Should there come a day that you receive a bad performance review at your job, there are some things to keep in mind to handle the situation appropriately. It can be so easy to feel offended about critical feedback, especially if you feel that you are doing a good job at your place of employment. Here are a few helpful tips to handle the review in a positive way and improve your job performance for future reviews.
Don’t Take Offense:
As hard as it is to not take offense about the feedback, this is very important. When you take personal offense to the statements being made in the review, you will likely make poor judgment calls about how you handle yourself in the meeting.
You tend to act defensive when you take a personal offense to something and it can easily cause you to point blame at other people or processes within your company. It is important to not immediately begin placing blame on others when you are called in for a performance review, because it will seem that you are not willing to take personal responsibility for your own actions.
Listen to the Feedback:
Another difficult thing to do is genuinely listen to the feedback that you are being given about your performance. It can be very easy to spend the entire time during the review coming up with your response or excuse to an area that needs attention. When you take the time to actually listen to your reviewer, you might find that there really are some things that you need to do better in your position. There certainly can be some misunderstandings or poor perceptions that are adding to the negative review. As hard as it may be, it is important to fully listen to what the reviewer is sharing with you.
Be Humble and Ask Questions:
Once you have heard all of the negative comments, it is time to be proactive. In a humble way, ask questions about the information you have received. Make certain you really understand what the issues are and what is being said. It is important to walk away from the meeting with a clear understanding of why you received the poor performance review. With this knowledge you can address the issues as you move forward.
Stay Positive:
Even though you can feel like you are being attacked when negative comments are being shared about you, it is better to see those pieces of feedback as a way to further your career. Keep a positive attitude as best as you can. Shy away from complaining to other employees about your meeting or poor review. That can definitely be seen as unprofessional and that you are immature for not being able to handle the criticism. Certainly, you will want to discuss your frustrations and feelings with someone that will relate to you, but that shouldn’t be someone in your office.
If you listen to the comments and understand where the other parties are coming from, then you will be more successful in your career.
Please contact us if you have any questions about improving your performance or career!
Written for us by our associate Gary Sorrell, Sorrell Associates, LLC.
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