No Surprises, Just Success
Q1 is talent review season in many organizations—a time when performance, growth, and potential are assessed across the board. Whether you’re a manager responsible for your team's development or an individual contributor focused on your own trajectory, talent reviews matter. Today, let’s focus on you—and how to ensure your own review brings clarity and recognition, not surprises.
Question for Reflection: Are you 100% clear on how your role will be evaluated this year—and would your manager describe it the same way?
Understand Expectations—Then Validate Them
You can’t perform well against vague standards. It is crucial that you understand:
What the organization expects from your role
What success looks like for your position
How your work will be evaluated—quantitatively and qualitatively
And here’s the key: don’t just assume you’re aligned with your leaders—validate it. Have explicit conversations. Challenge assumptions. Ask questions like:
"Do we agree on the outcomes I’m responsible for?"
"How will success be measured for this initiative?"
"Is this scope aligned with the expectations for someone at my level?"
Often, organizational design isn’t perfect. Some roles are naturally more visible or influential. Others may be set up with less clarity or unrealistic scope. You owe it to yourself to flag those gaps early and seek adjustment. If your job is to re-architect a legacy system, for example, make sure the value and complexity of that work is understood by both technical and non-technical reviewers. If not, your impact may not be fully appreciated come review time.
Match Role Expectations to Role Level
Another pitfall: misaligned expectations for your level. If you’re in a vice president role but the expectations set for you are closer to a director—this mismatch will hurt you during calibration. No matter how well you perform, you may be compared unfairly to others operating at a different standard.
So don’t just align on your goals—make sure those goals are calibrated to the level you’re expected to operate at. Ask yourself:
Are these deliverables reflective of a [VP/Director/etc.] role?
Can my manager justify my performance against others at the same level?
If the answer is no, raise the flag. Clarify. Realign. You’re not being difficult—you’re being strategic.
Define Measurable Outcomes
If it’s not measurable, it’s not reviewable. And if it’s not reviewable, it’s not promotable.
Vague goals won’t help you.
Hard-to-quantify outcomes won’t protect you.
Make sure you and your leaders agree on how your success will be measured. Don’t wait until Q4 or just before the review cycle to bring this up. Build this into your planning early in the year—or immediately after your last review if you're on a different cadence.
Own Your Setup, Own Your Success
At the end of the day, you have a vested interest in ensuring the talent review works in your favor. That means owning your clarity, scope, and visibility. It means taking initiative—not just in the work, but in the context around the work.
If you’ve just wrapped up a successful talent review—congrats. If you’re preparing for one, now’s the time to do the hard alignment work. Your future self will thank you.
Have questions or want to ensure you're set up for success this review cycle? Schedule a free meeting to talk it through—I'm here to help.