johnC I totally consider the source. Also consider how you feel about yourself. If you don’t respect yourself, why would others?
@ajit I wish I could tell people the fifteen steps needed to break the cycle but it’s different for EVERYONE and requires retrospective thinking and analysis. But I do encourage people to chill the hell out. I had grown men in my office CRYING over a 3.2% increase and a 3.4 rating on a scale of 5.0. I’d have to say, “The company average raise was 3.6%, the curve was based on a 3.2 rating, and this is just a job. Does your family love you? Does your dog love you? Okay, the world is not ending.”
“Make 2010 a year of change — not a year of anger and resentment.”
Tell that to the GOP and the stupid morons that listen to them. I’m NOT looking forward to this election—
In this economy, someone crying over a 3.4% increase instead of a 5% increase must work for AIG—
Laurie,
One of my rants and common blog themes is: “There is no excuse for being surprised by a bad performance appraisal.” I encourage employees to engage in quarterly discussions, lunches, et al with their managers to make sure they are meeting the companies/bosses expectations throughout the year, especially as measured by performance review criteria. Then you have a barometer that you can adjust if needed. Also, document the conversations, preferably in an email outlining the conversation to your boss.
If you are getting great feedback, then it minimizes the chances that the manager will be a turncoat at annual review time. (Keep in mind, not getting the raise one wants is different than getting a bad review.)
I remember the year I blew out my numbers and got no raise. Sure I was thankful for the healthy commission checks, but jeese, a little corporate love would have been nice. Fortunately, I was mature enough to realize our parent company was struggling, and the entire organization was expected to pitch in. I had been treated fairly over the years otherwise, so I put things in perspective and moved forward.
Jobs are not life sentences, which is hard to appreciate in a down economy when you feel stuck. But the cycle will turn. And, as you note, look to things outside work for fulfillment to help sustain you until it does.
I’m surprise more companies do not have reviews twice a year. Annual reviews just seems like a long time between reviews. I know reviews are a pain but getting feedback to the employee is very important. I know how busy everyone gets throughout the year and many managers do not take the time to give their employees feedback. More frequent reviews would force that issue and allow the employee that 3-6 month time period to improve. I also think that twice a year reviews are also chances to reward employees with a raise if the employee earned it.
Just my two cents.
I’ve always worked for small departments with an informal management style, and I’ve never *had* a performance review. Now I’m moving to a bigger place, where I’ll get at least two in my first year, and I have Teh Feer, because I also have that syndrome where you think you’re a fraud and nothing you ever do is good enough. You know, being human? That one. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep it in perspective
This advice should be followed every year. The corporate world overflows with unfair and/or irrational performance reviews.
Some of my personal favorites:
1) I have been blamed for poorly designed and executed projects – projects that went live before I joined the company. Somebody had to take the bullet for the system’s issues.
2) I had my job duties rewritten so a manager could justify not giving me an exceeds rating. He did this because now your accomplishments no longer align with your core duties…
3) I worked at a place on the 1-5 scale. A rating of 4 or 5 mandated certain bonus payments and merit increases. Most departments could not afford the increases and bonuses for “5″ so performance ratings were capped at a 4.
4) Another company had a section on your self assessment to review department and company performance. If your review of these items contained any issues or negatives; you would have to discuss your comments with someone from corporate. They would clear-up any misconceptions that you may have and then they would give you a chance to update your comments.
Timely! Thanks for the reminder that we are NOT our performance rating or our merit increase. We are all so much more than that. It’s hard to remember in the heat of the moment, but our performance reviews will not be what gets read at our funerals.
“Here lies Kristy. She was punctual, and worked well with others.” I don’t know, could be worse I suppose… =)
I always go in armed with last year’s review, along with evidence demonstrating how I have taken my lowest scoring categories and improved performance.
I use the self-assessments to prepare for the assault.
Annual reviews are a big fat nasty waste of time…I’m convinced. Nobody looks forward to them and rarely is anything of substance learned from them. This is an age old problem and HR is notorious for running around trying to fix it with better forms, or a better technology, or a better workflow. The problems are varied, but the bottom line = most people just suck at this…and without out a huge investment they always will suck at it. Yet we try again and again and again. Wake UP!!!!! We need to blow this up and do something different. Something simpler, something more fun, something more genuine, something relevant, and something less staged.
What bothers the employees is when they dont get feedback or are not explained about their failures or what went wrong. I know some of the best known CEO’s and Business Heads who are really bad in giving feedbacks to their reportees over a period of time. They like to be a goody – goody leaders with god fatherly figure. Some of them are so stubborn that they feel they are not required to give feedback and explain the details to their reportees. I have seen some of them even not doing performance reviews and giving the ratings straight away. Even in plenty of reviews I have seen Managers giving good feedback during the discussion but while giving the ratings to HR gives lower ratings. Later when the employee comes to know of it, he doesnt have any clue of what went wrong.
Spoken like a true HR professional. I mean that possessively. The only problem is that reviews are more of a shell game than review. I have had some good ones and I have had some bad ones. I have met all of my goals only to find out that they were not the same goals that started the year.
Most Managers don’t “get it”. I do. I keep notes all year long…e-mails, kudos, failures, all of it. Then, I write the reviews at the end of the year. Unfortunately, MOST managers will try to remember everything at the end of the year. This results in a mostly negative review for many people.
This year, I say get a hardcopy of your goals from your superior. Then, keep ALL of your accomplishments through the whole year. Then, when he tells you that you “just don’t measure up”, shove those notes down his throat (I was actually thinking of the other end).
I say instead of us all going through this every year, perhaps we should try something novel. HR should “coach” Managers on collecting data and writing reviews. Reviews are far too subjective and you are collateral under the budget of the person writing that review…get it?
The best system I have seen for reviews is in Authoria. I challenge someone to find a better system of reviews. One which is truly an opportunity for growth. I like a raise, but I want a fair review, regardless of any merit raise.
I’m always surprised…..by anyone who is surprised by a performance review, good or bad.
My last job had a quarterly review, and my current job has a monthly mini-review. These are awesome ways to keep in contact about what you’ve done and what s/he expects from you.
But too many employees treat it as something to fear. The Review Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken and all that sort of thing. You can’t WIN in a situation you fear, and you can’t win in a situation you don’t own or contribute to. It’s our responsibility to keep that dialogue open with managers and let them know about our achievements.
I sit on both sides of the table with evaluations. I give and I get. I’m not sure which one I despise more.
Bottom line of any evaluation is this, in my view: if the things your boss says to you during your evaluation are a complete surprise to you, then he/she hasn’t done their job as a manager. Or you haven’t listened or taken it seriously. Or both. Fix what you can. And if you need to approach your manager during the year for a “how am I doing” talk, do it. And bring a pad….listen and take notes. Better to find out when you still have a chance to fix it. Very few managers really want their employees to fail. When you fail, so do we.
@Renee… “Kristy could have been more patient with those who enjoy creating and employing inane processes. She was a good mother, though.”
@Charlie Judy… I will blow it up with you! How about the novel idea of making managers talk to their people candidly and often and firing those who don’t? I know… crazy talk…
@Jane Sometimes those expectations around a performance review are overstated. I dunno. You can surprise employees. I think people should just be mature enough to let some of this stuff roll of their backs.
@Patrick I think too many people treat the performance review like a game of chess. If only it was as strategic and meant as much. Many of these reviews are like half-assed games of checkers.
@High Priest Actually, I’d like to see the whole performance review scrapped and replaced with people NOT being treated like babies. That’s another post. Thanks for the inspiration.
@Charlie Thank you. xoxoxo Yes. Agree 100%.
@Irish That’s a tough-as-nails approach.
@Renee That’s a sad tombstone. But funny!
@Kristy Fuck them!
@Sales You are making me depressed and reminding me why I can’t go back to HR Generalist work.
@Renee Don’t fear it. It’s not your mom telling you she doesn’t love you.
@Paul Thanks for your two cents. We love it.
@August You are an optimist. We need you around here. Not sure if I agree 100% with the comment but we end up at the right place about jobs not being life sentences.
@MattyMat The only raise I get is when the kitties barf back up part of their dinner. That’s 3.5% of their tuna. Thanks, guys.
I’ve learned not to take performance reviews too seriously. I’ve had years where I really think I “knocked it out of the park” and have gotten an average rating. Other years I think I just did ok and got an above average rating. In the end it all balances out. Don’t focus on the rating. Focus on the messages. What does the boss want you to do more of? Less of? After all, it is a job people. That means you work for someone who is paid to assess you – like it or not. Deal with it or move on.
@Michelle Very healthy. Very.
@Laurie – Here, here!! I support that. But, keep it real. There is alot more that goes into eliminating the current “system”. Like I said, Authoria is a good tracking tool and it can allow for maintenance throughout the year.
Laurie, you say: “let’s be honest: most people see their worth and contribution to the company reflected in the annual pay raise?” There is a good deal of truth in that, largely because that annual raise is the only indication the employee gets of how well they are doing their job and how much that is valued by the organization. Very sad, indeed.
So much more effective is ongoing and frequent recognition of effort and behaviors you need to succeed. Gallup research even shows that managers who acknowledge employee strengths have employees who are far more engaged in their work than managers who do not acknowledge their employees at all. Interestingly, managers who only acknowledge weaknesses still have more engaged employees than those who pay no attention. This is not really surprising, however, as it indicates just how desperately employees want FEEDBACK.
(Gallup research referenced and detailed here: http://bit.ly/83dF8k
@Derek This assumes I have respect for Gallup’s work. (I usually don’t.)
please help me respond to a manager who tells me I am an exceeds employee but gave me a less than favorable merit increase. I am steaming b/c I worked so hard and he doesn’t want to justify my exceeds (he actually told me that).