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As a manager in the hotel business, I was in charge of giving performance reviews on an annual basis, but I also received one of my own. While I considered myself a good employee and was typically confident going into my annual review, you never know when you might be thrown a curve ball. Therefore, I used a variety of techniques in an attempt to prepare myself for a variety of eventualities when it came to getting my annual performance evaluation.
Get a Copy
While an employer or boss should provide you with a copy of your performance review, it may not happen immediately. That review may have to be reviewed by other superiors or approved by the human resources department and take some time to make the rounds. By the time everyone has signed off on it, weeks or even months may have passed and you could have completely forgotten about not having a copy.
Therefore, making a note to follow up after a certain amount of time has passed to ensure you get a copy for future use (you may not know when it could be useful in applying for future jobs or using it to update a resume) may not be a bad idea.
Review Before Hand
Having a copy of your previous performance review can also help you look over last year's goals and do a self-evaluation of sorts. You can look for areas where you over-achieved or places where there might be some shortcomings. This can allow you to prepare for possibly answering some tough questions or pointing out successes that the boss may not have picked up upon.
Prepare for the Unexpected
While it might be impossible to consider and plan for every situation or question you might encounter during a performance review, at least considering where tough questions or concerns about your work might arise can help you be ready to explain yourself. If you think there might be some areas where you haven't quite lived up to expectations, considering how to positively answer or deal with such issues before you get into a review may help you to provide quality explanations.
Consider Goals
What were the goals for the last year? Have you met them? What could the boss not be happy with and what might he or she set as goals for next year?
Having, if not the answers to such questions before going into a performance review, at least an idea of how to answer them can make a review go smoother. This might also help you defend yourself should the year not have gone exactly according to plan.
Try to Keep Things Positive
It can be hard to take criticism, even when it's constructive. Still, when the outcome of your review and possibly your raise, bonus, and maybe even the future of your career could hang in the balance, it can be important to try.
You may not be able to always keep things as positive as you might like. But when the boss gets into an area in which he or she is unhappy with your performance, you might be able to turn the situation around by asking the boss's advice on how he or she would do or change things. This can make them feel a part of the process and that you value their input. If they don't have a good answer for how to improve or change things, it might make them realize that your job isn't as easy as they think it is.
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