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1. Understand the purpose of your performance review.

It is natural to be nervous about your review. “For many people, especially earlier in their career, it can be really intimidating. I wish they felt more empowered,” says Allison Bertsch, head of talent acquisition and development at Aegon UK. You should understand the purpose is to help you do your best work and understand better how your contributions have helped or hurt your employer.

The review is meant to be a two-way conversation, in which you can identify areas for improvement, not simply a session where you are being passively and directly evaluated. “People shouldn’t feel like, going in, that someone is going to, akin to school, read me a report card and tell me all the ways I failed at all these different things,” says Ms. Bertsch. “We’re so used to our education system and our performance reviews shouldn’t feel like that.”

“Keep in mind that it’s your 45 minutes or hour with your manager to talk about where you think you’re doing things well, where you think you have some things you’d still like to learn and where you can improve,” she says.

2. Focus on specific contributions.

Try to think of things you have done that have had an impact on the employer that may not have been accomplished without your efforts. “The idea is to show how your contributions are unique to you and valuable for the company,” says Carol Cohen, senior vice president and global head of talent and transformation at professional-services company Cognizant. “Focus on your achievements that grew revenue, cut costs or transformed a process.” It can help if you keep a log of your achievements throughout the year that you can draw from to demonstrate your notable contributions. If you have been sharing status reports with your boss regularly, you may go back to them to pull significant items from.

3. Leverage co-worker feedback.

Regardless of whether your employer uses a peer—or 360-degree—performance evaluation system, the people you work with daily can be a great resource to help you understand your contributions. They can give you a sense of what impact you have had and where you might be able to improve. “Collect feedback from key stakeholders who can validate your successes,” says Mrs. Cohen. “Your case is always stronger when it’s delivered or reinforced by those with whom you’ve worked.”

4. What was expected of you?

If you set specific goals to achieve in your last performance review, now is a good time to review them. If you are a new employee, you might not have goals, but you should have a clear understanding of your responsibilities and what you are expected to do to achieve them. During your review, you should hit upon those items, including how you went about achieving them and, if possible, specific data points as evidence.

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5. Show how you have tried to improve yourself.

Some companies offer access to training programs and other ways to learn new skills. You should mention any training you have undertaken and explain how it helped you improve your performance. Your new skills may qualify you for new opportunities. You could use the review to discuss taking on new responsibilities. You could also initiate a conversation about your career goals and how you and your manager can work together to achieve them. This might be an initial conversation about an internal role change or promotion, or it could be a check-in about your progress toward achieving those goals, depending on what career stage you are in.

6. Show how you have adjusted to a challenging situation.

“If you began working remotely in 2020, use this opportunity to highlight your virtual accomplishments to show you didn’t skip a beat despite a change in your work environment,” says Mrs. Cohen. You can bring up some of the ways you adjusted to remote work and managed to remain productive. “Demonstrate how you collaborated effectively across global borders—and video screens—to get the job done,” says Mrs. Cohen.

7. Gather up your notes to produce a self-evaluation.

Once you have gone through the steps above, you may be expected to write a self-assessment before meeting with your manager. Even if your evaluation will only be an in-person meeting, it helps to have your notes organized and edited down to the most important points you want to get across. Be honest with yourself about what you think you could improve upon. Don’t be afraid to ask your manager for help.

8. Whatever your performance rating, don’t play defense.

When you meet with your manager, don’t approach the meeting feeling like you need to defend yourself or make excuses. You should be listening and taking in feedback that might seem negative at times. Explain that you understand these are things you can improve upon. If possible, come up with specific examples of how you would set out to achieve these improvements. If, for example, one criticism was that you often seem overwhelmed or disorganized, come up with a strategy to better manage your time and suggest some tools you plan to use to better track your work. If your manager says he or she doesn’t understand clearly enough what your progress is on projects, suggest providing more frequent status updates.

9. Think about areas of improvement for your next review.

Part of your review may include setting goals for the months and year ahead. You should have some ideas in mind for what you want to accomplish, which you can discuss with your supervisor. “Proactively draft goals for next year to position yourself as forward-thinking with a growth mindset,” says Mrs. Cohen. “Show you’re already planning to capitalize on this year’s efforts by contributing on an even larger scale next year.” She says that you can then fine-tune these goals in your performance evaluation by discussing how these may align with your boss’s plans.

10. Track your progress regularly to prepare for your next performance evaluation.

If you would like more feedback or support from your manager, you could also ask for more frequent check-ins. These sessions may help you to gain a better understanding of what is expected of you and give you more confidence doing your job. Your employer should aim to support you so you can make solid contributions in your role. Use this feedback and put it into action so you can achieve great results that can be shared in your next review.

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