Jane McNeill* says receiving negative feedback in a performance review is never easy, but how you respond will make all the difference.
Receiving poor feedback during a performance review is never easy.
Not only can it feel like a personal attack, it can also be difficult not to take it to heart, or let it knock your confidence.
If you’ve been left feeling blindsided by a performance review, what you do next is key.
So, I’ve detailed some crucial steps that could help you to turn a poor performance review into a constructive learning opportunity.
- Don’t react immediately
It’s essential that you don’t immediately get “on the defensive” and react negatively.
Taking feedback onboard in a constructive and proactive way is part and parcel of achieving sustained career success.
You therefore must do everything you can to ensure you’re perceived as somebody who takes feedback well, using it as an opportunity to learn and develop.
Take a deep breath and allow some time to reflect on the specific feedback points.
Interestingly, research suggests that by first taking a step back and allowing yourself to “feel the pain of failure”, you’ll be in a stronger position to make constructive use of the areas detailed in your poor performance review.
By allowing yourself to really feel the emotion, in future, you’re more likely to do everything you can to avoid being in the same position again.
- Ask for clarification
Once you’ve had some time to reflect, you may realise that you don’t fully understand one or even several specific points raised during your performance review.
If so, don’t hesitate to ask your manager to clarify what they meant.
They should be able to provide you with concrete examples of when and where your performance has been unsatisfactory.
Your manager should also be able to explain to you what behaviour they would have liked to have seen from you.
- Draft key objectives to help you improve
Now that you have spent some time reflecting and understand the specific areas in which you need to improve, it’s time to pencil in several clear objectives to help drive you forward, and proactively work on the areas you need to develop.
Your manager may have also already highlighted a set of objectives during your initial performance review that you’ll need to work towards.
If so, take a good look at them and review how they can be accomplished.
Otherwise, take some time to draft these yourself, sharing them with your manager once you’re comfortable with them.
It will help to break down each of these objectives into small milestones, which will ultimately help you achieve the overall objective.
- Explore further learning and guidance
Your manager may have recommended that you take a certain course, join a professional organisation or find a suitable mentor to aid your development.
They may also have offered you the opportunity to work on a stretch project to develop your skills in a particular area.
If they haven’t, there’s no harm in being proactive and asking for their support in overcoming the weaknesses identified in your review.
Working with a colleague in this capacity can be daunting — but bear in mind that the benefits of mentoring in the workplace can be substantial for your development.
Alternatively, if you find a relevant course or learning opportunity that will benefit your development, signing up to it could work wonders for your self-confidence at this tricky time.
Not only could it help you rediscover your passion for what you do, it can give you the boost you need to push your performance forward — which can only ever be a good thing.
Proactively seeking to upskill proves your commitment to lifelong learning and demonstrates to your manager how dedicated you are to addressing the points raised in your performance review.
- Book an interim review with your manager
Thinking ahead, book an interim review with your manager within three months of your initial performance review, so you can prove how you’ve taken their feedback on board and are taking your personal development seriously.
This is your opportunity to present your manager with a plan of action that shows you’re headed in the right direction.
You can explain why you’ve made certain decisions, how they will help you to grow as a professional, and how this in turn will help your employer.
This is also a great opportunity to ask your manager for their own assessment of how you’re getting on.
- Adopt a growth mindset
It’s essential to understand that self-improvement requires persistence, patience and practice.
To respond in the best possible way to a poor performance review, it’s essential that you do your very best to adopt a mindset of growth.
Employees who adopt a growth mindset demonstrate that they can learn, grow and continuously add to their skillset by taking on feedback and using it to guide their personal development.
They firmly believe that knowledge is learned, and that new skills are built with a dedicated application of trial, error, practice and effort.
Subsequently, those with a growth mindset tend to persist when faced with the challenge of something like a poor performance review.
They see negative feedback as an inevitable part of the learning process, and an opportunity to develop both personally and professionally.
A bad performance review doesn’t have to be terminal
Ultimately, it’s important to keep things in perspective.
This is nothing but a stitch in time, and by adopting the right approach you’ll turn this negative moment into a positive period for your longer-term development.
You’ll learn, become a better professional in the long run, and instinctively know how to handle similar problems should they arise again.
By using your time to react positively and proactively, planning effectively and overcoming challenges successfully, you’ll reduce the chances of being suddenly and unexpectedly blindsided by a poor performance review again in the future.
* Jane McNeill is Managing Director of Hays NSW & WA.
This article first appeared at www.hays.com.au/blog.
