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5 Steps To Take After A Negative Performance Review

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Companies across multiple industries — McKinsey, KPMG, News Corp, Nomad Health — are continuing to announce layoffs. A recent wave of negative performance reviews at Meta increases fears that this is a signal of even more layoffs. Amazon has been reported in the past to using negative performance reviews to force staff attrition.

What should you do if you receive a negative performance review? The best performance reviews (positive or negative) are not a surprise. Ideally, you’re getting feedback on your day-to-day job performance, so you can repeat what’s working and fix what isn’t. But if your manager hasn’t been giving you regular feedback, and you haven’t proactively asked for it, then you don’t know what kind of performance review you’ll have. If you have an upcoming review and want to prepare for negative feedback, remember these five steps:

1 - Schedule a separate meeting to discuss surprise negative feedback

Don’t try to defend yourself right then and there. If the feedback is a surprise, you need time to digest it and plan a thoughtful response that isn’t hijacked by defensiveness or other lack of emotional control. Your only immediate response should be to thank your manager for sharing and to ask for time to review and respond. Even if you’re 100% convinced the review is unfair and unwarranted, thank your manager anyway because you are acknowledging their effort in curating and sharing the feedback.

2 - Ask for examples, specific metrics and timetable for all feedback

As your manager reviews the feedback, make sure you have the details you need to make things right. This includes examples, so you’re 100% clear on what bad performance looks like, metrics for what needs to change, so improvement going forward can be measured objectively and the timetable when change needs to happen, so you know what deadlines you need to hit. If your manager doesn’t have all this information at the review, ask to have the additional detail before that separate meeting you scheduled, so you can address the full picture in your response.

3 - Showcase your contributions

While you don’t want to address the negative feedback during the review, you can still showcase your own positive feedback about your performance, especially if you have specific contributions documented. Ideally, you have been curating your own brag book for your career – if you haven’t, start now with this upcoming review. Your brag book should include testimonials (e.g., a happy client sends an email praising your work), awards (e.g., employee of the month) or other documentation of your accomplishments (e.g., project status reports that show milestones you’ve reached). What you share may not directly contradict the negative feedback but it provides a counterbalance.

4 - Cultivate internal allies

Your manager is likely not the only decision-maker, and you also want support to maintain high performance (or to turn around any negative performance issues, as well as your relationship with your manager). Therefore, start cultivating that support now with a network of allies. Do you have a mentor who is senior enough to influence opinion in your favor? Do you work with vendors or clients who can put in a good word and provide an objective outside opinion on your performance? Are you part of an affinity group, where members can support your value to the company overall?

5 – Be ready for a job search just-in-case

If you’re worried about a negative performance review, then you don’t trust yourself, your manager or your company. In that case, you should expand your options now by getting job-search-ready. You don’t have to apply for anything, but you can update your LinkedIn and resume. You can start rekindling professional relationships outside your current colleagues. You can read up on news, companies of interest and market trends to identify growth areas or areas of interest that you would target for your next job, if needed.

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