Performance Review Time

It's that time again -- my annual Behavior Modification Plan Performance Evaluation is scheduled for next week. I don't know how this works for all of you, but at my company we are given a template listing all of the objectives for our position, and we have to justify with examples how we met every one of the company's expectations over the last year. I think it is designed to challenge the sales abilities of engineers. Or maybe it's intentional Demotivation.

I read somewhere that almost every employee has two weeks out of the year when their performance stinks, they have a bad attitude, and nothing gets done -- and those are the two weeks after their performance evaluation. I know in my personal experience there hasn't been a whole lot of positive feedback from management on any aspect of my work, so I tend to believe it. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me -- I know there's a lot of research out there about people being more productive when they are happy and have the support and tools they need to do their jobs.

Anyway, maybe things will be different this year. I have a new boss doing my evaluation, and he's from Tennessee (I'm in Ohio). I've met him I think three times, and he's been my direct manager for about a year. He seems to be a pretty agreeable guy and I believe he's going to give me a fair chance.