Performance Reviews – why we hate them, and how to fix it

What this episode covers

In my time as a lawyer I’ve yet to come across anyone who genuinely loves performance reviews. In reality, most people can’t stand performance reviews. From the moment they get their self-assessment form, until the time it’s over and everything has been submitted, performance reviews are a time of stress, angst and worry. Add to that the issue that firms don’t do the process that well, and people by and large struggle to make the most out of them, and you have a recipe for disaster. Performance Reviews (or Performance Appraisals) Podcast Those things being an issue, I thought I’d have a chat about performance reviews in this podcast. In it we’re going to talk about: The specific fears that make us want to run screaming from our performance reviews and what we can do about them, including fear of the unknown; fear of criticism fear of embarrassment How to get the most out of your performance reviews through: engaging in a system of ongoing feedback rather than lump sum feedback; seeking honest opinions; implementing strategies to improve on the criticisms that are facing us after the review. In all, performance reviews are a time of stress for many of us. Hopefully these few tips are going to assist you in you performance reviews, offer some comfort as part of the process, and hopefully give you some tools to implement in your own life which can make future reviews better, and allow you to springboard from your review into a process of self-improvement that actually makes a difference. Or Just Ignore your Performance Reviews Completely Otherwise, you can just grit your teeth through the performance reviews and then wait 12 months, at which point nothing will have changed, you won’t have developed more than what an additional year has brought to you, and really won’t have addressed anything at all. The choice is yours – I vote for aiming for self-improvement out of my performance reviews, as I’ve got a lot to do! Take your performance reviews and make them meaningful, useful and beneficial to your legal career. Happy Lawyering!In my time as a lawyer I’ve yet to come across anyone who genuinely loves performance reviews. In reality, most people can’t stand performance reviews. From the moment they get their self-assessment form, until the time it’s over and everything has been submitted, performance reviews are a time of stress, angst and worry. Add to that the issue that firms don’t do the process that well, and people by and large struggle to make the most out of them, and you have a recipe for disaster. Performance Reviews (or Performance Appraisals) Podcast Those things being an issue, I thought I’d have a chat about performance reviews in this podcast. In it we’re going to talk about: The specific fears that make us want to run screaming from our performance reviews and what we can do about them, including fear of the unknown; fear of criticism fear of embarrassment How to get the most out of your performance reviews through: engaging in a system of ongoing feedback rather than lump sum feedback; seeking honest opinions; implementing strategies to improve on the criticisms that are facing us after the review. In all, performance reviews are a time of stress for many of us. Hopefully these few tips are going to assist you in you performance reviews, offer some comfort as part of the process, and hopefully give you some tools to implement in your own life which can make future reviews better, and allow you to springboard from your review into a process of self-improvement that actually makes a difference. Or Just Ignore your Performance Reviews Completely Otherwise, you can just grit your teeth through the performance reviews and then wait 12 months, at which point nothing will have changed, you won’t have developed more than what an additional year has brought to you, and really won’t have...

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