The performance review is more than a bureaucratic formality. It’s a critical moment for career growth, fair compensation, and proper leveling. It’s an opportunity to advocate for the value you bring and ensure you are recognized and rewarded appropriately.

Here’s how to shift your mindset and prepare for your next performance review conversation.

💰 Focus on Value Delivered, Not Just Activity

When documenting your contributions, the difference between a successful review and a stagnant one often comes down to this distinction: Activity vs. Value.

• Activity is a long list of things you did (e.g., “Wrote 50 unit tests,” “Attended all planning meetings,” “Debugged three user-reported issues.”)
• Value is a list of outcomes you made happen (e.g., “Implemented a new feature that drove a 10% increase in user engagement,” “Streamlined the deployment process, saving the engineering team 5 hours per sprint,” “Mentored a junior engineer who is now independently shipping features.”)

Remember: You get paid and promoted based on the value you deliver. Prepare your narrative around the impact you had, quantifying it whenever possible.

⚖️ Fair Compensation and Proper Leveling are Your Right

Every employee deserves to be paid fairly with regard to their current level and the work they do. You also deserve to be leveled properly based on the value you contribute to the organization.

Do your homework:

• Understand the value of your labor in the market.
• Research what others in similar roles and regions are making.
• In mature companies, familiarize yourself with the internal salary bands and leveling guides to ensure you’re positioning yourself correctly within the company structure.

🗣️ The Art of Self-Advocacy (It Gets Easier With Practice)

In companies with formal review processes, the conversation is often about advocacy for yourself within the context of that process.

It can feel tough or “icky” to advocate for yourself, but it is a necessary professional skill. Practice makes it feel less uncomfortable. Your manager isn’t a mind-reader; it’s your responsibility to clearly articulate your achievements.

Negotiating Raises: Adapt Your Tactic

• Early-Stage Startups: Since there are often no salary bands or formal processes, ask often, typically right after you complete a major project or deliver significant value.
• Mature Companies: It’s about leveraging the formal review process. Ensure you’re fairly leveled compared to your peers and align your advocacy with the company’s established metrics for success.

🤝 Build a Network of Allies and Champions

Your contributions aren’t always visible to your direct manager, especially when you work on cross-functional or off-team efforts (like guilds, hiring revamp, or cross-team collaborations).

• Identify your allies: Who sees your work? How can they help highlight your contributions?
• Encourage feedback relay: Are the stakeholders from your off-team efforts actively relaying feedback to your manager? Make sure the feedback loop is complete so that all of your impact is factored into your review.

✅ Understand What Truly Drives Motivation

When seeking a raise or promotion, it’s helpful to remember the Motivation-Hygiene Theory at work:

• Motivation Factors (The things that make you want to work): Challenging work, recognition for achievements, responsibility, involvement in decision making, and a sense of importance. These are crucial for true job satisfaction and growth.
• Hygiene Factors (The things that keep you from being dissatisfied): Salary, work conditions, company policy, supervision, and security. While essential for stability, a higher salary alone won’t keep you motivated long-term.

Focus on aligning your compensation (hygiene) with the value you deliver while seeking out roles and responsibilities that leverage the motivation factors for long-term career fulfillment.

Your performance review is your chance to own your narrative. Go beyond the list of activities and focus on the value, outcomes, and impact you delivered to the business, and be prepared to advocate confidently for the compensation and level you deserve.