How to prepare for your end of year review

Interview Transcription 

Sarah Ellis: Hi, I'm Sarah Ellis. 

Helen Tupper: And I'm Helen Tupper. 

Sarah Ellis: And you're listening to the Squiggly Careers Podcast.  Every week we talk about a different topic to do with work and discuss practical ideas and actions to help you find your way through our increasingly Squiggly world of work.  Today, we're going to be talking about how to prepare for an end of year review.   

This was a suggestion from one of our listeners.  I almost couldn't believe we'd not covered it before because it's something that I think most of us have end of year reviews in some way, shape or form; I think they've been changing a bit over the past few years, often for the better, in terms of how we approach them, but it's one of those things that sometimes we dread, perhaps we really look forward to and we need to prepare for.   

So we thought we would talk about some principles for how to approach that review and some specific actions so that you feel confident having those conversations with your manager.  We're sort of going to assume for today that most people will be having these conversations with a manager, but of course, it could be with a different colleague or with a mentor, and we're going to focus less today on doing the reflection for yourself; and we did two podcast episodes, 114 and 115, where we did 20 career questions to ask yourself.   

So if you're in more, "I want to reflect on my own year for myself, do some good, deep thinking", which sounds very appealing to me right now, I'd love to spend a bit of time doing that; I think those podcast episodes will probably be more helpful.  Today, we're really going to focus on that, if you're having an end of year review with someone else, probably as part of your organisation, how that looks and feels. 

Helen and I have both had loads of them over the years and we were thinking about the good, the bad and the ugly and what we've learnt, where they went well and things we perhaps would have done differently in hindsight. 

Helen Tupper: If you want to dive a bit deeper into this topic, Sarah, not me, because I'll be doing something else, but Sarah will be hosting a PodPlus session and that will be 9.00am, Thursday 3 December, it's a 30-minute free session.  We'll probably be drawing some models, talking through some questions; if you've got reflections from this episode, it's a great community of learners to be part of.  You can get all the details from that www.amazingiflearning.com; register for it, get the Zoom link and join that session.  So hopefully some people will join Sarah there. 

Before we get started with this topic, we just want to let you know about another podcast, as well as Squiggly Careers, something else that you might find interesting.  Last week, on Friday, right at the end of the week, I was interviewed by Mo Gawdat for his podcast Slo Mo and we had a really fascinating conversation about work and happiness.  So he did tell me, Sarah, he was like, "I don't normally talk about work and careers because I find them quite boring".  I was like, "Great start!" but then I did look -- 

Sarah Ellis: Oh no! 

Helen Tupper: I know, I did look at some of his previous guests and topics and he's got Alain de Botton talking about the meaning of life and love and decisions that you make, very kind of deep things and there's me doing, "Here are some things that we all need to do to be happier in our careers; five ideas for action", but we had a really great conversation and that episode will be out soon.  But just generally, if you're interested in happiness and life, you're in quite a reflective mood, highly recommend having a listen.  He's the author of the book Solve For Happy and his podcast is all about exploring the obstacles that people face in their pursuit of happiness and also in finding purpose in their lives. 

As well as people like Alain de Botton, he's also interviewed one of our friends, Bruce Daisley, who you might know from the Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat podcast as well and you can find Slo Mo, his podcast, everywhere you find Squiggly; so Apple, Spotify, all those places. 

So back to the topic of end of year reviews then, we thought it might be just useful to think about why they can sometimes feel hard.  I actually haven't started, Sarah, with why they're so brilliant because I think most people think of end of year reviews as something that maybe takes quite a lot of effort and doesn't always feel that exciting and might feel more difficult than developmental.  So a couple of our thoughts on why these might feel hard for people and then we promise we'll get into some principles that will help you and some ideas for actions to take.   

My thoughts are when we do this, we tend to have lots of other things on.  So you get into that end of year mode when you're trying to finish projects off so that you can start the year fresh and at the same time, you're also trying to squeeze in this quite reflective process; and the other reason it feels hard is because if you haven't reflected regularly in the year, so you haven't gone, "Oh, at the end of the first quarter of the year, this is what I did well; this is where I might improve", you're having to do quite a lot of catch up and cover quite a lot of ground in one conversation. 

Sometimes, in some companies, it can feel more like a box-ticking exercise, so it's like, "Oh, it's that date, it's 10 December, everyone's got to get their review in before the 15th", and it stops feeling like a meaningful moment and more like a process that you have to comply with.  When you're in that conversation, sometimes it feels difficult because you have a lot of messages coming to you all at the same time and sometimes, they're messages that you might not expect.  They might be related to pay rises or performance or promotions, these are quite big, emotive things and it might feel like you don't have as much control over that conversation as you might like.  Sometimes it's all of those things together, so I think that sometimes makes people dread the conversation and find it difficult when they're in it and then not know how to respond to it afterwards. 

So, we get you, we've been there.  I'm a bit fearful that I might have created that climate for other people as well.  I hope I never have, but I'm thinking, "Gosh!" When I was managing people in large organisations, I dread thinking, "Gosh!  Did anyone come to those conversations with me feeling a bit like, 'I don't know what to expect and I'm a bit worried about what Helen's going to say'?"  I hope not, but I think it's often the feeling that people have when they approach those conversations. 

Sarah Ellis: I also think, I had a message from someone who I will keen anonymous, last week, saying to me, "It's just so much admin", and I do think that's another thing.  I think there are the more significant points that you were there talking about in terms of the conversation itself, but I think some people are just like, "Oh, I've got to fill out this form, it's another annoying thing on my to do list", it doesn't feel like something that people look forward to or potentially find useful.   

Perhaps that's because you've had end of year reviews previously where you've thought, "I've not found that that helpful in terms of my career"; the quality of those conversations hasn't been that useful.  So then it does become one of those things where you're like, "Well, I've got to do it", or, "I must do it", versus something that I go, "Well actually, I'm looking forward to this".   

I think for lots of us, if we don't have loads of frequent conversations, I've definitely seen this before, our expectation of this conversation, I think can be really high; this has been my experience with some of my managers, I think, where you kind of build yourself up to these conversations and you've probably got so many things you want to talk about or perhaps that just feels like the moment in time where you're meant to talk about some of the things like maybe you want a promotion, maybe you want to do something differently, and then if that conversation doesn't live up to that expectation, again, you just feel deflated or demotivated.   

So I think there's almost like a lot of admin, there's emotion, there's like is the conversation going to be any good?  Which is a shame because I do think when they're done really well, I have had this experience as well; I've worked for managers who have done this brilliantly, and I hope at times I have done the odd useful conversation myself too in leading teams; I think they can be incredibly motivating for both the future, but also a really good moment to just stop and reflect on the progress that you've made and how you can keep building on that. 

So let's talk about some principles that we think are really helpful when you're thinking about your end of year review, so before you actually go into the conversation or as part of the conversation, and these all seem to either have a P in them somewhere or begin with P, so hopefully that helps to remember them. 

The first one, which I think is really important, is know the purpose of the conversation.  So when we say "end of year reviews" sometimes this is about reviewing your performance, so what's gone well, the projects you have been working on; sometimes these end of year reviews are more about are they about a promotion conversation?  Are they about pay?  What is the primary purpose of that conversation, because I've gone into some of these conversations in the past wanting to have really a career conversation and all they really want to tell me is, "Oh, you're getting a 2% inflationary pay rise", and I'm like, "Okay, that's fine, but let's talk about …" in very Squiggly Careers language, and I think just be really clear about if your organisation have these in place, what are they there to do; what's the purpose of them?  And if it's not to have more of a career conversation, that's okay, because you can have those at a different time.   

So I think just have that clarity and then once you've got the purpose firmly in mind, actually make sure then you're clear about what's the one thing you want your manager to take from the conversation, because you can't predict and plan all of the conversation; you don't quite know what's going to be talked about necessarily, but if there's one message or if there's one thing you really want to make sure you communicate, what would that be?  Maybe it's ultimately you go, "I'm enjoying it; I'm really enjoying where I am; I want to keep going.  I want more of what I'm already doing".  Maybe it's, "Oh, I'm particularly stuck on one particular aspect, that's where I need some support", so just know why the conversation is happening and know what's the one thing you want your manager to take from it. 

Two, you can follow a process and personalise that process.  Now, I'm a really big advocate for this because I did this so many times in big organisations, which they probably didn't thank me for, to be honest, but it always really worked for me.  So whether I was in Barclays or Sainsbury's, I always followed the rules, I always followed the process but I -- 

Helen Tupper: I'll fill in your template but … 

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, I filled in the template that I needed to fill in, but I did then think if there were bits missing in that template that I wanted to talk about, if I felt there was a better way, I think, I would just create my own.  The amount of times I turned up to those conversations and I had got my strengths and my values written down and I had red, amber, greened them, then I talked about why I thought they were red, amber, green and what I thought I could do differently.   

Now this clearly is not for everyone and how much you can personalise it will depend a bit on your manager in your organisation and I think I personalised much more when I was working for managers that I'd got high trust, really brilliant support from so that they appreciated me making that effort, essentially, and they could see the value in it.  I do think even within any process, there's usually a bit of opportunity to personalise it so that it works for you so that you can communicate the things you really want to communicate. 

The third principle is around other people's perspectives.  Depending on your company, this can be a time where everybody is asking for feedback all at once and we've both been in these organisations where if it is quite a formal process, suddenly you're expected to fill in some boxes that say, "What do other people think?  What feedback have you had from other people?" so simultaneously, everybody's inboxes just fill up with, "I'm doing my end of year review; I know you're really busy, but can you give me some feedback?" 

Helen Tupper: Or on those automated systems where you have to put in someone's name and then you get the reminders.  So it'll be like, "These ten people asked you for feedback a week ago and you've still not responded", and you're like, "Oh my gosh, how am I supposed to give meaningful feedback in 24 hours to 10 people?" 

Sarah Ellis: I know. 

Helen Tupper: It's just …  

Sarah Ellis: And it's sort of so counterintuitive versus what we talk about when we talk about feedback being regular, routine and real time.  That's the way that we, when we're doing workshops on feedback, we talk about, "Do this as you go so that you're not having to do this all at once", but we appreciate sometimes you have no choice and you might have to; you might be forced into this moment-in-time feedback. 

The thing that I would recommend, if you can, and this might be one of the ways that you can personalise the process; try and frame your feedback.  So rather than just saying to somebody, "Oh, Helen, I'm doing my end of year review, can you just give me some feedback?" and you perhaps do the classic, "Oh, can you tell me what I'm doing well and any areas you think I should improve?" try and be more specific than that, if you can.   

So, for example, if you have been working on your gravitas this year, let Helen know that, "Oh Helen, I've got my end of year review coming up, I know that we're going to be talking about the progress I've made in terms of improving my gravitas in meetings; I wondered if you've got any feedback in terms of what you've spotted in terms of my gravitas when we've been working together, maybe what's working well, and even better if?"  

You've just taken it that little bit further, you've made it much more personal to that person and the way in which you work with that person and I think perhaps to make it even easier for someone, especially if you know people are getting lots of requests, do one thing, "Can you give me one example of where you think my gravitas really shows up well or has a positive impact?  Can you give me one example of where you think I could improve my gravitas or a way in which you think I could improve my gravitas?" 

So there you've gone one and one, and that feels like you've' just been really specific, you've made it as easy as possible and you give yourself, I think, the best possible chance of getting meaningful and useful feedback and that you can do something with. 

We're not saying that other people's perspectives aren't useful, of course they are, they're incredibly valuable and really insightful, I just think the more you frame it, the easier you make it, the better quality conversation then you'll be able to have as a result. 

Principle number four: prepare, share and avoid surprises.  So I think, and again, I feel like with this I'm really talking for -- I might as well just admit I'm talking from a very personal experience.  I was always a real preparer for my end of year reviews and I took it so seriously, as you can probably imagine, that I think I sort of gave my managers no choice but to take it equally seriously.  So beforehand, I usually would say, "I'm looking forward to the end of year review, here's a one-page summary that I've produced reflecting on my year so far", and Helen will talk about an example of how you might want to do that, or if you can share something beforehand.   

I do think it's tough for managers, if you think about they're doing probably multiple reviews.  If they are surprised or put on the spot, perhaps they didn't know you wanted to talk about something or perhaps there's something that's new news to them, you probably never get, unless someone's brilliant in that moment, an amazing response and perhaps that's sometimes where there's this gap between our expectations and then our experience of an end of year review. 

If you can share something beforehand, great, it doesn't have to be all of the answers.  Maybe it's just three bullet points.  If you can take as much ownership for that review as possible, sometimes you can't, sometimes there's kind of a "You must follow this structure because that's the way everyone in our organisation does it", but I think the more you can take ownership for it, the more it can feel like your review, not just another review, probably again, the better conversation that you will have. 

Final principle: be smart and pair your approach with where you are.  So, if you're in quite an informal culture, perhaps you don't have more of a formal system, you probably don't want to produce reams of templates, probably some of the things I've described would be going too far.  Perhaps a one-page summary or three bullet points is more than enough.   

If you're in a very formal culture and there's a real expectation of you must get at least five bits of feedback or you must have filled out all of this template with at least a paragraph, I think know what success looks like in terms of just the approach and the process, and if you're not sure, if this is your first year in a company or perhaps you're just not clear, don't forget you can ask people.  Ask people who have been through it before.  It's a really good way to ask for support and help.   

If Helen had been in Microsoft for a couple of years and I was new, I might have gone to Helen, "Oh, I'm just going through this review process for the first time, any top tips or what's worked well for you in the past?  Anything you think I should bear in mind?"  That's when you get those really useful tacet bits of knowledge where you think, "Oh, if I'd not asked that, it probably isn't written down anywhere", and that whole you don't know what you don't know until you've gone through it.   

But people are usually really happy to share that and really happy to help.  So if you're just feeling a bit of uncertainty generally, about this whole end of year review thing, perhaps this is the first time you've been in a company that even does one, just try and find out as much as you can beforehand because it would just help you to feel more comfortable and more confident going into those conversations. 

Helen Tupper: Let's share some ideas for action, shall we? 

Sarah Ellis: Let's! 

Helen Tupper: I'll do the first one which is about the preparation and we've mentioned this as a theme generally about coming prepared.  Obviously, if there's a formal template, complete that, but there are some other things that can help you to make the conversation maybe a bit more useful for you than just the objectives and key results, like focusing on what I was set out to achieve this year and what I've actually delivered, it's kind of a given of any of these conversations; but how could we make it more meaningful from just talking about objectives and key results? 

So we've got a few ideas for you to think about preparing in advance and maybe this might be part of what you sent to a manager, or maybe it could just be part of the conversation you have when you're together. 

So, the first thing to think about is what is your work in a word this year?  So if you were to sum up 2020, oh gosh, and your work, your experience of work this year, in one word; what would that be?  It's an interesting conversation; I actually think it's a really interesting team conversation to have that could be a really open discussion about that.  That's the first thing. 

Second thing is to answer the question, when have you felt at your best this year at work?  Maybe also think a bit deeper, like what was going on?  What was the context; and maybe what might that tell you about the work that you do and the strengths that you are using?  There can be some quite useful insight in that.  What are you most proud of and why?  Often takes you at a different place than, When were you at your best?  So was there a particular moment that you were really proud of and why was that?  That can sometime be a clue to meaning and purpose; is there something in that moment that really sparked something in you?  That might be a way that you could maybe get more meaning next year.   

Really good question about learning is what have you learnt this year and how are you now putting that learning into action?  I think that question can make you realise how far you've developed in a year.  If I was to answer that for us, I mean delivering sessions virtually, globally; I think that, for us, we didn't do that before this year and I think gosh, I if really reflect on all the things that we have learnt this year and how we are now putting that into action, I really look and see how much we've grown in a period of 12 months.  So that can help you to feel quite positive about how you've developed. 

The last thing to reflect on is what's felt hard and why?  If you want to take that a bit further, you might think, how would you approach that situation differently if it happened again because obviously, not all the year is going to be brilliant and whilst it's good to focus on your strengths and that's a really positive thing, because we want you to use those strengths even more as you go into next year, actually thinking about what were some of the things that felt challenging?  It could be people, projects, processes, all those sorts of things, but if you think and you acknowledge that, then think about how would I approach that differently because hopefully, 2020 will not happen in this guise ever again, but there might be elements of the year that you found hard that might come back again; and so I think being prepared for those with how you might approach things differently might help you to feel a bit more positive, a bit more in control of them, if they do happen again.   

Sarah Ellis: So our second idea for action is thinking about the balance between reviewing and previewing.  I think most of us have a natural inclination to being either past-orientated, present-orientated or future-orientated, and actually, if you prioritise those three, you kind of get a sense for where you enjoy spending your time, where you get your energy from.  As an example, I'm future-, present- and then past-orientated, and then Helen? 

Helen Tupper: I am present, present, present!  No, I'm present, future and past, very low past-orientated. 

Sarah Ellis: So if you just intuitively think about that for yourself and then think about, what is the impact of that on the conversation that you're going to have.  So for example, if you're very past-orientated, you probably feel most comfortable doing the review part of the end of year review.  Looking back, you perhaps enjoy that, you're really reflective; but you want to also be careful that you don't miss out on the opportunity to then think about, okay, so what does that mean for next year?  What might I want to do differently?  What do I want to learn even more about?   

If you're very future-orientated, which actually, I'm very future-orientated and Helen is relatively future-orientated as well, even when we chat about our reviews together about our company and how we're doing, we sometimes have to force ourselves to not forget what we've already done, what worked well, even better if, because Helen is so present-orientated, she's really in the here and now and I've moved on to the next thing.  That means that you lose your learning.  You can end up repeating the same mistakes.  You have great ideas that then you sort of forget about and you don't really store them anywhere.   

So I think just knowing that natural balance and also, what feels most useful for the conversation you're having.  Even in the phrase "end of year review", it implies it's all about looking back, but we can't change any of that.  So we can't change any of what's happened in 2020.  All we can do is learn from it and think about where we want to go next and what it means for us. 

I think there's part about the awareness in the review, and then I think it's about action in the future, and so I think just making sure that you're pairing together, in equal-ish terms, awareness and action, I think that makes for a really positive conversation.  If you know for yourself are you likely to maybe spend too long reflecting, too long in the past or actually, are you someone who might move completely past that?  That just helps you to have a sense of, okay, I just want to make sure I've got a relatively balanced conversation thinking both past and future awareness and action. 

Helen Tupper: It's interesting actually, when you say end of year review, I hadn't really thought about it, but I think actually just that title of that meeting makes it be very, very based in the past and it's like this moment-in-time thing.  There is a resource that we'll share which is brilliant for self-reflection.  Sarah and I are both going to do it, it's called the YearCompass and I think that idea of, it's a YearCompass, it's not an end, it's not a start, it's just like a sense of direction and where I am now, is actually a more helpful framing.   

I'm not sure what people would think if they've got YearCompass in their diary, but that end of year review, I think it sounds so final and it puts quite a lot of pressure on it that it doesn't necessarily reflect what you just said about there's elements that'll be past, elements that will be present and some that will be future.  That feels much more meaningful to have a conversation around those three areas than really just focusing on what's gone on in the last 12 months. 

So our third idea for you is really when you're in the moment and this is all about reflecting before you might respond.  So we have all experienced conversations that might not have gone the way that we thought they were going to go and particularly, these end of year conversations where there are lots of different messages being shared, maybe it's some feedback that you weren't aware of, maybe there's an opportunity that you were interested in that's no longer on the table, whatever's going on, there can be some elements that do take you by surprise. 

So, if you are going into a conversation with your manager and there's a part of that conversation which takes you by surprise, don't forget that that doesn't have to be the only conversation that you have.  So you don't have to respond then and there in the moment.  What you can do is move much more into listening mode, you can hear, you can ask for a bit more information, and then you can take that away and maybe have a follow-up meeting.   

So, if you would benefit from a bit more time to collect your thoughts, to think about how you might want to use that information, feel empowered to listen and say, "I've heard what you've said, I really want to reflect on it, really think about the actions that I can take after this conversation; can I come back to you next week and follow up?"  It doesn't all have to happen in one session.  If you get into a situation where you are debating the details, because maybe there's quite a bit of emotion or maybe you don't agree with what somebody is saying or it's new information that you haven't heard before, debating the details can sometimes get away from the benefit for your development.   

So just know that if something has taken you by surprise or it's a bit uncomfortable, it doesn't all have to happen in that conversation.  Just get as much information as you have and ask to follow up.  It can even be in 24 hours.  You don't have to do this a week later, but you will perhaps get more control over how you respond if you just have that little bit of a break so that you can collect your thoughts because if emotion rules, it might not help you in the moment. 

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, and I think it's such a tough one, isn't it, if you do hear something you weren't expecting?  I think it's actually okay to signal that, if you have the presence of mind in that moment, which I think is very impressive, if you have the presence to kind of say, "Oh, that's not something I was aware of", or, "That surprised me slightly; that's definitely something I'm going to need to go away and think about a bit more", that's fine; that's more than fine to do that.   

I've actually had conversations where I wish I'd had not only just the confidence, but you know the pausing for thought, not feeling like you've got to fill the space by saying something, where I think I would have been better to just say, "Okay, that's a new reflection for me and I'm going to go away and think about it", and figure out what I think because I don't think I know what I think.  If someone has just given me some feedback or perhaps a difficult message, I don't know what I think in that moment.  I want to go away and reflect on it and even, as Helen said, 24 hours can make a really big difference.  So I think don't be afraid to do that. 

Our idea for action number four is about asking for help and the support that you need.  This is really a reminder not to forget that these conversations, we want you to take ownership for them, we want them to be as personal to you as possible, but that person you're having the conversation with, probably your manager, is there to support you, is there to help you.  So you might even want to think beforehand about what help do you need from your manager?  How's your relationship with your manager going generally? 

I've actually had one end of year review before where I think probably we talked at the very start about what's the one message you want that person to know or what's the one thing you want to communicate?  I wanted a better working relationship with that manager.  That was the big unlocker for me.  I didn't feel like we were -- I liked her, but I didn't think we were gelling that well and I felt like there was opportunity there, but we just weren't quite finding our way through it and I wanted to have a really quite open and frank conversation about that. 

For me, that was the most important thing about that conversation.  So really thinking about the questions that I was going to ask in terms of thinking about what did she think about our relationship; did she feel like it was going well?  What did she think that we could do to work together even better?  Actually, that was a conversation that surprised me because she felt like the relationship was better than I did.   

I was finding it harder and so in that moment, I'm so glad I prepared those questions and really thought about it beforehand because just that conversation was so useful for me then in terms of building for the year after thinking, "I've made some assumptions here that I've just tested that actually turned out not to be true.  Maybe I'm making a bit more positive progress than I gave myself credit for.  I'm working with someone who's got a very different style, approach and values to me, but that's okay, we can find our way through that", and so just thinking about specifically your manager, what support do you need?  Do you need your manager to help you with support you need elsewhere?  It might be from HR, maybe you're asking for some learning and development cash to go and do something, maybe it's you're interested in a sideways move and you need some introductions to different parts of the business; maybe you want to improve your network and your manager is a brilliant networker.   

Think about what's the help that you need and just make sure you have that clarity and the conciseness during that conversation to be very clear about that.  I'm always really guilty sometimes of having you know the nice chat versus the quality conversation? 

Helen Tupper: Yeah. 

Sarah Ellis: I am like the queen of the nice chat.  You know it'll always feel positive and upbeat, but I think that was because sometimes, I was too afraid to face into some of the more difficult conversations because I was struggling with my conflict confidence gremlin, and if I think about my best reviews, they were always where I sort of let go of my need and it's definitely my needs, to have a nice chat and really thought about, okay, what is a good, quality career conversation here?  What do I need from it?  What do I need from this individual?  How can I take ownership for it?  It's so much more useful.  So, if you're a bit like me, try not to fall into the nice chat trap.  That's really hard to say! 

Helen Tupper: It's also quite good to come away from it and go, "Was that a nice chat?  Did I actually get anything out of it or did it feel like a quality conversation?" is probably a quick review that you could do. 

So last, but not least, when you're having those conversations, is just think about and talk about how you can continue the conversation.  If the next time you come back to that discussion is in December 2021, you've missed an opportunity to get more feedback, to get more insight, to get more support, so ask the question in that conversation, "When will we next speak again about this?  How would it be useful for you and me to talk about the actions that I'm taking?  How can we best support each other with moving this forward?" Ask some of those questions so that you have a more frequent conversation; it will be much, much more helpful for you in your development. 

Let's just quickly recap on those five areas and then I'll just point you in the direction of a few resources that we've got for you.  So the first one is about coming prepared, try to broaden the conversation from just being about objectives and key results.  The second thing was what Sarah talked about, about previews as well as reviews.  The third was about reflecting before you feel like you have to respond.  The fourth was about your support, what support do you need?  Who are you going to get it from?  Five was about focusing on how you can continue the conversation. 

Then in terms of resources for you, there's a really interesting article about why the annual review is a bad idea.  It just talks about -- it's quite negative, but it just talks about why most companies don't do it very well.  But if you want something more positive, there is also that link to that resource, The YearCompass, which I love and Sarah and I are actually going to do as well. 

If you are in an organisation where this process feels a little bit more formal, there's a really good article from www.inc.com on how to prepare for an end of year performance review, particularly if you think the conversation is going to be challenging, it's a really good one if you think, "I've got a feeling this isn't going to be easy", I'd recommend that one as well.   

We'll put all the links for you on amazingif.com so if you just go to the podcast page and then click on this End of Year Review Podcast, you'll be able to access all the links that we've just talked about. 

Sarah Ellis: So thank you so much, as always, for listening.  We always enjoy your company virtually and hope that some of you are there.  If you get five minutes to rate, view and subscribe for us, that always helps us to share Squiggly far and wide, and it gives us that positive moment in our day and our week and we read every one and we really do appreciate it.  I know every podcast says it now, so it feels like that standard thing, but it does make a really big difference. 

Helen Tupper: We screenshot them and WhatsApp them to each other, if that helps everybody. 

Sarah Ellis: We do. 

Helen Tupper: We're like, "Oh look, this is so nice"; it's like the only way we get feedback, so it does matter quite a lot to us.  Thank you. 

Sarah Ellis: Next week, we're going to be talking about authenticity; so how to be authentic at work, what that means, some of the nuances because I think it is a nuanced topic and the ins and outs of when to be authentic, if that's even the right question to ask.  But we'll be exploring all the ins and outs of it.  So hopefully, this week has felt like a real practical episode at the right moment and then next week taking on the big topic of authenticity. 

But that's everything for this week, thank you so much for listening, as always, and we'll speak to you again soon.  Bye for now! 

Helen Tupper: Speak to you soon everyone, bye!