An unexpected perk I’ve gained since going freelance has been forgoing the piss-poor exchange companies call “annual performance reviews.” (*hallelujah*) When I did the 9-to-5 thing, my holiday vacation would start with this lingering mix of resentment and annoyance because I was coming fresh off of a performance appraisal. But for these last two years, I’ve happily closed out the year with nothing more than an out-of-office email. For two years I haven’t had to meticulously document my accomplishments and contributions. I haven’t had to take my boss to task for their ineptness. I haven’t been criticized on my personality. I haven’t had to factor in the intentions of CYA managers, power trippin’ directors or out-of-touch controllers. Annnnd, I haven’t had the stress of persuading the powers-that-be that I more than earned a strong performance rating, salary increase or promotion. Needless to say it’s been a welcome change.
For me, the most frustrating part about performance reviews is how arbitrary they are. Performance reviews are touted as measurement tools, but the irony is they don’t measure anything reliably or effectively. Even if you assume everyone is evaluated against the same metrics, and that’s a BIG assumption, those metrics are often flawed, meaningless or ambiguous. Not to mention that most reviews are highly subjective and lack depth and context, so what you’re judged upon is a never a balanced or complete picture.
When I consider all the managers I reported to throughout my career I can’t pinpoint a single one that was remarkable with their feedback. If I was fortunate, the feedback I got was actionable and relevant but those scenarios were the exception not the rule. The feedback I received was usually organized in bullet points like I was “results driven” and always did my best to “complete assignments in a timely and accurate manner.” I was a “direct and confident person,” an “exceptional communicator” and “extremely professional” but at times should remain “aware of my tone and body language.” The brevity of my manager’s assessment always sharply contrasted with the lengthiness of mine. Where they lacked in specificity and situational context, you could find both in my self-appraisal along with my accomplishments, responsibilities, conquered challenges, improvements, etc. I would document it ALL. As the saying goes, “if you don’t tell your own story, someone else will” and I figured the least I could do was chronicle my efforts so history would have no choice but to acknowledge them. So every year the review process boiled down to a lengthy documentation exercise on my part and a halfhearted conversation on my manager’s part.
Of course, I don’t miss annual performance reviews at all. The process is aggravating, not because it’s time-consuming or uncomfortable, but because you recognize it’s all a charade. What you discover is that your elevation in a company is not determined by your talents, abilities and contributions, but how someone feels about your talents, abilities and contributions. And that feeling depends on the affinity between you and your appraiser. It’s that affinity that is reflected in your performance review and ultimately measured. The stronger the affinity, the better quality of feedback you’re likely to receive, the more likely you will be championed behind closed doors and the more likely you’ll get access to greater professional opportunities. If the affinity is weak, the likelier your appraiser will feel indifferent or negatively about your performance. Once I had this realization, I decided to take the performance review with a grain of salt. My advice for you is to do the same. It’s not necessarily the easiest thing to do but it will serve you better in the long run. I’ve learned that you can’t let your professional worth and career trajectory hinge on someone else’s validation (or lack thereof). You will never be satisfied in your career and you’ll never realize your full potential if you do. Feedback is just one piece of the career puzzle. Challenging assignments, honest self-reflection, technical study and experience in different roles all serve you just as well, if not better than, any feedback you get from a manager. Keep that in mind as you close out this year’s annual review. At the end of the day you still have control over the richness of your work experience. As long as your career pursuits focus on expanding that, you will have all the insight you need to level up to wherever you want to be.