In-House Counsel

The Road Not Taken: End Of Year Feelings

There has to be at least one thing you can derive a benefit from in your workplace. Find it, pursue it, and benefit from it.

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Overworked and stressed!It is getting close to the end of the year and many of us are preparing for end of year reviews. There are plenty of resources that help you prepare for your end of year review, but what about those people who know to prepare, have evidence of accomplishments on hand, appropriate questions at the ready, and are still disappointed once the review is over?

Reviews generally have two overarching categories that can lead to disappointment: compensation and performance. If you think you deserve more recognition from your manager in either category, you are likely to be disappointed. If you are disappointed in your review, what are your options? You can try to rebut and argue your case, but you will know your manager has a different view of your performance and the compensation you deserve than you do. You can start looking for another job and try your luck with another organization, or you can accept that you see things differently than your manager and perhaps you can find room for improvement in your performance.

What you shouldn’t do is accept feedback you disagree with and silently resent your employer and your employment. Not because it isn’t fair to your employer (it isn’t), but it isn’t fair to you. Much like personal relationships, employment relationships are damaged when a party does not feel heard, respected, or appreciated. Most people are unlikely to get a daily “atta-lawyer!” from their manager, but we receive some positive feedback whether through verbal appreciation, compensation, or increased opportunities to learn and grow.

If you don’t feel appreciated and valued at work, but elect to continue as you have, your mental well being will deteriorate, your work performance suffers, and this can even impact your physical health.  In other words, it is an unsustainable situation.

So, what do you do? If finding another job is not an option for you, make the most of the opportunity to improve. First, be humble enough to consider that any less than stellar feedback has merit. This humility will serve you well as a leader and is something many lawyers lack. Accepting feedback and turning it into actionable content is a skill. Furthermore, being able to look back on the previous year and demonstrate how you heard what was communicated to you, you took it seriously, and made changes is a measurable way to rate your performance in the following year.

Second, you have to find a way to get over whatever hurt you may have from your review. If you resent your supervisor, your team, or your employer, that negativity will circumvent any improvements you make to your performance. People can tell when others are unhappy. You have to find the good in your situation for as long as you are in your situation. My recommendation for re-framing situations that I can’t control is to find the opportunities. There has to be at least one thing you can derive a benefit from in your workplace. Find it, pursue it, and benefit from it.

Finally, tying into getting over hurt feelings, be the type of person you would like to work with. We all hit setbacks. Nobody goes through a career unscathed. Be a person the future you will be proud of, even when wounded. That person is the better person to decide your next move, not the person motivated by anger and vengeance.

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Celeste Harrison Forst has practiced in small and mid-sized firms and is now in-house at a large manufacturing and technology company where she receives daily hugs from her colleagues. You can reach Celeste directly at C.harrisonforst@gmail.com.

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