How to prepare for your performance review.

Start with what your manager has to decide

A review is your manager’s chance to write down how your year went, and often to argue for your rating or pay in a room you won’t be in. Make that easy. Find out what the review covers, what the form asks, how ratings work, and whether pay and promotion are decided in the same cycle. If there are written expectations for your level, read them. Everything you prepare should help your manager answer one question: what did this person do this year, and what should happen next?

Gather your evidence

Go back through the year: your calendar, sent mail, project notes, shipped work, customer or patient feedback, safety records, thank-you messages. Write down results, not activity. “Cut month-end close from eight days to five” beats “worked on the close process”. Where you can, add a number, a before and after, or who it helped. Keep the things that went wrong too, with what you changed afterwards. If you don’t keep a running list of wins, start one the day after this review.

Write your own one-page summary

Pick your three to five most important results and put them first. Add what you learned or took on that was new, one or two things you want to get better at, and how you would like to grow. Keep it to a page, in plain language. Send it to your manager a few days ahead, even if no self-assessment is required. Most managers welcome it, and it makes sure your best work is on the table.

Decide what you want to ask for

Know what you want before you walk in: a raise, a promotion, a new kind of work, training, more flexibility, or simply clear feedback on what would get you to the next level. Pick one or two, not five. For pay, look up the market range for your role and area. Then write down the single sentence you will say, and say it out loud a few times so it comes out calmly.

In the conversation

Let your manager go first, then walk through your summary. Listen more than you defend. If you hear something you disagree with, ask for an example and what good would look like, and repeat back what you heard. You can follow up in writing later. Before the end, make your ask and agree the next steps: what you will work on, how progress will be measured, and when you will check in.

After the review

Within a day, send a short note: thanks, what you agreed, and the date of the next check-in. Put that date in your calendar. Add the goals to your running list of wins, so next year’s preparation starts now. If the outcome was not what you hoped, give it a few days, then decide whether this is a gap you can close here or a sign to look at what else is out there.

How Upswing helps

Upswing’s coach will help you prepare for your review: what to raise, what to ask for, and how to show your impact, grounded in your own work history. Performance review coaching is rolling out in the pilot. Until then, you get tips tailored to you every Monday, and a job search that keeps watching for roles worth your time.

Questions

How far ahead should I prepare for a performance review?

Start gathering evidence two to three weeks before, and write your own summary a week out. The best preparation is a running list of wins kept all year, so the review is a matter of choosing, not remembering.

What should I bring to my performance review?

A one-page summary: your three to five most important results with numbers or examples, what you learned, one or two things you want to get better at, and what you want next, whether that is a raise, a promotion or a new kind of work.

How do I respond to negative feedback in a review?

Listen to the end, ask for a specific example, and repeat back what you heard. You don’t have to agree in the room. Ask what good would look like, and agree a date to check in on it.

Should I ask for a raise in my performance review?

If pay is decided in the same cycle, yes: say it plainly and connect it to your results and the market rate for the role. If pay is set separately, use the review to agree what you would need to show, and ask when the decision is made.