How to Use the Performance Review Scoring System to Get a Better Final Grade [+FREEBIE: Score Calculator]
Both your goal weightings and goal ratings must be correct for you to get a fair performance review score
A bad Performance Review Grade can destroy your career, but an outstanding Performance Review Grade can change your life forever.
That’s a bit of a stretch. How can that be true?
It’s true because review grades go on your employment file and are used to decide who gets:
Promotions
Pay rises
Development opportunities like training and secondments
And who stays and goes when restructures and redundancies are looming
Your review grades aren’t the only deciding factor, but they inform these career-changing decisions. And don’t believe you’re safe because your manager or the current CEO takes reviews lightly. All you need is a management change, and suddenly, your review scores matter—a lot.
I managed the performance review process in a couple of different organizations, and I quickly learned that most employees:
Don’t remember the review process from year to year
And underestimate the importance of end-of-year review results
But luckily, there’s a lot you can do at performance review time to maximize your final grade.
First, prepare thoroughly:
Block out several hours in your calendar - 60-minute slots work for me, but you can do whatever works for you.
Gather proof that you’ve achieved your goals - Go through any project-related documentation and gather evidence that you’ve done what you agreed to do.
Document any changes to goals - Did they grow, shrink, disappear, or appear?
Now, it’s time to look at the evidence and use the scoring system to see how you did.
The two-part performance review scoring system explained
The scoring system consists of:
Ratings - the score you receive to reflect how you performed each goal, usually between one and five
Weightings - a number or a percentage allocated to each goal to indicate how important it is
Ratings x Weightings = Your score for each goal
For example:
Goal One: Rating (4) x Weighting (50%) = 200
Goal Two: Rating (4) x Weighting (10%) = 40
The ratings are the same, but Goal One is weighted higher and is therefore more valuable to you.
Master the rating system to identify a fair rating for each goal
Performance review systems differ between organizations, but they will all have some sort of rating scale.
For example, this 5-point rating scale looks like:
5 - Performance exceeded expectations in all areas of the goal
4 - Performance exceeded expectations for part of the goal
3 - Performance met expectations
2 - Performance did not meet expectations in some areas of the goal
1 - Performance needs improvement in all areas of the goal
Your tasks are to:
Gather any information that your organizations can provide about what these ratings look like in practice
and compare your performance for each goal to the ratings
Here’s an example of a goal for a Marketing Consultant:
Launch a monthly email newsletter
Design a 30-page email format by mid-February
Have the format approved by the Marketing Manager by the end of February
Launch the first edition of the newsletter to all staff in mid-March
Track open rates and click-through rates monthly.
By the end of the year, have an open rate of 40% and a click-through rate of 10%
If you completed these tasks on time, you’ve met expectations, and your grade would be a 3.
But what if you think you’ve done over and above your goal, and you deserve a 4?
You need to prove it by documenting what you did that exceeded expectations in this goal.
Your proof could look like this:
Email format designed by mid-February - done
Format approved by the Marketing Manager by the end of February - done
Launched the first edition to all staff in mid-March - done but also acted on feedback and designed three separate newsletters for the three main departments (Customer Services, Operations, and the Support Teams). Each newsletter expanded to 60 pages to accommodate extra features.
Track open rates and click-through rates monthly—done, but also set up metrics for tracking all eight different sections of each of the three newsletters.
By the end of the year, you have an open rate of 40% and a click-through rate of 10%. The click-through rates of the three newsletters were 60%, 57%, and 53%, with click-through rates of 17%, 15%, and 14%.
In November, you gained a new hire as your assistant. Half of their time will be spent on the organizational newsletters, and the other half will be assisting with your other projects.
It is clear that you have exceeded expectations and should receive a rating of at least 4.
Action point:
Access any information about ratings that your organization provides
Break down all your goals into separate action points
Document where you have met expectations and what you have done to exceed expectations
Remember—it’s up to you to make it easy for your manager to give you a fair rating.
How to make sure goal weightings are correct
Now, we will look at the second part of the performance review system, weightings.
Weightings indicate how important each goal is and tell you how to prioritize your work. You need to ensure that the weightings for each goal are correct at the time of your review.
Here’s an example of goal weightings shown as percentages:
Goal One: Launch a monthly email newsletter - 20%
Goal Two: Increase social media followers on TikTok, LinkedIn, and Instagram to 20% by the end of the year - 40%
Goal Three: Organize the Christmas party in December and get 60% attendance - 10%
Goal Four: With support from Learning & Development, create and deliver a public speaking and media course for all line managers above supervisor level by the end of the year - 30%
Weightings add up to a total of 100%
Let’s assume you’ve negotiated a rating of 5 from your manager regarding the newsletter goal and achieved a rating of 3 for your other goals.
With the original weightings, your performance review calculation would look like this:
After discussing with your manager how Goal One ended up having a much larger scope than originally thought, the weighting for Goal One is adjusted from 20% to 40%.
You also agree to reduce the weightings from Goals Two to Four to reflect the 20% added to Goal One.
With an adjusted weighting for Goal One, your performance review calculation looks like this:
Click here for a freebie Performance Review Score Calculator similar to the one above.
You’ve gone from an overall end-of-year rating of 3 to a 4. Goal weightings matter as much as goal ratings.
Action points:
Review the weightings of your goals and make sure they are still correct.
Summary
Each organization has its own rating and weighting system, and you must understand how it works.
As performance review scores can heavily influence your career opportunities, you must make sure the correct rating (how you did) and weighting (the importance of the goal) are used in your review score calculations.
If you have the documentation to prove what you’ve achieved, you can work with your manager to ensure your performance review scores accurately reflect your performance.
Prepare in good time, get the facts, and make it easy for your manager to give you the performance review score you deserve.
If you like what you’ve read and want to learn more practical skills to help you succeed in your career, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Help me help more people by clicking the share button or the 💗button. Thanks, it means a lot to me :-)
My work is hard enough. I couldn't imagine losing my job over a personality friction. My manager puts it this way, Reviews are about reflecting on how one implents the values and mission of the organization into every action, descion and project we make.