Is It Worth It to Argue an Employee Review?
It'south performance review time and whether you're feeling anxious or confident about the process, there is always that chance that yous'll disagree with your manager'due south assessment of your piece of work. And this isn't unique to junior or mid-level employees. Performance reviews are held throughout the bureaucracy of an organization, from the C-suite on downward, and no matter what position an employee holds, there's withal the chance that he or she could be rated as "underperforming" or "failed to meet expectations."
Nonetheless, what happens if an employee disagrees with their review? Is there anything that someone could do to remedy an inaccurate or unfair evaluation? Or is an employee's fate sealed once a manager clicks "submit"?
We turned to career and executive charabanc Kate O'Sullivan to get expert communication on what steps employees tin can take if they disagree or dispute aspects of their review.
Step #1: Fix Emotions Aside & Exist Objective
"Ask yourself these 4 questions to move forward from a disappointing review," says O'Sullivan.
- Which aspects of this review are true and are things that I should really work on?
- How can I become other perspectives to aid me understand the feedback I've received?
- Am I on the same page with my dominate well-nigh my expectations going forward and then that this doesn't happen again?
- How will I exist measured on my success and what is my process for checking in with my boss oftentimes then that by the next review there is not dubiety we're on the same page about my functioning?
Step #2: Follow Up on the Review
"When you lot become a negative review — peculiarly if it comes as a surprise — a very natural reaction is to fight against it either past arguing directly or by immediately making plans to leave your chore or company," says O'Sullivan. "However, there are a few steps it is wise to take before making any major decisions."
Instead of conjuring up the reasons behind the review or dissecting every comment and rating, go more insight. "Set up a follow-upwardly meeting with them, explaining that you were surprised past your review and you lot would like to discuss further. In the meeting, ask for examples of the weaknesses they brought up, and come up prepared with your own examples and talking points. Try to keep an open up mind in this discussion— shutting down or getting defensive volition go far much more difficult to have an open and productive dialogue."
Step #three: Get Advice From Others
If you lot disagree with your director's interpretation of your work product or performance, information technology's of import to get communication from varying viewpoints and colleagues. "Don't just ask people who really like you or think similarly — they are likely to give you an respond that feels practiced but perhaps not one that helps you recognize your blind spots," warns O'Sullivan.
"Enquire some others who were involved on the project or piece of work — what was their cess of how you handled it? Would they be willing to get involved in the chat? There is often a eye footing that can be reached past getting boosted viewpoints at the table. You might discover that in fact you do take some bullheaded spots or things y'all could have approached differently, and your boss will likely find that they were missing some key information besides."
Stride #4: Don't Blitz to Action
Fight the urge to retaliate or react to your operation review the same day, or even the aforementioned week, as it was given. Allow yourself time to process both the review, your self-cess, the follow-upwards conversation and the inputs of others.
"The information assemble phase could take a few days or a few weeks depending on how easily it is for you to connect with several people," says O'Sullivan. "The virtually important indicate is to give yourself time to calm down emotionally and then that you can see your options in the situation rationally, and to get a variety of viewpoints so you lot can step dorsum and see the bigger movie."
Step #5: If Needed, Speak to Hour
One time you've gone through the in a higher place steps, it'due south non out of the question to seek a professional stance. "If [you lot] think a review is severely wrong or based on false information, it would be wise to go either your boss's superior and/or HR involved, depending on who your resource are within your visitor," says O'Sullivan. While big companies will undoubtedly have a human being resources section, smaller companies may not. Nevertheless, do some digging to run into who is the correct person at your office. "If yous have 60 minutes you tin go to, they tin often be a helpful resource to help you sort through things more objectively, and they tin suggest process improvements to ensure that performance reviews are conducted fairly and accurately in the future."
Step #half dozen: Consider Your Future
Use all the information yous've gathered to experience empowered and to take steps to advocate for yourself. In some instances, that's evaluating how you communicate with your boss to ensure a better review and more than aligned expectations. On the other hand, this could be the time you consider a new opportunity at another company.
Stride #7: Program For Your Next Review
Whether you determine to change companies or are motivated to continue in your current part, operation review time will come again and O'Sullivan advises that you exist read. "By the time you get a review that you disagree with, you're already behind the ball. Your focus should be on preparing for your side by side review to avoid this kind of miscommunication happening again."
The key to any director-employee relationship is clear expectations. "Have explicit conversations with your boss about what is expected of y'all— what practise those deliverables look like, how will y'all be able to mensurate when success is achieved? Then brand certain that this conversation is documented somehow so you tin reference it if demand be. A simple email recap later on a conversation with your boss can exercise wonders to make certain you sympathize each other. Then you have to make sure you connect with your boss regularly to check in on your progress. It'south very easy to get caught up in the twenty-four hour period-to-day work and let check-ins slide off the calendar. But it's in your best interest to make sure that these happen regularly. That said, brand information technology as easy for your dominate as possible by coming prepared. Print off your expectations email, come with a self-cess, and have examples at the set up for discussion. By giving your boss data to react to, rather than walking in and request a full general, "How am I doing?" you're much more likely to get a detailed and targeted response, and you're shifting the conversation to facts rather than relying on the memory of someone who likely has hundreds of things on their listen."
Source: https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/think-performance-review-is-wrong/