A performance evaluation is something that every employee must face on a regular basis. Those who work in areas such as academia are subjected to regular reviews on their job performance and teaching methods. A good evaluation helps improve performance, especially when your supervisor or department head can balance it with the good and the bad.
However, there are times when employees in academia receive less than favorable reviews from their peers and their managers. This can be stressful, especially in higher learning where nothing short of the best is expected of you.
Getting a Bad Performance Review
A negative performance review is something that was designed to motivate an employee to do a better job. But there are some drawbacks which may serve as barriers rather than motivators for improvement.
Reasons Why Performance Reviews Are Considered Bad
In academia, there is a tendency for managers to be engaged in activities where they don’t directly observe your work during the academic year. This leaves most people in the department without much guidance, which means that bad habits mayform without much notice. Those who don’t receive routine feedback may fall into bad habits like being late without notice or getting behind in their work and their duties. Additionally, there may not be clear guidance about expectations and what should be prioritized. This can cause a certain level of suffering in their work, including research and teaching.
To be perfectly honest, most managers and department heads are poorly trained or not trained at all at giving feedback. As a result, relations get strained, and the employee may feel as though they are talking to a stranger. This often happens at bad performance reviews where there are nothing but grievances being aired without the advantage of a real conversation. With that in mind, it becomes easy to enable a culture of anxiety where employees in higher education might feel as though they can never do right. Consequently, work suffers as anxiety and fear of failure impact concentration and lead to more mistakes.
If you find your concentration is affected by a bad performance review, there are some steps to take to work beyond it.
How to Recover From a Bad Review
There are ways to recover from a bad review in higher learning. One is to avoid rationalizing and to allow room for processing your emotions. This can be a great motivator towards improving job performance and an opportunity for personal growth. Another good suggestion is to gain some perspective. This requires rehashing the meeting with your boss and considering their feedback objectively.
The next step is to ask your boss specific questions and gain a new perspective on the situation. One way to do this is to target the troubled areas and ask for specific suggestions. Doing so can offer an edge on setting clear goals and having a plan of action to carry them out. Being consistent in changing your work habits will demonstrate that you are about improving your work. It also shows professionalism and the willingness to be open to feedback and change.
To learn more about how Dr. Hill can help you with your career goals, schedule your call today.