Situation guide
How to prepare for a performance review you are dreading
Your performance review is on the calendar. You think you know what your manager will say, and you have already argued with it a few times in your head.
“You need to be more visible.”
You have a few days. That is enough time to prepare for the first two seconds after they say it.
How most of us prepare
Most of us prepare in one of two ways:
- Building the case: gathering results and rehearsing the defense.
- Bracing: running the worst version over and over.
Both rehearse a reaction. Neither prepares a response.
What to have ready
“Can you give me one example I can work with?”
Pick one question like this, whatever they say, and say it out loud once in your own words. Then you are not searching for it in the room.
Before you go in
Pratipaksha Bhavana
Cultivating the Opposite
Name what is present in one sentence: I need to be more visible. Then find something that is also true and that you can stand behind. Hold both for a minute, and ask which is more useful to walk in with.
Also fits, opens with Your Practice
These open when you unlock Your Practice.
Before you go in
Ujjayi
The Victorious Breath
For the last few minutes before you walk in, somewhere private: a slow breath through the nose with a soft sound at the back of the throat, which gives an agitated mind something to follow. About two minutes.
If it builds in the room
Prana Sakshi
Pure Breath Witnessing
For when anxiety builds as the feedback lands: watch the breath without changing it, eyes open, so nothing about how you look changes. It works while your manager is speaking.
Find the words before, not after
Meet the Moment: When You’re the One Getting Feedback
You get one chance to answer, with almost no time to think.
This scenario starts with what to ask yourself before you respond: Am I about to defend myself, or take this in? Then a short script to adapt, what to say if they push back, and space to write the words in your own voice.
Afterward, write how it landed. The next time a review comes around, you have your own notes to read instead of your memory of it.
Already had the review? How to respond to a performance review you did not expect
About Dhyanved
Dhyanved helps corporate leaders build the attention and clarity that hard moments ask for.