Why Brene Brown is Amazing…tips for women who are trying to balance work and family without shame
20th February 2014Flattery gets you everywhere – The art of giving subtle compliments to build trust and get ahead
7th March 2014How a gravitas strategy can help you have a great performance appraisal
Performance reviews. The bane of every working year. How can you take this dreaded experience and turn it into something positive? Before you begin, think about your overall objective. How do you want to be ranked? Do you want a raise or promotion? What does success look like for you, specifically, for next year”s appraisal?
The key is “gravitas” – making sure you show up with a strong executive presence and reflect your personal brand.
Now, get to work making a plan for the coming year to ensure you have a great mid-year review and annual review.
The key is “gravitas” – making sure you show up with a strong executive presence and reflect your personal brand.
Now, get to work making a plan for the coming year to ensure you have a great mid-year review and annual review.
Step 1 – Identify three people you need to influence to ensure you get a good appraisal (Blockers and Promoters)
Who really matters? Who can block your success? Who can promote your success? This may be your boss, but expand your thinking to think of other people, too. Maybe your boss”s PA, your boss”s boss, someone in a function, someone at Group level? Who is going to give input to your appraisal and who has the ability or influence to make it positive or negative? Those are the people you want to target.
Step 2 – Identify your “personal brand” attributes that you”d like each of those three key blockers/promoters to know about you before your performance review
What three adjectives would you want them to think of when they think about you? Some examples: My boss should think I”m: “Strategic. Organised. Leaderly.” My functional head should think I”m: “Ambassador. Contributor. Aligned.” My most senior executive in my client chain should think I”m: “Advisor. Reliable. Consistent quality.”
Step 3 – Identify what these three individuals care about most and what behaviors they exhibit that are unhelpful or need to be managed.
What motivates them? What do they fear? What do they want? How do they want to show up in their appraisals or reviews? What does he/she do that derails you or hijacks your success? Think through what they want, and then you can identify how you can help them get there. People reward performers who are helping them achieve their own objectives, too. Listen carefully to the feedback they”re giving you and what they worry about. That is the silver bullet for you.
So, if your boss is a micromanager who panics and worries about mistakes being made and looking foolish to her boss, you need to identify that and be realistic that you need to manage it. If your functional head only cares about his own success and getting his next promotion, how are you going to help him get there? If casino your most senior executive is only concerned about hitting targets or KPI”s, what are you doing to demonstrably contribute?
Step 4 – Make an action plan with strategies to ensure you”re going to get a good performance review
What do you need to put in place on a systematic basis to meet their needs? For the micromanager, maybe you should have a monthly 1:1 and a weekly email of your priorities so that she will feel more confident that you”re in control and making her look good. For the guy who just wants a promotion, how can you help him be noticed by contributing things that make him look good to his own boss. For the senior leader, proactively generate reports or data that demonstrate how what you”re doing contributes to the “rubber hitting the road”.
Know when your mid-year review is scheduled and back-plan to ensure you have some big deliverables to show just before. Do the same for the year-end review.
Step 5 – Who else needs managing with a “light touch” for your performance appraisal conversation?
Now expand your list to people who need to be peripherally managed and go through the same steps, but in a more succinct process. Maybe it”s your direct reports – who will probably be asked for opinions if there is a 360 review – and you want to show up as supportive yet challenging; so design weekly 1:1″s and track agreements and priorities.
Maybe you need to influence the extended leadership team? Do they find you likable and competent? Think about alliances you can make. How can you show up more positively in meetings? Are you speaking enough or too much, currently? How can you get feedback to modulate this? Are you seen to be contributing to the team”s success? How can you do that, demonstrably and very visibly?
Follow these steps and next year you”ll be rewarded with the raise, promotion, grade boost, or whatever it is you”d like to achieve!
Who really matters? Who can block your success? Who can promote your success? This may be your boss, but expand your thinking to think of other people, too. Maybe your boss”s PA, your boss”s boss, someone in a function, someone at Group level? Who is going to give input to your appraisal and who has the ability or influence to make it positive or negative? Those are the people you want to target.
Step 2 – Identify your “personal brand” attributes that you”d like each of those three key blockers/promoters to know about you before your performance review
What three adjectives would you want them to think of when they think about you? Some examples: My boss should think I”m: “Strategic. Organised. Leaderly.” My functional head should think I”m: “Ambassador. Contributor. Aligned.” My most senior executive in my client chain should think I”m: “Advisor. Reliable. Consistent quality.”
Step 3 – Identify what these three individuals care about most and what behaviors they exhibit that are unhelpful or need to be managed.
What motivates them? What do they fear? What do they want? How do they want to show up in their appraisals or reviews? What does he/she do that derails you or hijacks your success? Think through what they want, and then you can identify how you can help them get there. People reward performers who are helping them achieve their own objectives, too. Listen carefully to the feedback they”re giving you and what they worry about. That is the silver bullet for you.
So, if your boss is a micromanager who panics and worries about mistakes being made and looking foolish to her boss, you need to identify that and be realistic that you need to manage it. If your functional head only cares about his own success and getting his next promotion, how are you going to help him get there? If casino your most senior executive is only concerned about hitting targets or KPI”s, what are you doing to demonstrably contribute?
Step 4 – Make an action plan with strategies to ensure you”re going to get a good performance review
What do you need to put in place on a systematic basis to meet their needs? For the micromanager, maybe you should have a monthly 1:1 and a weekly email of your priorities so that she will feel more confident that you”re in control and making her look good. For the guy who just wants a promotion, how can you help him be noticed by contributing things that make him look good to his own boss. For the senior leader, proactively generate reports or data that demonstrate how what you”re doing contributes to the “rubber hitting the road”.
Know when your mid-year review is scheduled and back-plan to ensure you have some big deliverables to show just before. Do the same for the year-end review.
Step 5 – Who else needs managing with a “light touch” for your performance appraisal conversation?
Now expand your list to people who need to be peripherally managed and go through the same steps, but in a more succinct process. Maybe it”s your direct reports – who will probably be asked for opinions if there is a 360 review – and you want to show up as supportive yet challenging; so design weekly 1:1″s and track agreements and priorities.
Maybe you need to influence the extended leadership team? Do they find you likable and competent? Think about alliances you can make. How can you show up more positively in meetings? Are you speaking enough or too much, currently? How can you get feedback to modulate this? Are you seen to be contributing to the team”s success? How can you do that, demonstrably and very visibly?
Follow these steps and next year you”ll be rewarded with the raise, promotion, grade boost, or whatever it is you”d like to achieve!
