Flickr photo by chatswoodfp

The year end review process in almost any organization can be arduous, long and somewhat frightening; it can propel your career forward or ground it into dust. A lot of it is beyond your control and as objective as it can get, there will always be interpretation involved. You cannot control what other people think, not until I tell you how. What you can do is attack the right parts of the evaluation to better your position.

Let me give you a quick list of things to do before the evaluation and what to be prepared to do during the evaluation.

Before

1. Take Stock

Do any of your superiors hate you? Any bad vibes? Anyone giving you the cold shoulder? If you feel like you might be in this situation, consider the work you’ve done for these people. Even if nothing was mentioned during mandates or projects, any error or misstep you might have made will likely be magnified come evaluation time. Things that didn’t go smoothly suddenly become major weaknesses and reasons to be denied a decent raise.

What you have to do is be prepared to defend yourself against these types of accusations and be prepared to offer explanations. Don’t whine and DO NOT bash the senior person. Take some of the blame yourself, but remember to qualify the error with context: uncooperative client, inexperienced staff, short time-frame, etc. Then, to shift from excuse to explanation, offer a solution to the problem, so that the issue is resolved.

If you are charming enough, during the preamble, someone will invariably ask how you feel about the year. When they do, bring up the “weakness” and say you feel you could have done a better job by “…yadda, yadda…”. This only works if you are a stellar employee and not if you have a lot of weaknesses.

2. Research

Research salary scales for people with your experience level. Talk to recruiters about opportunities. Talk to friends or contacts in other organizations. Know your worth and your prospects. Because there are 2 unalterable truths in life: everything is negotiable and always be ready to walk out. Don’t get too gung ho about salary or benefits or career path, but be informed. Information is the ultimate currency.

Now that you’re informed and have a sense of where you are, what can happen during an evaluation that can hurt you?

During

The Surprise Weakness

So your evaluation is going fantastically until you get hit with a surprise: a weakness you didn’t know you had is now being brought up. The “surprise weakness” is usually followed by “we’ve noticed this is some of your files” or “we were hoping it would correct itself.” If the first time you hear about a weakness is during your evaluation, it’s a lie. It doesn’t exist and it is being used to 1) keep you working hard, 2) to keep you in your place and 3) to deny you adequate compensation. The reason I am so sure is, if it was a real weakness, it would be costing the organization money. And when things start costing money, someone will speak to you.

If you suspect that this is your situation, then the proper procedure going forward is important. You can’t just slap the evaluator in the face and call him a jackass, even if you really want to. What you need to do is:

1. Ask for details: specifics about when this error was first noticed, what was the context, why weren’t you told sooner?
2. Ask about macro: how did this effect the organization overall? What did the inefficiency cost?
3. Ask to see file evaluations (optional): Depending on what type of work you do, it is possible an evaluation is done after every file or engagement, sometimes just detailing strengths and weaknesses. Ask to see the ones where this weakness was noted.

The point isn’t to be difficult or annoying, it’s to get information. If this was a real weakness, then the information would exist and have been reviewed. If it doesn’t exist, then it’s possible you have a “Surprise Weakness”. How you go on from there is up to you. Standard fight or flight response is in order. If you feel the job is worth fighting for, then fight it. Don’t let something like that stand. In my experience, flight works best. These types of events do not occur in a vacuum, and are indicative of an overall organizational culture that is not about nurturing and developing, but about exploiting and using.

Be wary and be prepared, friends.