What Can I Do To Boost My Performance Rating In The Next Few Weeks?
We're down the final months of the year. Here's a set of tactical TODOs I give all my clients to ensure their reviews go better than expected.
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(Yosemite Mornings, Teddy the Corgi, California, USA)
Performance reviews are top of mind in my coaching sessions this time of the year. When I ask my clients “How do you think your reviews will go?”, I often get one of these generic answers at first:
Pretty good. My manager and I talk weekly during our 1-1’s and she’s up to date on what I’m doing and how my projects are going.
I’m supposed to be up for promotion. But when I ask my manager about it, he just says “You’re doing well. Let’s see how it goes”. I think I’m on track for the promotion.
I wrote my self-review and asked for my peer reviews already. My manager says I’m doing great regularly and I get positive feedback from my team. So, I hope it’ll be good.
While these situations all sound “good”, they’re all fluffy.
TODO #1: Get Specific
Often, career conversations lack specificity. A vague question from you (e.g. “How am I doing?”) will only generate a vague response from your manager (e.g. “You’re doing great!”). Often, unless there’s some critical feedback, your manager isn’t pulling up the leveling document to think in-depth about where you stand. But you perhaps should.
The first step to getting the rating you want is to be specific in asking about where you stand.
Am I on track to get a rating of [x] this quarter?
Do you think I’m on the high end of the range for a rating of [x] or the lower end?
Which project or part of my work are you most worried about pulling my rating down? Which do you think is the best backing for my rating?
Then, get some detailed feedback on if there are things your manager is missing to get you either to a higher rating or solidly in your current rating:
What projects or work could I pick up to help improve my rating (or solidify my rating) in the next few weeks?
Which relationships do you think I should focus on strengthening?
How am I perceived by the rest of the organization? Where are my soft spots or potential blind spots?
Sometimes, these conversations can be difficult for both sides. Your manager might not be the most comfortable giving critical feedback. They might not even be actively thinking about it. Regardless, the onus is on you to get your manager to have the uncomfortable conversation or to help you think through what areas you may want to shore up. Getting specific with your questions is how you’ll draw out more specific answers from them.
TODO#2: Do A Roadshow
Many people spend their time managing relationships with their manager and their team, but miss opportunities to manage their perceptions with skips, cross-skips, and the managers of their peers. If your company does calibrations for promotions, then you know that the perception in the room when your performance is discussed is critical. Your rating is not entirely up to your manager.
When I was at Meta, as a manager I attended calibration sessions between teams and even across functions depending on the organization. I knew going into these sessions what I wanted for a rating for each of my team members. But here’s what happens:
A peer of mine would disagree with a rating because one of their team members felt my team member was not collaborative in a scenario
I would argue for a high rating but no one in the group knew who what person was or what they had done (so I was perceived as biased)
A strong voice from a VP + overrules my pitch or, in the opposite case, effectively pounds the table to promote when no one else is doing so
In all these cases, it was not a matter of managing my perception, but the perception of those around me. This is true regardless of whether your company does performance calibrations or not. Even if you’ve never heard of performance calibrations, the same principles apply — peer perception is reality. Your brand and reputation in the company will precede what your manager brings to the conversations — make sure it’s a strong one.
To do this, make a plan to advocate for your accomplishments relevant to this upcoming review. Include who you need to talk to and ensure they’re update to date on your work, how and when you’ll talk to them, and who these people will help influence. Where necessary, explicitly ask them to put in a good word for you to your manager or during performance discussions.
(If you want more tips on how to do this well, I teach a maven course on Advocating for Yourself and Your Ideas with a cohort in early December.)
Be Helpful
This last one is simple — for the month before your reviews, be helpful to everyone. Don’t over-promise, but take the extra time to be as helpful and supportive as you can to others. This is not about being agreeable (saying yes to everything and everyone). Rather, it’s a good time to return favors, help your peers achieve their goals, and avoid getting into big conflicts or debates. It’s not the time to spend political capital. Instead, for just a few critical weeks, focus on building goodwill around you.
That’s all folks. See you next week at 3:14 pm!
Yue