The reverse mid-year review strengthens your relationship with key stakeholders by keeping them invested in your progress. Photo: File.
May Busch says this is the time of the year to be proactive in promoting yourself to senior stakeholders without waiting for a formal mid-year review of your career progress.
This tends to be the time organisations conduct their formal mid-year reviews and when individuals make informal self-assessments on how to finish the year strongly.
However, there’s one game-changing strategy most people don’t use – the reverse mid-year review.
With this strategy, you proactively bring your review to important stakeholders instead of waiting for formal feedback.
Specifically, to the people who have a say in how your career progresses, your promotion prospects, the projects you are allocated, your compensation and access to resources.
The reverse mid-year review is a golden opportunity for a few reasons.
It’s an easy way to naturally advocate for yourself (without bragging).
It’s a sure-fire way to get up-to-date, senior-level advice to help you make effective mid-year adjustments.
Finally, it strengthens your relationship with key stakeholders by keeping them invested in your progress.
Here are the five key elements to include in your reverse mid-year review:
Achievements: Start with a succinct update on what you’ve achieved so far this year and how it links back to your organisation’s objectives.
Focus on how you’re adding value, not just how hard you’re working, and frame your work in terms of what the senior stakeholder cares about.
Aspirations: Then you’ll want to remind them of your aspirations, whether it’s growing your responsibilities, positioning yourself for a big promotion, or expanding the organisation’s presence and reputation.
Advice: You’ve reviewed how far you’ve come and where you want to head.
Now you can naturally ask for any advice they have for making the most of the second half of the year and navigating upcoming challenges and opportunities.
Appreciation: Express gratitude for their support. Be specific if you can, such as thanking your sponsor for recommending you for a stretch assignment.
If there’s something you’d like to do more of, you can add that too.
Add value: Thanking your senior stakeholders is a perfect lead-in to talk about what their priorities are and how you can support them in achieving their goals.
Even if you can’t help them at the moment, you’ll be aware of their priorities and able to look for ways to add value in the future.
If you’re not sure how to start the conversation, here’s an example of what your request for a mid-year meeting could sound like.
“I’ve been looking at our team’s goals for the year and want to make sure I’m contributing to them in the highest-impact way I can.
“I’d like to share with you our progress in the first half and where we should direct our energies heading into the second half.”
The beauty of the reverse mid-year review is it doesn’t have to be formal – often, the less formal the better.
So, who will you reach out to for your first reverse mid-year review?
May Busch’s mission is to help leaders and their organisations achieve their full potential. She works with smart entrepreneurs and top managements to build their businesses. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared on May’s blogsite.
