A new take on how to handle this year's performance review

Could you be the very thing that’s blocking your performance?

After all, what does it mean to you to perform at your best?

• Achieving or exceeding a goal?

• Operating efficiently and effectively?

• Optimizing time and effort to yield your desired results?

We often measure performance in the context of someone else’s measurements.

Performance reviews are inevitable and unavoidable and too often we leave them feeling no better or worse, but simply relieved that they are over with. But if there’s one thing I wish I had learned while I was still in corporate, it would be this:

Performance doesn’t have to be a result of somebody else’s metrics, arbitrary measurements, or comparing you against others.

While there will always be goals, targets, and KPI‘s to guide and measure people inside an organization, if we tie ourselves too closely to them, we’ve lost before we even began.

This is not to say that we don’t acknowledge or respect the system that organizations operate in. After all, corporations have thrived as a result of creating effective systems and they are the very thing that support you in knowing how to do your job, where to do your job, and when to do your job. Don’t take that for granted - it’s one of the best parts about working for somebody else.

The problem comes in when we start to define our own worth, our own value, as the company defines our work; but these are in fact two separate things. After all, you can’t put a value on a human being.

One person’s soul is not worth more than another’s.

After all, metrics and performance reviews are made to measure the work, measure the output, not to measure you as a person. They’re there to keep the greasy wheels turning in the machine called the corporation.

So how do you make the system, the metrics, and the performance review work for you? You get out of your own way. In other words, take a page out of the The Four Agreements and Don’t Take Anything Personally.

“Freedom discovers a man the moment he loses concern over what impression he is making or about to make.” - Bruce Lee

This approach allows you to shift your focus to the feedback being about the work and not being about you, your values, your beliefs. When we get caught up in what we think others are thinking, our assumptions manifest themselves into blockers to success. When we don’t take it personally, we separate ourselves from the work and it opens us up to seeing feedback through a different lens; to approach feedback with a growth mindset and as a result, an opportunity to learn. We receive the feedback differently and rather than seeing it as a blemish on our reputations, we open the door to expanding our knowledge, skills, and learning. It’s worth noting that high performance feedback requires two people; two people approaching the conversation with curiosity, generosity, and open mindedness.

But as we’re here to improve your performance, let’s focus on your thinking, your beliefs, and your actions. Regardless of the outcome of your performance review, take the opportunity to reflect on the following questions:

What did you do well?

What did you learn?

How will you get better?

When we return the focus to ourselves and our learning, our growth, our improvement, we have released the need for feedback to hold any meaning.

We’ve let go of judgment, comparison, and shame. We’ve surrendered the need for approval, validation, and safety from someone else (because we know these can only ever come from inside of us). And we seize the opportunity to take radical ownership and to have agency; in other words, we stand firmly in the belief that we have the ability to make things happen.

“Striving to be the best is a trap, but bringing our best to what we do allows us to live with greater freedom and possibility.” - Tripp Lanier

Kirsten Schmidtke is a professional coach, speaker, and lover of lake life. She works with leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs to help them up-level their careers, businesses, and lives. Are you ready to explore what’s possible for you? Contact Kirsten to start the conversation!