Help! My Boss Has Scored Me Lower Than Me On My 360 Assessment!

So you have just got your performance review back and…

Ouch!

You can see that your peers…

And even your boss…

Have scored your performance a lot lower than you did on a number of key measures.

That hurts, right?

I mean, what’s your first reaction?

To sweat a little?

To panic?

To feel hurt or alienated?

Well, I’m here to say, don’t fret!

We’ve all had feedback that’s felt like a kick in the guts.

Take a deep breath and let’s get to work on helping you better understand your review.

Relax…

Everything will be fine. 🙂

 

 

The Value of Getting Feedback

The first thing to do is to look at the feedback objectively.

** ALERT! **

Avoid the temptation to take the feedback personally because, if you do, you won’t be able to find a useful solution.

Feedback is given for a reason…

And usually the intention is to provide valuable insight…

And to shed light on your blind spots to help you grow…

It is rarely a personal, critical attack on you.  Unless your boss is a narcissist (but that’s a whole other post). 🙂

You need to look at the feedback in front of you with an objective hat on…

Which means parking your emotions somewhere handy for a moment…

Taking a breath and looking at the feedback without judgment.

 

 

How to Look at Feedback Objectively

Okay…

Let’s get into it.

Get the review out and list out:

1. The areas where your respective scores are in agreement
2. The areas where your respective scores are mismatched 

Look at the mismatching measures, where you are scoring yourself higher than your boss, and ask yourself:

1. What specifically is he/she referring to here?
2. How much do I agree with their assessment? Is it 10% / 50% / 90%?
3. Is there an example I can think of to verify the score they have given me?
4. Are there specific examples I can think of that refute their judgment perhaps?
5. What’s their intention behind giving me this feedback?

 

The more you focus on specific examples – like a meeting, or a specific behaviour – the easier it will be to decipher the feedback.

 

What If You Disagree With Your Boss’ Feedback?

If you genuinely disagree with the feedback then it’s important to speak to your boss about it…

Take some specific examples with you that might counter their observation.

But stay open minded to their perspective too – there’s always a lesson to take from any conversation.

And…

What if, after all your analysis, you actually agree with some of their lower scores?

If that’s the case, you can be grateful for the early heads up…

And look at how you want to make some changes to help you build the perception you want your boss – and other decision makers – to have of you.

Take any feedback as a chance to learn…

(Whether you choose to act on it or not)…

And make sure your own agenda, and creating the opportunities you want from your career, stay centre stage.

Rebecca Allen is a Career Strategy Coach for corporate women who are ready and committed to step it up in their careers.