If you’re facing performance assessments at work today or any professional challenge requiring a career coach, feel free to contact SPETIV Consulting immediately.
One would think that supervisors and managers will be fair in assessing the contribution of each of their team members. In fact, this is the least you’d expect from anyone who has risen to the level of a supervisor.
In school and even at home, our teachers and parents kept reminding us that effort pays, and performance is rewarded. So, we take this same education into the jobsite and give our best to whatever is assigned to us.
It can therefore be very frustrating when during a performance assessment or feedback session, you find yourself hit with false accusations and biased reviews.
What do you do when in such a situation? Perhaps the first way to answer this question is to start by stating what you shouldn’t do.
Do not react.
This is just a performance assessment and not access to eternity in heaven. It is true that you expected to be regarded differently and be recognized for your contribution but that was another person’s job to do. Yours is to stay true to yourself and be the best you can be. Do not let another person’s judgement determine your reaction.
Bear in mind that when a person gives negative performance feedback to another, especially when they know that their assessment is unfair, they expect the receiver to react irrationally. In fact, what they really crave is that reaction. Do not give them. Postpone your reaction instead and convert it into an adequate response as explained further below.
Do not justify
You will have the urge to set the records straight after a negative performance feedback, by writing a long email, clearing your name, showing them all the evidence with every detail. Do not do it because the longer your response is, the more likely you’re going to look unhinged and defensive and they’re just going to target you with even more accusations.
When you write long essays to explain your performance, you put yourself even more at loggerheads with Management, not just your supervisor, because chances are that Management would have reviewed and approved your supervisor’s assessment of you, whether they knew it was true or false.
What then should you do when hit with a negative performance assessment?
If you follow this simple formula presented below, you will protect your job, reinforce your image as an astute professional and draw sympathy or understanding from your hierarchy.
The simple formula is to respond to the false performance assessment with a brief email, writing as follows:
- Respectfully disagree
Thank your supervisor for the feedback and in one phrase, write that you disagree with his/her assessment but that you respect the process and you’re going to work on it.
- Acknowledge the change they want
Take the opportunity to rephrase the change they want, to underline the key phrases or expectations that they communicated, or to request clarification on what improvements they expect. You may want to turn those expectations into bullet points with key performance indicators such that when you hit agreed targets, they will have no means to falsely assess you again.
- State how you will improve
Then write one short sentence of how you aim to improve in that area. This is not by any means an admission that what they are saying is true. It’s only saying that “Hey! I don’t agree but I’ll try to get better.” That way you don’t look confrontational or defensive whilst also putting them on their guard that this can be used as evidence against them if and when necessary.
