Best Practices for Your Annual Performance Review [Employee Guide]

With this in mind, your performance review is the perfect occasion to showcase your best work. Respond to your self-review questionnaire with real-world examples and provide evidence wherever possible. In addition, familiarize yourself with your employer’s mission and vision, and then try to link your contributions with broader company objectives. This will help you to position yourself as a key organizational player.    

6. Consider Your Future Goals

As you reflect on the past 12 months, taking stock of all the things you’ve learned, achieved, enjoyed, and resented, think about what’s next. What are your career goals for the coming year, and how can your manager help you to accomplish them?

During Your Performance Review

1. Graciously Accept Criticism

Be prepared to receive some negative feedback and try not to react defensively. Listen carefully, ask questions to clarify, and, most importantly, try to understand what you can do better, either to improve your performance or avoid similar scenarios arising in the future. 

Don’t be pressured to respond in the moment. If you need some time to process the feedback and plan a reasoned response, communicate this to your manager, thank them for their feedback, and schedule a follow-up meeting. 

2. Take Notes

To avoid being overloaded with information during your performance review, note down all of the points raised and your immediate action items. These will serve as a useful guide as you forge a plan of action for the coming year and can be referred to in future meetings with your manager to track your progress. 

3. Frame Feedback Constructively

Your manager might ask for feedback on their management style and the team’s culture and ask for your suggestions on how to improve. Be prepared to respond honestly but constructively, providing a potential solution and positively framing your responses. For example:

• Don’t Say: “Our team struggles to delegate work effectively, which means some people take on additional responsibilities without the proper recognition.”

• Do Say: “I think it would be great to introduce a triage system to help us delegate work in the most efficient way possible. This will provide better visibility into everyone’s work assignments and enable us to properly celebrate their accomplishments.”

After Your Performance Review

1. Determine Next Steps

Following your performance review, carefully consult your notes and draw up a list of goals for the coming year. Your action plan should include time frames and achievable target dates. Remember, these should align with the feedback you’ve received, your career goals, and the company’s objectives. 

If your performance review has left you feeling disappointed— for example, if you didn’t secure the promotion or pay increase you were hoping for or if the feedback was more negative than you expected — consider scheduling a series of follow-up meetings with your manager, who can help you devise an appropriate performance management plan. 

2. Ask More Questions 

The discussion shouldn’t stop as your performance review meeting concludes. Continue to ask questions, seek clarification, and schedule follow-up discussions, all of which will help you respond more effectively to the feedback you’ve been given. For example, you might need more context or examples of your performance to understand how to improve.  

3. Document Your Achievements and Progress

If you take one thing away from this employee guide, let it be the importance of documenting everything: details of your historical achievements and performance reviews, the questions, comments, and suggestions you plan to raise during your upcoming review, the notes you take mid-discussion, and the progress you’re making to achieve your latest measurable objectives. 

In doing so, you demonstrate your problem-solving skills and a commitment to continuous improvement.