Throughout my career leading teams at Nordstrom, Verizon, and Yahoo, I've conducted hundreds of annual performance reviews. Some employees walked in composed, prepared, and ready to shape their career trajectory. Others arrived defensive, unfocused, or unclear about what the conversation was actually meant to accomplish.
This year, in a market of layoffs and other financial pressures, those differences matter more than ever.
Companies are operating with leaner teams, tighter budgets, and sharper expectations. Managers are being asked to do more with less, and employees are being evaluated not only on what they accomplish, but also on how well they adapt, collaborate, and contribute to shifting priorities.
Don't treat your performance conversation like a formality. It's likely one of the few moments each year when you have structured, committed time with your manager to clarify expectations, reinforce your value, and influence the direction of your role.
Here are seven ways that the strongest employees prepare — and how you can, too.
1. Get intentional about your mindset before you walk in
Most employees view performance reviews as an opportunity for information exchange, but they're also an energy exchange. How you show up — your tone, body language, and openness — significantly affects how the conversation unfolds.
Try to avoid rushing into this appointment from another meeting or fresh off your commute. Carve out a calendar window to collect your thoughts one last time so you walk in (or click "join," if remote) in a state of calm and confidence. You want your voice to sound steady and measured so that you don't appear harried, and you should be ready to sit down with your materials organized instead of fidgeting.
I've seen high performers walk in so nervous or braced for criticism that they unknowingly projected defensiveness. The best ways you can show up are grounded, collaborative, and ready for a productive discussion.
2. Start with an honest self-assessment
Employees often make the mistake of treating the performance review as a highlights reel. They emphasize the wins, gloss over the challenges, and hope the harder parts of the year won't come up.
Managers see right through it because they worked with you all year. Now isn't the time to try to hide what you wish hadn't happened or to hope your manager forgot about it. It's better to show accountability, own the narrative, and explain how you'll improve.
I once had a consistently strong performer who always submitted a self-assessment that felt more like a promotional email than a reflection. It unintentionally made him seem less self-aware — and less ready for the next level.
Managers pay close attention to whether you can accurately and objectively evaluate your own performance. It's one of the clearest indicators of long-term potential.
3. Use data to make your impact clear
Few managers are tracking every detail of your work — especially in organizations where leaders oversee multiple teams or large portfolios of projects. If you don't bring evidence of your impact, there's a good chance no one will remember it when it counts.
Your goal isn't to overwhelm your manager with metrics and spreadsheets. It's to make your accomplishments easy to see and to provide context for why they matter.
A few specific data points can make a big impact:
- Key metrics or efforts you improved
- Revenue, cost savings, or stakeholder outcomes you influenced
- Delivery timelines you accelerated
- Cross-functional work that unblocked others
- Efficiency gains that freed up time or resources
4. Be clear about where you need your manager's support
Employees often forget that this conversation isn't just about their performance; it's also about the conditions that shape their performance. Good managers will ask you what they can do for you. If you have nothing to say in response, you're wasting an opportunity to make a targeted, strategic ask.
This is your moment to articulate where you need support to become more effective, such as clearer priorities, cross-functional backing, earlier feedback, exposure to decision-makers, or help navigating organizational friction.
Managers appreciate employees who can name what's getting in the way of doing great work and express it in a way that's actionable rather than whiny. It signals maturity and strategic thinking, not weakness.
5. State your career goals — even if you've shared them before
One of the biggest misconceptions employees have is assuming their manager remembers their long-term aspirations. Even well-intentioned leaders don't always hold those details at the forefront of their minds.
Your performance conversation is the moment to reinforce them and an opportunity to check in on where you stand relative to them.
Share the skills you want to build, the responsibilities you want to grow into, and the direction you want your role to evolve. Then, connect your goals to the business's needs.
At one company, a manager on my team consistently communicated her interest in leading larger cross-functional programs. Because she was clear, consistent, and aligned with the company's direction, she was top of mind when that opportunity arose.
6. Don't get defensive about constructive feedback
This is part of the brief mindset work you'll want to do right before the meeting: Be prepared to maintain your composure, especially if you hear something you don't like.
One of the quickest ways I've seen employees stall their career momentum is by reacting defensively to feedback. Even when the feedback is minor, a strong emotional reaction signals to the manager that the employee may not be ready for more complex responsibilities.
Managers don't expect you to agree with every point, but they do expect you to listen, ask clarifying questions, and stay open to understanding the perspective behind the feedback. If you're particularly upset by something or you're asked for a response and you can't think of an appropriate one quickly, say that you'd like to think about it and will follow up later in the day with your thoughts.
Being coachable — especially in challenging moments — is one of the clearest indicators that you're ready for more responsibility and increased visibility within the organization. The most significant way to prove that you're coachable is to build an action plan that addresses the feedback you received and then report back on how you've improved.
7. End with a follow-up plan, so the meeting actually leads somewhere
An annual meeting shouldn't be the end of the conversation. It should be the starting point on a road map that you own and that your manager supports.
The strongest employees schedule a follow-up 30 to 60 days later to discuss their progress on the feedback and the goals that were set. In those conversations, they show what they've already implemented and what they're still working on. Again, try to separate this important dialogue from one that gets bogged down in the details of your day-to-day tasks.
Meaningful follow-through sends a powerful signal that you take your development and contributions seriously, and that you're accountable for your growth. Long after the data you've shared becomes a foggy memory, your consistency will remain top-of-mind, especially when it's time for promotion or compensation discussions.
