Performance reviews can be an annual rigmarole: managers tick boxes, set goals which might bear no real relation to your day job and are disconnected from actual business needs. Worst of all, some can end up being less about your work, and more about personalities and flexing managerial muscles.
We come across all kinds of horror stories in our work: someone whose appraisal consisted of being asked to sign a pre-written statement; bosses only interested in talking rather than listening; and strict time limits that put a stop to any conversation.
But it's important people know what performance reviews should really be like so you can give feedback and steer your employer to an approach that works for both of you. Smart reviews will help you progress and feel wanted, and the organisation will benefit from what you do. If you're not getting what you need, or feel your line manager isn't putting in the right level of preparation for the meeting, you should have the confidence to ask for change.
A standard performance review fulfils two distinct purposes: to look back on progress and achievements in the past year, and prepare an individual development plan for your future success. First, your boss should have a good knowledge and understanding of what you do and have undertaken some preparation. Some organisations ask their employees to take along examples of work that demonstrate their contribution. This is a good exercise and can be useful to avoid the session being carried out at a general level.
Other organisations use "360-degree feedback", including comments from the full circle of people you work with, colleagues, and supplier firms. Others do "skip level" feedback, a review with your bosses' boss. Both of these approaches are valuable because they encourage different perspectives beyond the agenda of your immediate manager.
Next should come the goals for the coming year. You should leave a review meeting with some new impetus: you know what you need to do, what good performance looks like, and why that's important for you and the organisation. Your manager should be specific about what success is for your role and articulate the relationship between your daily tasks and behaviours, and what this means for the organisation's own objectives.
Your review in general needs to be focused on the outcomes rather than on just the individual tasks. But there shouldn't be too many goals. A manager should be able to understand everything you're involved with and prioritise what really matters for you. Development guides are sometimes used to spell out what kinds of actions and behaviours are required and what to aim for. It's inevitably divisive, but attaching financial rewards to performance ratings can help to give more obvious significance to the review process and an incentive for you and your boss to take it seriously.
You should feel the review is part of a partnership, not something imposed on you from above. So once the paperwork has been done, your boss should be involved in what happens next, either providing support and coaching or making sure there's the right environment to develop. This might include ensuring time, training budget or different kinds of work experience are provided, for example.
The ideal situation is for ongoing conversations to be taking place between managers and their staff, so that the performance review becomes less about looking back, and more a straightforward focus on how to make progress and help the organisation.
Given how fundamental performance reviews are to setting a direction for your daily working life, you have every right to challenge your boss if the approach isn't working. If you've recently completed a review and have nagging doubts, ask for a face-to-face catchup to discuss the next steps and outcomes from the discussion. Be diplomatic: stress the importance of an effective process to get the best from you rather than failings on their part, but be clear about what is going to be most helpful to you and your role.
It may be the system – or lack of system – within the organisation which is the underlying problem. If this is the case, give some constructive feedback and suggestions to the HR department. Remember that, no matter how frustrating your experience of existing performance reviews might be, you need to work within the system: feedback and requests for more clarity, support and an idea of how your role affects the business results is all valid and useful, but outright rejection isn't.
Susy Roberts is director of people development consultancy Hunter Roberts
This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To get more content and advice like this direct to your inbox, sign up for our weekly Careers update.
