When you have a poor evaluation at work, it feels just terrible. It’s like getting in trouble at school—except everyone involved is an adult and the stakes are higher, since your job is tied to your financial security, health insurance, and sense of self. You might walk out of the meeting feeling totally disoriented, which is fine, but once you regain your footing, there are critical next steps you can and should take.
First assess the performance review
Before you do anything, go over the review that just took place. Was it actually “bad” or are you just interpreting it as bad? During reviews, you should try to take notes or ask for a written summary afterward, so you have something objective to look back on. There’s a chance your evaluation wasn’t as dire as you think.
Then again, there’s a chance it was bad and it was just poorly communicated. HR pro Tim Sackett told me that a bad review might not always be obvious “because most managers are terrible at giving direct feedback and making it clear. Most managers are conflict-avoidant and while they might want to deliver a very critical review of your performance, it often comes across like you’re not that bad.”
So as much as it sucks, you really want your manager to be direct with you. Anne N., a university employee, recalls that during a bad performance review she wasn’t expecting at all, her supervisor started off by saying, “Don’t freak out,” which was her “first initial inkling that it was going to be bad.” It’s better to know, absolutely, that the review is bad, so if you have an “inkling,” ask directly.
Reach back out in writing after the review
You’ll need to set up a plan to right the ship, but don’t reach out that same day, as your emotions are going to be high. That said, Sackett cautions, “There’s no crying at work”: Whether you’re angry or sad, don’t be visibly distressed. In the moments after the review, take a walk or a little break; “find a safe space where you can cry and scream and do whatever you need to do without anyone else seeing.” Try to see the positive, even if it’s hard. Sackett recommends thinking of bad feedback as “a gift,” since “someone cared enough about you to warn you before you get fired.”
Sackett recommends waiting 24 to 48 hours for the “sting to wear off” before you reach back out to your manager, but when you do, you should ask for a specific plan to improve your performance. Getting your correspondence in writing is crucial: You need the plan outlined with as much detail as possible so you can point back to it in your next meeting.
Anne’s supervisor gave her feedback during the meeting, advising her on how to make her classes more collaborative: “We agreed I would begin incorporating those ideas to my class and she’d come review one. After she came back to watch my class, she said it was much better.”
Continue communicating throughout the process of fixing the shortcomings, too. It might feel awkward to send Slack updates announcing your various moves, but your manager needs to see that you’re committed to course correction and are, in fact, taking action. If you’re not comfortable sending updates on your progress, try asking questions like, “I’m sending the new report by EOD, but can you confirm if it should be sent to everyone on the team or just to you first?” That lets them know you’re doing the thing you’re supposed to be doing, but opens a more natural dialogue. If you use an office-wide calendar, add blocks to yours that show what you’re doing at a given time, to make your efficiency visible.
Prepare carefully for the next review
In addition to addressing the specific, detailed issues the manager puts in writing, you have to do a little more before your next review. First, put your pride aside. Sackett says that “what turns into a death sentence for most people is their unwillingness to internalize the review, take corrective action, and not be a victim.” He says most managers desperately want to help you be the best at your job that you can be, but that won’t be possible if you’re too embarrassed after the review and just shut down. It can be true that you weren’t doing a great job at something specific. It doesn’t mean anything about who you are as a person. You can fix the issues and move forward.
Do some self reflection, too. First, listen to your gut. Did this review make you feel inadequate? Did it make you want to push harder for success? Did it make you want to quit the job altogether? It’s possible that this is a wake-up call about the trajectory of your career, but you’ll only know that if you really think hard about it. Ask friends and coworkers, too. Sackett says coworkers are particularly helpful here: “If they’re giving you advice about your own performance and not about how to deal with your manager, they’re telling you, ‘It’s you and your responsibility to correct it.’” They’re the people on the frontlines with you and they have pretty good insight into how you do your job and how it affects the team, so make sure you check in with them for feedback regularly.
“At the time, it made me feel not great but I didn’t feel powerless,” says Anne. “I felt like I genuinely valued [my manager’s] feedback. It’s hard to really review your own teaching so I thought it was helpful.”
You’re allowed to feel bad, says Sackett, and it’s normal to feel a little down about the whole thing. Going into the next one, though, try to prepare yourself and be more ready for critical feedback. Better yet, come up with things you can improve on and offer those up in the meeting before your supervisor has a chance. “Many times,” says Sackett, “they’ll say you’re being too hard on yourself and look at you in a much more positive light.”
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