For everyone involved, performance reviews can be a stressful and time-consuming process. From the employee’s perspective, the performance review process is often surrounded by a sense of anxiety and dread. For managers, the paperwork and careful consideration that each review requires can be a cumbersome distraction from the pressing demands of ongoing operational and personnel duties.

As a result, performance reviews tend to be pushed aside, delayed, diminished, and downplayed in today’s fast-paced organizations. All too often, one of the most potentially powerful tools that employees have in their professional development arsenal goes unused.

Take a Leading Role

According to Sharon Armstrong, co-author of Stress-Free Performance Appraisals, it doesn’t have to be this way. Employees who take the reins and adopt a proactive approach in their performance reviews can help alleviate the paralyzing sense of powerlessness and trepidation that can all too often hamper the entire process.

By cultivating and calling upon just a few basic concepts and techniques in your next performance review, you can dramatically impact the outcome of the process – and boost your career prospects at the same time. By assuming an attitude of empowerment and active participation, you’ll be sure to get the most out of the entire performance review process. Use these simple tips to prepare for your next review.

* Review yourself. In the weeks leading up to your next review, take some time to think honestly and critically about your on-the-job performance since your last review. Compile your recent achievements and accomplishments, including documentary evidence if you have it. Develop a list of three or four areas that could be perceived as weaknesses or needing improvement. By thinking about these issues beforehand, you’ll be better prepared to contribute constructively to the discussion.

* Map out your future. Performance reviews offer a rare opportunity for employees to set forth their career goals and discuss advancement possibilities. Where do you want to be in one year? In five years? By the end of your career? Develop a few talking points about your current and future career plans and bring them up at an opportune time in the conversation, perhaps as the review is drawing to a close.

* Develop your own list of questions and issues. Although your performance review isn’t the right time to settle scores or exorcise long-held workplace grudges, it is a valuable opportunity to ask for and get clarification on key issues pertaining to performance, expectations, and future opportunities. If there’s anything that you’ve been dying to ask, this is the time. Come prepared with your own list of smart, targeted, and relevant questions.

* Be your own advocate, but learn to accept constructive criticism. There may be a very fine line between eating too much humble pie and tooting your own horn, but experts say it’s crucial to find that line and stick to it in your next performance review. Don’t be shy if the manager asks you to enumerate your strengths and accomplishments, but at the same time, it’s important to listen graciously and attentively as your supervisor discusses potential problems.

* Ask for help. Whether you’re confronted with a sizable list of areas to improve or your supervisor has nothing but high praise for your performance, your review is a great time to explore professional development opportunities. If there are specific skills you need to learn or brush up on, work with your supervisor to develop an action plan for improvement. If certain skills or concepts might help you achieve your career goals and enhance your ability to perform well in the future, discuss ways that you can work towards attaining these skills.

Rather than dreading your next performance review, decide to use this opportunity to your advantage. Armed with these simple tips, you’ll sail through your next review with flying colors!