This is where knowing your own value comes in. As an employee, the best way to tackle a performance review is by having a sound understanding of what you bring to the table – what you want, what you have, and what you deserve. If you are a woman this planning is important - while men and women in Australia are equally likely to ask for a raise, female employees are 25% less likely to receive one.
KPMG’s 2016 report on the gender pay gap in Australia finds that this sort of sex discrimination is the largest contributing reason to the gap.
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How to determine your value
In Australia we are susceptible to the tall poppy syndrome in the workplace.
The concept goes back to Ancient Greece. It refers to when colleagues will attack or resent each other for appearing, seeming or portraying themselves as better than each other. We tend to call it fairness, or keeping a level playing field, but what it means is that we don’t record or champion our own accomplishments in the name of humility.
This can have a negative effect in a performance review. If you wave off your accomplishments as being nothing, your manager might start to think they really are nothing. If you don’t value what you’ve done, why should they?
But if you come prepared to your review, complete with your sales numbers, or satisfied client reviews, or successful projects you’ve led, or ideas you’ve had that have taken root, then when the manager starts reviewing your work, you can make it a real conversation, rather than a lecture.
You can also put in some time researching how a manager might approach a performance review, looking at it from the other side of the table.
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There are two surefire ways to assure yourself of your value. One way is to monitor yourself. The other way is to ask somebody else how you’re doing. A colleague – a friend – a mentor – or even your supervisor, inside or outside a review.
Years ago, a company I worked for was looking to hire a president and chief operating officer from a small pool of candidates, of which I was the youngest and least experienced. I had no shot at the job; this was further confirmed when the chairman took me to sit in his interviews with other candidates, and asked me my opinion of them once they’d left the room. Since I had no horse in the race, I was completely honest in my assessment of them, and maybe in a way, an assessment of myself, in comparison.
I got that job. The chairman announced it in front of the whole company and I burst out laughing. The other candidates for the job promptly resigned – as a matter of protest, of course. They were all back in their offices within the week, and they spent the next year giving me hell. But nevertheless, I was the president and chief operating officer. During that time, I learned exactly what I could do, what I could handle, how resilient I am. I learned how valuable I am, and that has stayed with me ever since.
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How to prove your value
Speaking of syndromes: we’ve all heard of imposter syndrome. Even when you have evidence that you’re successful in your work, you might not believe it, deep down. The best coping strategy for this is to listen to your inner voice and turn any negative self-talk into positivity, but while you’re working on your own self-image, you can also take active steps to prove your worth to those around you.
- Listen.
This may sound contrary to the goal of showing yourself off to those around you, but when you listen to others in the workplace speaking, often you’ll learn not only the important things they know, but you’ll learn how to connect with those people. If you can show someone important that you’ve listened to them, they’ll remember that.
- Keep your promises.
If you say you’ll follow up, follow up. If you say you’ll be there at 3:30, be there at 3:30. If someone asks the workplace for an email, a confirmation, a contact, a presentation, and you’re able to deliver that, then do it. It’s great to be considered useful, so long as you’re not taking on too much. Along the same vein, don’t preach what you can’t practice – meaning, don’t give an order or advice you wouldn’t follow yourself.
- Recognise fear.
If you’re afraid, it means you care about the outcome. It’s valuable to recognise when you’re afraid and when you’re not – and why, either way. Both success and failure can create great opportunities, chances for change and progress. Be willing to take on difficult roles and projects when they present themselves, and don’t be afraid to fail – or to ask for help, or change direction, if and when you are failing. That’s how we learn, all of us, from CEOs to brand new hires.
- Know why.
Through all this, there’s one more thing to consider. You have to know why you’re putting in the effort. Performance reviews can be an avenue for financial negotiation or a shift into a new role, or they can serve to show why you’re in the exact position you should be, why the company needs you where you are.
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Once you have a handle on what you can do and what you are doing for the company, and you’ve listened to your own inner voice, and collated your evidence, then you can start to sing your own praises. That’s when your performance review will become less a source of nerves, and more a source of growth for both you and your employer. The Fair Work Ombudsman provides here a regulated look at performance reviews from both the perspectives of the employee and the supervisor.
When you know your own value, you can reach for what you want, if that’s different from what you have. When you know your own value, you can communicate from a place of strength, of serenity. When you know your own value, you know what you want, you know what you have, and you know what you deserve.
If you are inspired and would like to join the revolutionary movement that Imalia is creating, you can request to join our Facebook group The Wolfpack, to share ideas and learn from other like-minded women.
This is an edited version of a blog that first appeared on LinkedIn.