This week’s Question: What advice would you give an employee to prepare for a formal performance review?

I would hope that the employee would have kept a career journal during the year. If that is the case, I would counsel the employee to review his or her career journal and review all the instances in the past year that he or she had resolved a problem or overcome obstacles to achieve a result. I believe a career journal where people job down quick notes of everyday “wins” or triumphs is invaluable in preparing for a formal review. Once the individual has reviewed his career journal, I would suggest that he collates the ‘wins’ that were the best — probably three or four examples of how he made a difference, and provided value.