How would you assess your performance at work over the past few months? You can be honest. Are you consistently crushing it, or struggling to stay afloat? Do you make your boss look good on a regular basis, or are you barely on speaking terms?
Performance reviews can be nerve-wracking. But they matter. Employers use reviews to assess and evaluate work performance, identify strengths and weaknesses and set goals and metrics for the future. Reviews and ratings can also impact pay raises and advancement opportunities.
So, what do you do if your performance review goes badly?
Hearing negative feedback in real-time can be incredibly tough to swallow. I'm a career coach and I'm often asked to help forge a path forward after performance review season. Finding the silver lining may feel challenging, but trust me, you can turn a critical review around if you are prepared to raise the bar.
If you're on the receiving end of a subpar evaluation, here are three steps to help you bounce back:
How to Bounce Back from a Poor Performance Review
1. Listen Before You Act
If you feel yourself getting upset, stressed or angry, take a few deep, slow breaths to help process your emotions. Control any immediate impulses to react angrily or defensively.
Now's the time to listen carefully to the feedback shared. Take time to write down and reflect upon what you're hearing.
Ask clarifying questions if needed to ensure you understand the concerns and the suggested improvements. Be as professional and objective as possible in the moment and give yourself space and time after the meeting to reflect and regroup. Vent to a friend in confidence if you need to. Then, once you've processed your feelings about the feedback, it's time to switch gears to problem-solving mode
2. Demonstrate You're a Problem Solver
Remember, feedback is what makes you better. Review the notes on your performance and any additional notes you have detailing the feedback and guidance you received during your review.
Identify if the issue raised relates to a specific action that didn't meet expectations, or if it relates to a behavior or trait that needs to change.
Let's say you received feedback that you're failing to provide the deliverables needed for your client meetings. Were you unprepared because you forgot to review notes from the previous meetings? Or are you consistently scrambling ahead of meetings because you need help prioritizing competing demands?
Identifying the root cause or contingent factors that resulted in the performance issue will enable you to explore how best to solve the problem. If there's an action that needs to change, you can fix it. If you have a pattern of behavior or a bad work habit, you can start to address how to resolve it.
What you do next is what really matters. Owning the challenge and proposing solutions demonstrates you are accountable, responsive and proactive.
3. Seize Control of Your Next Steps
Whether you have a great boss or a bad one, their feedback is crucial as long as you, or they, remain at the company.
After you've reflected on how to resolve the performance issue, it's time to create a plan you will execute. Outline the steps you'll take to achieve your objectives, include details such as key performance indicators for your progress, and if you need additional support, outline clearly what you need.
For example, if you have decided that you need a new system for meeting preparation, you may use your calendar to block out time for recurring key tasks and commit to issuing agendas at the same time every week.
Share your proposed solutions with your manager and ask for their input. Then, start working on your plan and track your progress regularly. This action-oriented approach will enable you to cultivate a positive reputation. Proposing solutions and seizing control of your next steps demonstrates you're accountable, responsive and proactive.
Be prepared to continue to take the lead in monitoring and tracking your professional development progress over the next few months.
A recent study conducted by Betterworks, a human capital management company, found that only half of employees surveyed receive check-ins on career, advancement and growth more than once a year, and 25 percent of respondents received no check-ins about their careers at all. Do your best to continue to hold yourself accountable.
Embracing a Growth Mindset
As you work on your next steps, don't allow a poor performance review to erode your confidence. If you feel your confidence plummeting, embrace a growth mindset, as advocated by psychologist Carol Dweck in her groundbreaking book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
Dweck explains that people with a growth mindset perceive setbacks as valuable lessons. They fundamentally believe in their own ability to overcome adversity. Mistakes are learning opportunities and when you cultivate a growth mindset you become laser-focused on the process of improving your efforts moving forward.
With the right approach, you can turn negative feedback into a career catalyst. Please know that a disappointing review won't define you forever. People will remember how you responded and what you achieved next. So, harness the feedback as fuel to use to your advantage.
About the Author
Octavia Goredema is an award-winning career coach at Twenty Ten Agency, author of Prep, Push, Pivot, and host of the Audible Original series How to Change Careers with Octavia Goredema. You can learn more about Octavia's work at octaviagoredema.com.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
An award-winning career coach at Twenty Ten Agency, author of Prep, Push, Pivot, and ... Read more
