Performance of a Lifetime

Here’s how to ace your next annual performance review.

Moments before the curtain rose, legendary choreographer George Balanchine announced to his prima ballerina, Suzanne Farrell, “Before is over. The performance is now.”

And so it is with your annual review, the yearly meeting with your supervisor to determine how the past year has been and what the next year holds. While it may seem like it’s just a meeting, it’s more. It’s part review, part performance.

The review is your supervisor’s role, the time when she recalls what was, relates what is and reassures you as to what might be. The performance is your opportunity to shine and to ensure that you end the meeting with more than you had when you began. Scores of handbooks focus more on review than performance. But how you perform during your annual review determines the relationship you will have with your company, possibly for years to come.

Nothing written in your file will rival your carefully crafted, passionately poised performance exuding substance and style.

What’s Your Motivation?

An excellent annual review can yield three key awards to bolster your success: pay, position and power.

While your supervisor’s job is to conduct the appraisal, your goal is to increase your perceived value to the organization. Lichtenberg agrees: “You need to know the key points you want to make, the three or four things you want to get across.” She suggests avoiding the assumption that your supervisor has been making notes of your progress all year. Keep your own list. The list lasts.

Act 1: Stage Presence

PERFECT YOUR PERSONAL STYLE. Any good performer has the ability to get to the core of the character. So know your own–who you are and what you want to say. Being genuine in today’s homogeneous world is an enormous asset. Unless you are an automaton on an assembly line, you were hired for your thoughts and your talents. Be direct, straightforward, and honest.

LOOK THE PART. Any good performer knows clothes can make the (wo)man. Would you believe in Eartha Kitt without her whiskers and catsuit? That goes for business as well. As superficial as it may seem, studies have shown it works to dress for the role you’d like to have.