HR Professionals: How To Ace Your 2009 Performance Review – And Why You Need To!
by Alan Collins
In 2009, your performance review will matter more than ever!
Why? Because there’s no sign that HR downsizing is slowing down. Many organizations continue to feel the financial pressure to cut costs and headcount. And, many will be using annual reviews more than ever to weed out low performing HR folks.
A senior HR manager friend of mine was laid off recently after her year-end performance review. What was especially brutal was that she had been rated a “3″ on her company’s 5-point scale, which was “average.” With that in mind, she signed off on the review and told at that time that everything was ok.
So, she was shocked beyond belief when she was called back in a few weeks later and given the pink slip! While she knew her performance wasn’t stellar, she clearly didn’t see this coming. She was told that after further discussing the company’s financial troubles, the higher ups decided to eliminate her job.
While I’m not going to call out her company here – that ain’t my style – suffice it to say that if you’re an HR professional in hard-hit industries like auto, steel, consumer products or financial services you probably have a reason to feel vulnerable.
All this means that you can’t afford to be lazy in preparing for your next performance review.
In tough times, being rated an average or low performer is not good enough. That puts your HR job and career potentially at risk. And, if you want to get an excellent review, you need to prepare now.
To that end, here are 8 actions you should be taking right now if you plan to ace your next performance review and remove yourself from the line of fire…
1. Start tracking and documenting, now!
Don’t wait until the end of the year to gather your results. Start today by creating a folder on your desktop and use it to save all the e-mail feedback and kudos you receive from customers, peers, and managers throughout the year — including your boss, his or her boss, and all other leaders between you and the CEO. This will ensure that you’ve got all your accomplishments captured in one spot. It’s easy for an overworked boss to forget how excited she was about that great new mentoring program you launched in February – if your review is not until November.
2, Get signoff on your 2009 performance objectives and deliverables, now!
Don’t wait on your boss to get the process started. If you don’t have an agreed-on set of performance goals established for 2009, take it upon yourself to put them on paper and get your manager’s approval, pronto. If you support internal clients, include their expectations as well. Like most managers, he or she will take your internal clients’ views to heart at your performance review, so you’ll want to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
3. Make sure you’re working on the right stuff by checking in regularly.
Don’t take for granted that your amazing accomplishments are warming your boss’ heart — even if you’re following the game plan they’ve laid out. In tough times, HR priorities shift quickly. And, it’s wise to check in at least once a month to make sure your burning-hot priorities are the same as your manager’s.
The top performance ratings go to those people who are working on mission-critical assignments. So regular check-ins and updates with your boss will help ensure that you’re one of the folks that is plugged into those do-or-die missions.
Oh yeah, one other thing. And this is important to note. Although most bosses wait until the end of the year to actually write or submit your review, they may be required to submit your performance rating and your merit raise recommendation well before then. So, this is another good reason to actively and objectively communicate your performance highlights throughout the year.
4. If you got a bad review last time, get help – now!
If your review last time was not what you wanted, it’s time to put it behind you. Yes, it may have been unfair. Yes, your boss might have been a prick. Or one of your clients may have had an ax to grind. But, get over it. It’s time to look forward and get some help.
Visit with your boss, your clients, your colleagues well before review time and ask, “What could I do to improve my performance?” Take that feedback seriously. It’s a gift. If your colleagues demur, tell them “I’m serious; this is not the time to be nice to me. I’m asking for help. What could I be doing to become better at my job?” You don’t have to make a confession and tell them that your prior year’s review was crummy – that’s none of their business — just focus on getting their suggestions for improvement.
5. To get a top rating you must be prepared to show clear business impact.
It is not enough to say that you’ve done a bunch of stuff. You have to connect these activities to important business objectives. Only then do they become accomplishments that have impact at review time. You will want to arm yourself with hard data.
You want to say things like, “before I started, we had X problems and since my X work we’ve improved that number X%”. Then really seal the deal by saying that, in your opinion, your contributions have helped achieve some larger organizational goal like reducing costs or improving retention. Make sure your boss knows that you understand how your work is solving the organization’s problems.
6. Do your own “mini self-appraisals” each month.
Conduct your own monthly mini self-appraisal reviews before you meet with your manager. Be honest with yourself — evaluate how well you are progressing against your objectives. Summarize what you accomplished and give yourself a rating each month. If you do these monthly “mini-appraisals,” you shouldn’t be surprised at the end of the year.
Be objective and evaluate the dents and dings in your performance too. That is, dust-ups you’ve had with coworkers, missed challenges and bad hair days. You want to avoid surprise hits and anticipate answers in advance if you need to explain your shortfalls. The beauty of “mini self-appraisals” are that they give you time to make mid-course corrections in your performance if you feel yourself getting off track.
7. Focus on quantifying your out-of-the-ordinary contributions.
When time comes to write up or give input on your final review, some HR folks simply list everything they did during the year. They believe that’s all that’s needed to get that top rating. They believe volume counts. So they submit pages and pages of activities they completed at the end of the year. It reads like a detailed job description. And, guess what? That’s exactly what it is. Most of that stuff is what you’re already paid to do. And is a waste of time.
As you know, the top rating is a reward for exceptional performance, not doing your job. So when you list your accomplishments, take time and focus on the net impact on the business. Did you negotiate the new union labor contract below your company’s approved budgeted costs? Did you reduce the cost of turnover in the customer service department as a result of the new job rotation program you put in place for customer care specialists? Did you architect a new, out-of-the box approach to college recruiting which dramatically improved cost-per-hire and quality-of-hire? Whatever you did, make a case for your beyond-the-call-of-duty contributions.
Sorry, doing the job you’re paid to do for yet another year is just table stakes – and will get only get you an average (or below average) rating in tough times. It is certainly not justification for the top review.
8. Distinguish yourself from your peers.
As mentioned previously, just because you did your job, and did it well over the course of a year, doesn’t make for a compelling reason to hand you the top rating. Remember, most bosses only have a limited budget to dole out for ratings and raises so a high rating or increase for you means a smaller one for your peers. In many cases, you’re ranked against your peers when your company calibrates what ratings to give.
So, when you are gathering your accomplishments, make sure they focus on ways you may have differentiated yourself from your coworkers, or where you took on additional responsibilities, or where you stepped up without being asked and completed a particularly challenging project that was beyond the scope of your job.
In most cases, to emerge from the pack, you will need to execute (and preferably lead) at least one BIPP during the year. A BIPP is a “bold, innovative power project” that is a ground-breaking, out-of-the-box, breakthrough HR initiative that is clearly visible and sets your organization on fire. If you’ve not identified your annual BIPP, you need to do it now. To generate ideas, talk to your boss, your clients or google “best HR ideas for 2009″ and check out the top award winning HR ideas launched last year from other organizations. There should be a few ideas you can potential re-apply in your own organization.
In tough times, falling in the average or low performer category you puts your HR job and career at risk. Hopefully, following these steps starting now can help you max out your performance rating when review time comes.
If you’d like additional tips and suggestions to reduce the risk of losing your HR job, then download our FREE 20 page special report: “HR Recession Guide: 7 Ways To Recession-Proof Your HR Career & Avoid Losing Your HR Job” (pictured left) at: http://www.HRRecessionGuide.com.
About the Author: Alan Collins is CEO & Chief Editor, SuccessInHR.com. He was formerly Vice President – Human Resources at Pepsi where he led HR initiatives for their Quaker Oats, Gatorade and Tropicana businesses.
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April 6th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Alan,
Your suggestions are incredible and wise for connecting with new and former H/R resources. As an executive search professional, I have been mining Linked In for talent and am impressed with the tools they offer globally. Many people I put to work in H/R are reconnecting with me, but the bigger picture is many of the senior officers of corporations are also seeking me out to find them H/R talent again. I wish you continued success as a leader in making creative H/R solutions and guiding individuals in difficult times! Good-luck!