How to Defend Yourself From a Bad Performance Review
Most employees inevitably find themselves in a position where their performance comes under scrutiny. It could be a series of caustic but casual remarks made by a supervisor during a particularly tough work week, or a scathing evaluation of your overall performance during a formal review in which your bonus or job could be in jeopardy. There are strategies for surviving negative performance reviews that should let you walk away from the situation with your abused ego intact.
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Instructions
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Try not to react immediately to a negative comment the instant it occurs. According to Drs. Robert Karlsburg and Jane Adler, experts in leadership development and the psychology of high performance, giving a "Yes, you're right" response to a supervisor's negative comment is always the correct response at the time. Later when the situation has cooled, approach the supervisor if warranted to ask for guidance on how you can improve. Be sure to call attention to your adoption of those suggestions to your supervisor and credit him for having suggested them.
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Keep a record of all negative events and outcomes in a personal diary, day keeper or calendar. Note situation details, all parties involved, the date and time and your individual actions or reactions. This is an extremely useful tool to have when it comes time to defend past actions and behaviors. Memories often become fuzzy on the details of negative events and when confronted about the who, what and when of a catastrophe, it can be hard to recall who did what during the heat of a major situation. It's very helpful to have a diary that details how a damaging event played out over several days and your particular role in it.
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Respond to bad situations in writing immediately and positively to deflate them, rather than waiting for a performance review. As part of your weekly report or even in a short memo to your supervisor, detail the circumstances of a negative event and how you handled it. You might say, "The unfortunate incident of this past week was due to a lack of clarity in accounting procedure. It has been addressed by updating procedures for recovery of funds from bankrupt vendors." This preemptive evaluation can deflate your role in a negative situation because you are able to characterize the event, rather than allowing the negative event to fester and gain in importance at performance review time.
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Try to stay calm during the review. Listen intently to what is being said. Don't rush to immediately defend past actions or you'll come off as defensive, which could be considered another negative. When encountering a particularly damaging job evaluation, stay positive. Ask for performance milestones such as percentage of sales increase, ideal number of customer contacts, or other performance metrics to allow you to demonstrate your worth and ability as an employee moving forward. Try to quantify milestones if possible, to eliminate subjective judgment of your future performance.
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Tips & Warnings
Get in the habit of documenting your day. Someday you'll be very glad you did.
Know that performance reviews can be emotionally debilitating, tense situations causing extreme angst, self doubt and self-recrimination. If you recognize that they come with the territory, you'll be in a better position to handle even the worst job performance critiques, and use them to demonstrate your value and worth to the company.
References
- Photo Credit boss shouting image by Kit Wai Chan from Fotolia.com
