How did you performed this year?

The end of the year is coming as is review time. For many employees this is the time to do your self-evaluation.

How have you performed this year?
Have you meet your goals? Are you still working towards them? Did you surpass what you though weren’t feasible? Did you make a breakthrough?  How do you see yourself? How are you going to translate your successes and short comings?

During your review what are your expectations? A raise, a promotion, and how do you think you align with the company’s goals?
How did you perform within your own organization?
How many people have supported your efforts during the year?
How many have stepped back from you?

Have you started to look at 2018 and how you can have aligned with the projects that are coming up?
Have you thought about how your manager will respond to your self-evaluation?

We all have heard that the final review should not come as a surprise.
In some case this is true, in others, not so much.

You could have worked as hard as you could. Worked long hours to deliver projects on time. Worked over the weekend when necessary. Always the first one to arrive and the last one to leave. When the time of the final review happens, to your surprise you have been labeled as a “poor performer”.

Your self-evaluation is only one part of the equation. The other part is how your manager ranks you in their organization.

As much as you can deliver, it doesn’t mean you will be on the top of the list. The affinity between a manager and a subordinate will supersede most often.

If you have a good relationship with your manager, you have a better chance to get a nice raise or a promotion, than someone who is not very well ranked in the manager’s organization.

I have seen individuals being ranked poorly even though they were high performers. Always delivering beyond what was expected. It can bring a lot of frustration and disappointment to be ranked that poorly.

How would you react if you are at the receiving end of a poor review?
What would you do about it?

Reviews should be based on performance not about how much a manager likes you. But in most cases, this is not always what unfolds.