3 Steps to a Better Review

Ellen's story in the book How Women Rise resonates with smart ambitious women I coach. See if it resonates with you, too. 

When Ellen, a software engineer, got feedback from her boss that she wasn't doing enough to keep stakeholders updated, she couldn't believe it. 

Because she did that every day. She was good at it, too. Stakeholders routinely told her they appreciated her efforts. 

She hadn't thought it was necessary to let her boss know about this, because it was so routine for her. 

"I don't want to bother my boss who's so busy. I'm just doing my job, and she should already know that I am on top of it," she'd thought.  

Until she got the feedback. 

At first, she was pissed. She thought, "My boss doesn't get me. I'm not valued here." She felt tempted to act out of spite, get defensive, and start looking for a new job.

Then she got coaching. 

She shifted her focus to assess just the facts, neutrally. From there, she got curious about the feedback. 

"What if this isn't personal. What if the boss doesn't know about all my communication efforts, simply because I didn't tell her?" 

So she created a simple action plan. Every Friday afternoon, she would email her boss three bullet points on key updates she made that week to stakeholders. 

At first, she felt resistant to the idea. It felt awkward, especially since the boss hardly responded to her weekly emails. An occasional "Nice" or "Good job" reply was the only sign that the boss even cared. 

Whenever Ellen thought emailing the three bullet points was meaningless, she reminded herself of her commitment to improving her results and testing her solution. She kept at it for six months.  

At the next review, the boss congratulated her with an open smile. 

Boss said, “You’re doing a great job with keeping stakeholders updated. This is important because when stakeholders know about the project, they know the work the department is doing. So you’re helping the whole department stay top of mind.” 

Ellen got a stellar review. 

When you're competent like Ellen, and the boss just doesn't know the full scope of it, the solution can be as simple as three bullet points emailed every Friday. 


Jamie 

P.S. It's not the once-and-done conversations -- like an annual review -- that make or break your career.

it's the quality and consistency of your daily, weekly, routine communications that will shape your career trajectory. And how you communicate will be shaped by your mindset. 

If you want to be able to calmly and confidently address the elephant in the room when feedback doesn’t accurately reflect the level of your contributions, I can help you. 

I help my clients go from feeling unhappy to emotionally in control. From anxious to confident. 

From wanting to act out of spite to implementing simple, individualized solutions to better results. 

If that's what you want, I invite you to submit a 2-minute application for a 60-minute consultation. CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION