To start with, what does performance review mean? They are just processes set aside in a company or organization to ensure their staff know when they are doing very well or when they are doing poorly at work.
A lot of us always over hype ourselves and think we are actually doing a lot of work, remember that a performance review is not an opinion of yourself but the opinion of the company itself. It is generally the opinion of another person and totally not your opinion at all.
Sometimes you can get great reports in the performance review and sometimes you could get a bad review and could also lead to a lot of uncertainty in your job as well as it could also affect your career progress later in the future.
When you probably fall on the receiving end of a not so good review does not outrightly mean the end of your career, it is just an avenue for you to know you have to buckle up and improve on some certain parts or skills for your career. How do you overcome a bad review? What can you possibly do after you get a bad performance review?
1. Do Not Panic
After you get a bad performance review from the company or your boss, a lot of people get very timid and panic about the insecurity of your job. Employees become automatically defensive and probably lose confidence in themselves.
Later on, or immediately you could feel criticized and unjustly evaluated but do not be quick to anger or react with anger or an insubordinate behavior would only worsen your situation and not help you one tiny bit. I would advise you to take a deep breath and really try to understand and listen to the feedback or your performance review you received.
There is no way you can overcome a bad performance review with a bad behavior or a bad reaction to the review. Ensure to clarify and understand the reasons behind your assessment so you can figure out what’s next to do.
2. Make Plans For Self-Reflection Exercises
Instead of reacting badly after a poor performance review, it would be advised you actually take time to review the comments you received from your boss and try to do this diplomatically and professionally as possible. Try to review the case or situation from your boss’s point of view to understand why he really gave such comments in the first place.
Confirm if it was feedback or reports from your colleagues or clients of the organization or probably most of the times you do not meet up to deadlines or project timelines set by the company. Once you finally realize how you fueled your shortcomings, it is best to request a follow up eating to address the concerns in your performance reviews and don’t talk about what the problems are.
Be sure to inform your supervisor about your plans and solutions you would be developing about the review he/she brought to your notice and you could request for frequent or occasional meeting intervals to ensure both parties are improving and impressed at the same time.
3. Develop SMART Goals
You should come up and develop intelligent and reasonable goals that can actually help manage your performance. Do not be confused on what SMART goals means. It simply means
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Results-driven
- Time-bound.
Bring up these goals and develop them all around the areas you want to improve in and even those areas you probably did not report for. Be sure to propose these goals to your supervisor probably during the frequent meetings earlier advised between you and your supervisor.
These SMART goals would definitely come in handy to keep you on the right path with work expectation between you and the company as a whole. Ensure to measure up your improvements using the new performance review and the poor previous performance review.
4. Work On Your Communication
If you work really hard, there is nothing wrong with you flaunting the success that comes after every hard work. A poor performance could be a result of a boss who does not know what you have achieved over the years because it’s not visible to him/her.
Be sure to keep records of projects, deadlines or quotas to your boss frequently for inspection and notification of your little achievements either in review meetings or regular random meetings with your supervisor.
5. Ask For Help
Don’t raise your pride and be too proud to ask for help to boost or change your negative performance review. Talk to your manager if there’s any advice or help they can render, meet with your colleagues and let them guide you through how they managed to escape the poor review.