What comes to mind when you think about performance reviews? Many executives and professionals have a love-hate relationship with performance reviews. If they have done well that year, and believe their boss has noticed, they love performance review meetings. However, if they haven’t done well that year, or don’t believe their boss sees their value, then they hate them.
In this episode, you will learn more about how to prepare for your performance review. Our host and CEO Porschia, alongside our guest, Danielle Cobo, will also share their insight putting your best foot forward during these meetings.
They discuss how to talk about your performance in a meaningful way, and how to handle any negative feedback that you weren’t expecting. The conversation also touches on how to negotiate aspects such as a raise, during your review.
Danielle Cobo, former Fortune 500 Senior Sales Manager, is renowned for empowering individuals with the grit, resilience, and courage to thrive professionally and personally. With over 15 years of corporate experience, she knows how to build high-performing teams that increase sales, productivity, and employee retention. Danielle is the best-selling author of Unstoppable Grit and hosts the globally top-rated Unstoppable Grit Podcast.
What you’ll learn:
- Why performance reviews are important throughout your career
- The biggest challenges executives and professionals have with their performance reviews
- How to stand out as a top performer during your performance review
- Tips on preparing for your performance review
- What to do if you feel blindsighted by negative feedback during the conversation
- Practical techniques you can use to negotiate a raise during your performance review
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Resources:
- Unstoppable Grit on YouTube
- Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] Today we are talking about Performance Review 101, Preparing for Your Performance Review with Danielle Kobo. Danielle Kobo, former Fortune 500 Senior Sales Manager, is renowned for empowering individuals with the grit, resilience, and courage to thrive professionally and personally. With over 15 years of corporate experience, she knows how to build high performing teams that increase sales, [00:01:00] productivity, and employee retention.
She propelled her team to the number one national ranking, even amid the upheaval of downsizing, restructuring, and acquisitions. Her commendable leadership earned her region manager of the year and her resiliency motivated her to earn four consecutive national sales excellence awards. Danielle is the bestselling author of unstoppable grit and hosts the globally top rated unstoppable grit podcast.
Hi, Danielle. How are you today? Hello. I’m well, and I’m thrilled to be here. Great. We are thrilled to have you with us to discuss preparing for your performance review. But first we want to know a little more about you. So tell me about seven year old Danielle.
Danielle: Ooh, seven year old Danielle was an entrepreneur at heart.
So when I was seven years old, I used to go during the holidays up to [00:02:00] the mountains and I would have my stepdad climb up the trees, cut down mistletoe, And then in the evenings we would take little red velvet ribbons and wrap bundles and mistletoe together and I would sell them outside the grocery store.
And that was my way of earning money for presents for my family. So I had this bug inside me to be in sales and entrepreneurship right from the beginning. And it’s interesting because I never thought that I’d be an entrepreneur throughout my career. I always thought that I would just stay in sales, but it’s full circle what my seven year old self is doing and what I’m doing now.
Porschia: Yes, you had the entrepreneurial spirit early, Danielle. What did you want to be when you grew up?
Danielle: What I wanted to be growing up was I first wanted to be a model because I always thought that it was so fun seeing the models walk the runway and how confident they were when they would walk down the stage or down the runway.
And then I wanted to be a realtor. I wanted to sell real estate. [00:03:00] And then I eventually had a career in medical sales. I love it. I really not unrelated, clearly not related to each other. Any of them.
Porschia: Yeah, but I could see you in all of those. I could see you in all of those. Tell us about some highlights or pivotal moments in your career before you started your business.
Danielle: One of the most pivotal moments in my career was when I got into medical sales. I was 23 years old, fresh out of college, just six months of outside sales experience selling copier sales when I was invited into a trade show for a dental association. And when I went into the trade show, I came in with 23 with my binder in hand with all my resumes.
I went to every single booth at the trade show and I asked. For who the hiring manager was, I got their business card and I gave him a resume and I was able to interview for a position on the spot. And then after a couple interviews, I ended up getting a position. So it was very a pivotal moment in my career [00:04:00] because I learned that if you want to be successful in your career, you’ve got to take the initiative and you’ve got to go out there and be creative when it comes to getting the positions that you want.
Porschia: Definitely. Definitely. And one thing I can hear from that, Danielle, is that you have a lot of confidence. To very early on in your career, pretty much approach people, ask for, the appropriate information, the right person, and pitch yourself, so to speak, right there on the spot.
Danielle: It was the good old days of being in the Girl Scouts that taught me communication skills and then selling that mistletoe that taught me to have the courage to walk up to people and spark conversations and ask for what I wanted.
Porschia: Yeah, I love it. I was a Girl Scout too. There are so many great traits that you learn as a Girl Scout.
What would you say has been your biggest career challenge so far before starting your business?
Danielle: One of the biggest career challenges I had in my career [00:05:00] was I was often the youngest person in the roles that I was in. So when I started in medical sales, I was 23 years old. Most of the other sales representatives were 10 years my senior, at least.
And so that was really difficult because I always felt were they going to take me seriously? I always felt like I had to prove myself and put on. This bigger than life of who I was, even though deep down inside it, it was a little insecure at how young I was. And I felt that same way when I stepped into leadership, because when I was a manager, I was 30 years old when I became a manager for a large organization.
And I was definitely the youngest by at least five years. Compared to the other managers. So I always felt like in my career, I had to prove myself. Even though in a lot of ways I had already proven myself at such a young age that I was able to step into the roles that I was able to step into.
Porschia: Yeah, thank you for sharing that because I hear that from a lot of our clients [00:06:00] Especially, with age when it comes to being the youngest person in the room or maybe having to manage a team of people that are older or of a different generation and older than them, there’s can be a lot to that.
That is really pivotal, I think to highlight for people. So you mentioned earlier that you thought you might be in sales forever. What motivated you to start your own business?
Danielle: I had no intentions in starting a business, but in 2020, a lot of us went through change. It was the great resignation for me.
It was, or the great reintegrate the great resignation. And so for me, 2020 was a year of a lot of changes professionally and personally. It first started off with my husband returning from deployment. So in 2019 he spent a year in Iraq. When he left, our twins were one and a half years old. They were sleeping in cribs and they were saying their first words and learning to [00:07:00] walk.
And he comes back from Iraq in a war zone and all of a sudden they’re two and a half years old. And they’re in toddler beds and they’re, Formulating sentences and they have opinions and they’re throwing temper tantrums of the terrible twos. So it was a big shift for us in our family dynamic and trying to find a way to unite together as a family and see what this new life of ours is going to look like.
And then right as we started to find our rhythm, March 18th or March 8th, I lost my mom and I lost my mom unexpectedly to suicide. So it was devastating and so unexpected and to know that somebody was in so much pain that they felt that the only way out was to take their life really brought a lot of what ifs, a lot of guilt, a lot of uncertainty.
And as I started to try to find a way to cope and heal with the loss of my mom, a week later, The pandemic hit and the global world had shut down as we knew it. And there was so [00:08:00] much as you remember, there was so much uncertainty with the pandemic. We didn’t know how long it was going to last. Maybe it was going to last a week, two weeks.
We would have never known that it was going to last for as long as it did. And as we are going through the pandemic. The last thing that happened was the company that I was with had been acquired by a larger organization, and it became a very toxic work environment. So I ended up leaving the organization after seven years.
And all of these events compiled on together really helped, really all of these events piled on together. Help me understand what I wanted differently in life. I wanted something that was more meaningful and purposeful. I wanted, I saw a lot of people that were looking for jobs and they didn’t have the necessary.
They didn’t have the confidence or they didn’t have the abilities on how to find a job. And so that’s what started my career, my business and doing career coaching. [00:09:00]
Porschia: Wow. So I know your book is called unstoppable grit, but another word that came to mind as you were just sharing was resilience. I want to commend you for your resilience to get through, the things that you mentioned and start this business to grow.
Meaningfully help people. I really want to shift gears and dig in to performance reviews. So our audience can learn some of those best practices. I’m sure that you work with your clients on performance reviews. But first I want to ask you, why do you think performance reviews are important?
Danielle: Performance reviews are important because it’s a compilation of all of your what you’ve done in the previous year. So all of your successes in the previous year, what you’ve learned in the previous year and performance reviews are a great way of [00:10:00] keeping track of what situations have come up, what you’ve accomplished, what you’ve learned, how you’ve grown.
So performance reviews are so valuable in your career. And I say a great. Performance reviews are always great to put in your brag book as well.
Porschia: Yes. And if someone doesn’t know what a brag book is tell them about that, Danielle.
Danielle: A lot of people call it different things, brag book, performance book, but it’s a book that has your resume and it has letters of recommendation.
It’s got letters of Letters from emails that have saying your praises, it’s got your accomplishments, your awards, anything that is showing you are your success and the contributions that you’ve had to an organization go into your performance or what you call brag book.
Porschia: Yes. So what are some tips that you’d give executives and professionals to help them prepare for their performance review?[00:11:00]
Danielle: The best time to prepare for performance review is today. A lot of times annual performance reviews come up once a year and people will receive an email and they’ll say, okay, do your self assessment for your performance review and you’re trying to think of everything that you’ve done over the previous year.
You’re trying to do it quickly. So you meet the deadline. And that’s the worst thing you want to do. What you actually want to do is one of this, one of the two things I used to do is. I used to have an at a girl folder. So it was a folder in my Outlook inbox and anytime I received an email that was very positive about maybe the accomplishments, I drug it into the at a girl file and that you can print those emails out and you can put them in your performance book.
You can use those emails as references in your annual performance book. Annual performance review. And then the second thing that I did is I would always have a word document that I kept open at all times on my computer and any [00:12:00] time that there was a success that happened, I just would jot it down, but you want to jot it down in a specific way.
You want to take notes of it in a specific way. So you want to use the star format. What was the situation? What was the task at hand? What were the action steps that you took and what were the results? And when you keep track of that throughout the year, then by the end of the year, all you’re doing is just copy and pasting those on to your annual performance review.
You want to make sure they align with what the questions are on the annual performance review. But when you keep track throughout the year, then you’re able to really, ensure that you’re setting yourself up for success to show the value that you bring to the organization through your annual performance review.
Porschia: That is a great suggestion, Danielle. We talked to our clients a bit about, the STAR method when it comes to interviewing and definitely just, taking your notes proactively using the STAR method [00:13:00] is a great idea. So from your perspective, how can someone stand out as a top performer during their performance review?
Danielle: How someone can stand out as a top performer in their annual performance review is to come prepared and do some research on what the expectations are of the role and the responsibilities, and they shift throughout the year. So ensuring that you have a good understanding of what the roles and the responsibilities and the expectations are currently in that role, that you’re coming prepared with a thorough annual performance review.
You want to make sure that it’s completely filled out, that you’ve been able to document everything that you’ve done, the successes that you’ve had, the value that you bring to the organization. You also want to come prepared with a career development plan. You want to look at what is your goals for the next 3 years, 5 years, 10 years.
And you want to come prepared to have that discussion with your manager [00:14:00] while doing the annual performance review. Your annual performance review is a review of the previous year. And also, what are your goals for the next year? So a lot of times people just come to these annual performance reviews and it’s okay, just review the information and oh, do I get a merit increase?
No, that’s also a great opportunity for you to talk about what does the future look like for you within that organization? Are you pursuing a promotion? If you’re pursuing a promotion, What are some of the skill sets that you want to work on with your manager to develop so that you can prepare yourself for that promotion.
So you really want to ensure that you’re coming prepared to look at the review of the previous year and what you want to do in the future.
Porschia: [00:15:00] I like , the future focus as well. A lot of times people spend so much time to your point in the past, right? Just talking about what happened over the last year, but I think, it’s really important what you highlight about focusing on what you want to achieve in the future.
There are many ways that companies assess performance that might involve, various rubrics, scales or ranking systems. I’ve had clients tell me that, despite what they do, their boss just continues to categorize them as meeting expectations or something like that, right? In the middle of the road, as opposed to exceeding expectations or doing a great job, what would you [00:16:00] recommend to someone who’s been receiving that kind of feedback?
Danielle: That’s a great question because it’s interesting. What was interesting when I was a manager is in sales. I had people that were performing and they were year to date, 110 percent attainment. So they were above the expectations. However, they received meet expectations on their annual performance review.
And that did not settle with me very well. And I remember having a conversation with my VP of sales and he said, the way that annual performance reviews are our, the way the annual performance reviews are outlined is based off of a bell curve. So because we had such a great performing year that year the people that were at 110 percent were actually the average among the whole Salesforce.
So that’s why they got met meets expectations. So I share that story because I believe it’s really important to understand and ask your manager. What [00:17:00] constitutes receiving meets expectations exceeds expectations and an outstanding because a lot of times it will go up to outstanding as well. So what are the specific skill sets, core competencies, expectations that you’re looking and asking that question that you’re looking for somebody to receive exceeds or outstanding?
What can asking the question, what can I be doing differently this year that can help me? earn that exceeds or outstanding. So the more that you’re open up and have an open dialogue conversation and get a clear understanding of what the expectations are, then you can ensure that you’re working towards that for the next year.
And you’re tracking specifically, remember how we talked about tracking your annual performance review from day one. If you know what the expectations are, then you know exactly what to keep track of throughout the year. When you prepare for your next annual performance review.
Porschia: Yes, that clarification is so important.
[00:18:00] So how should someone respond if they feel blindsided by their performance review or surprised by negative feedback?
Danielle: Ooh, that’s a difficult one because it’s so hard when we have an annual performance review and we receive negative feedback. Understand that annual performance reviews are meant to talk about what we’re doing well and also what we can be doing differently to continue and improve.
So understand the annual performance reviews will always have some sort of element that’s going to be talking about areas of improvement as well. So if you receive areas of improvement, know that Most people do, then that’s okay. Also think about it’s somebody’s perception of performance and. Now, that may be your perception may be the same as their perception, or your perception may be very different than their perception.
And in those situations, it’s important to ask questions. I’m quite surprised that I received below expectations on my annual performance [00:19:00] review. Can you please provide some specific examples of where, what steps I can take to be doing better so that I can achieve the exceeds or meets expectations?
Porschia: Another question I have for you, Danielle, is about negotiating raises. So back on the podcast, I believe it was episode 51. We talked about raise negotiation. What are your thoughts on asking for a raise during a performance review?
Danielle: I believe it’s important to understand when do companies give raises because every company is different for my organization, everybody received their annual performance review at the same time, every single year, regardless of when they started in their particular position.
And other organizations, they’ll do annual performance reviews based off of the tenure within that individual person. When was their start date and a year from their start date. That’s a little harder for organizations to keep track. I do believe it’s [00:20:00] much easier when there’s just like a set time that everyone has annual performance reviews.
But in the circumstance that you’re looking for a raise, it’s important for you to come prepared with what are you looking for in a raise? Understanding, are you looking for increase in your salary, increase in commission earnings, stock options, more paid days off Could it be a straight bonus that you’re looking for?
So understanding what is it specifically that you’re looking for in a particular raise or a particular increase in what your overall compensation package looks like, and then ensuring that you’re coming prepared. With the facts, what are some research that you’ve done? If you’re asking for a certain dollar amount, what research have you done that quantifies that dollar amount and warrants it for that particular position?
Because most organizations will have a particular range for the position. They’ll have a maximum range, a minimum range, and where do you fall within the average? So understanding the salary range for each position can also help better prepare you to have that [00:21:00] conversation. And then really you want to emphasize why you’re asking for the raise and warranting it and backing it up specifically based off of what are some specific values, examples of values that you’ve brought to the organization.
I’ve had one person on my team. This is what not to do. I had one person on my team that came to me and said, Danielle, I really need a raise. It’s because, living expenses have increased. It’s gotten really expensive and I just can’t afford my bills anymore. Now, I knew this individual very well, and she had a very lavish lifestyle, so it probably could have been a better conversation on how to budget your finances better.
But that’s what you don’t want to do. Instead of just saying, I need more money just to afford my bills, it’s more or less, I’m asking for a raise based off of here’s the value that I brought to the organization and how I’m continuing to contribute to the success of the organization.
Porschia: I love it. I love it.
And yes, I [00:22:00] have had clients that believe that Yes, just because inflation is high, they deserve a raise or just because they’ve been with the company two years or some other arbitrary timeframe, they deserve a raise. And it doesn’t necessarily work out that way. I appreciate the actionable advice that you just shared Danielle there.
So what are some of the biggest mistakes what mistakes you’ve seen professionals and executives make when it comes to their performance reviews. You started. You started sharing some already.
Danielle: Yeah, definitely that one asking that you want to raise just because inflation has increased because that we’re all going through that inflation increase.
not coming prepared. Not doing your research, not taking the initiative of actually investing in your professional and personal development, so that you are showing that you’re developing new skill sets to warrant asking for a raise. If you’ve, if you come to the table and [00:23:00] you say, Hey, manager, last year, we talked about positioning myself for a potential promotion.
Maybe that promotion’s not available just yet because that position hasn’t opened, but here’s manager, here’s the five skill sets that we talked about me developing. And here’s the specific steps that I took to develop each of these skill sets, or I’m working on developing each of these skill sets. So if another mistake that’s out there is if your manager’s giving you a And if your manager is giving you a career development plan, but you haven’t taken the action steps to work on that career development, then that’s on you.
It’s important that understanding that when it comes to our career and it comes to the long term success of our career. Our managers can provide us guidance. They can share with us what steps to take, what steps to avoid, but it’s up to us to have conversations with mentors, to take online courses, to invest in personal and professional development, to read books, to listen to podcasts like this one here and ensure that we’re tracking what we’re doing so that we’re [00:24:00] keeping track of what the development that we’re working on.
Porschia: Great. Great. So Danielle, tell us more about your business and your upcoming book.
Danielle: So my book is Unstoppable Grit, Breakthrough the Seven Roadblocks Standing Between You and Achieving Your Goals. And it actually received Best Seller in Career Guide, Work Life Balance in Business, Job Hunting, and then also Women in Business.
and top new release and motivational self help. So I’m very excited about those. And really what the book is about is how to thrive among adversity and build a career and life that you love. So if you are a professional and you’re saying, I want to take my career to the next level, but I may not know how exactly to do it.
This book lays it out specifically for you. We go through Performance reviews. We go through 360 feedback, performance reviews. We go through how to build a career development plan. We go through how to design [00:25:00] your dream job, how to set yourself up for success in your career, and also how to build one that you love as well.
It’s important that I see so many people right now. Deloitte did a study and found that 77 percent of people have at one point or another in their career have experienced burnout. And so it’s important that yes, we not only love our career, but we’re doing it where we’re not burning ourselves out, that we actually have the balance in our lives.
So that’s the book. And then in my business, I do a lot of speaking and I also do career coaching as well. So it’s individuals that are looking to thrive and excel in the interview process. So I do interview coaching, resume writing, LinkedIn, and then also I do sales coaching as well.
Porschia: Wow. That, it sounds like a lot of great information in the book and a lot of different ways that you can help clients and just different expertise that you have.
It sounds amazing. We’ll be providing [00:26:00] a link to your website and other social channels in our show notes so people can find you online. But what is the best way for someone to get in touch with you?
Danielle: Best way for people to get in touch with me is on my podcast, Unstoppable Grit Podcast with Danielle Kobo.
Porschia: Great. Great. So I have a couple of other questions for you, Danielle. I want to know what is your definition of career success?
Danielle: My definition of career success is when you find a career that This is fulfilling and aligns with your core values and you’re passionate about. So for me right now, I feel very fulfilled in my career.
I love what I do. So it doesn’t feel like a job. It feels like a passion project that I get to work on every single day.
Porschia: That is great. That’s great. I love to hear other coaches talk about career success and what that means to them. And my last question for you, Danielle, that we ask [00:27:00] everyone, is how do you think executives or professionals can get a positive edge in their career?
Danielle: To get a positive edge in your career is to ve invest in your professional brand and to do that. Invest time in LinkedIn. I have seen so much growth. LinkedIn was a platform that first was just job seekers would go on to look for a job, but LinkedIn is so much more than that. You have LinkedIn learning courses that you can learn new skill sets on LinkedIn and add them to your profile.
You can start to become a thought leader by sharing insights. LinkedIn You can start to connect with hiring managers and recruiters through LinkedIn. You can learn a lot from LinkedIn. So I would say invest in your professional brand. Start by doing it on LinkedIn. If you want advice on how to do that, I do have a LinkedIn learning, I do have a LinkedIn course, but also you can connect with me on LinkedIn.
Porschia: That was great, Danielle. You have shared a lot of tips with us today, and I’m [00:28:00] sure that our listeners can use it to be more confident in their careers and with their performance reviews. We appreciate you being with us. Thank you.
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