4 ms·

The annual review isn't a discussion, it's where your boss has decided what to write in your review and tells you about it. At that point, you need to change so

by mcantor 16y ago

The annual review isn't a discussion, it's where your boss has decided what to write in your review and tells you about it. At that point, you need to change someone's mind, rather than form their opinion. The performance review is too late. Wow, this is incredible advice. I think many of us (myself certainly included) make the mistake of conflating "time to hear about performance" with "time to hype my own performance". Thank you; my annual review is coming up at well, and this instantly transformed and matured my understanding of all the moving pieces.

martincmartin 16y ago
Glad it helped. One tweak: you should definitely discuss anything that seems out of place. If you did something great that seems to not be mentioned, or your boss considers it minor, look genuinely puzzled (because you are) and say "huh, I thought I did a really great job on X, and it was really important. Did I not do a good job? Was it not important?" Something like that. Again, you're information gathering, and trying to shift your boss's opinion by discussing the difference between your impression and your boss's. At this point, you're not trying to affect the overall summary.
- ilikepi 16y ago
  Thank you both for the additional insightful comments. In my case, we were told the topic of salary adjustments will be discussed (so I suppose it will be more of a combination performance/salary review). So I should probably be prepared for a bit of negotiating. Then, a month later, ask to see him. Now you're driving the conversation, and are much more likely to prevail. Don't worry if this isn't when annual raises are decided, those are for the "company driven" adjustment to your income. The "employee driven" ones come at any other time. The distinction between "company driven" and "employee driven" adjustments is certainly important. However, given the company's reality, and my understanding of that reality, I'm not sure it's reasonable to have an "employee driven" discussion only a month after the "company driven" one. I'll have to give this more thought in the coming week as I attempt to formulate a strategy...

by mcantor 16y ago

martincmartin 16y ago

Glad it helped. One tweak: you should definitely discuss anything that seems out of place. If you did something great that seems to not be mentioned, or your boss considers it minor, look genuinely puzzled (because you are) and say "huh, I thought I did a really great job on X, and it was really important. Did I not do a good job? Was it not important?" Something like that. Again, you're information gathering, and trying to shift your boss's opinion by discussing the difference between your impression and your boss's. At this point, you're not trying to affect the overall summary.

ilikepi 16y ago
Thank you both for the additional insightful comments. In my case, we were told the topic of salary adjustments will be discussed (so I suppose it will be more of a combination performance/salary review). So I should probably be prepared for a bit of negotiating. Then, a month later, ask to see him. Now you're driving the conversation, and are much more likely to prevail. Don't worry if this isn't when annual raises are decided, those are for the "company driven" adjustment to your income. The "employee driven" ones come at any other time. The distinction between "company driven" and "employee driven" adjustments is certainly important. However, given the company's reality, and my understanding of that reality, I'm not sure it's reasonable to have an "employee driven" discussion only a month after the "company driven" one. I'll have to give this more thought in the coming week as I attempt to formulate a strategy...