Ace Your Performance Review & Get Recognized: Career Chat with Lashaunique Plummer

We unpack why performance reviews trigger anxiety and how to turn that fear into a confident, credible story of impact. In this bite-sized conversation, we’ll explore practical strategies to prepare early, sharpen your message, and advocate for your growth.

✅ Shift from fear to storytelling that highlights your value
✅ Get clear on expectations and align through one-on-ones
✅ Track wins and gather proof that shows real impact
✅ Use mentorship to strengthen your narrative and confidence
✅ Pre-wire your review by syncing early with your manager

🎧 Don’t miss the HR Mentorship Summit hosted by La Shanique Plumber, where I’ll be a featured guest speaker! Visit balanceis.com/mentorshipsummit or check my LinkedIn page to sign up.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Topic Setup
• 0:38 Why Reviews Create Anxiety
• 2:45 Shift To Storytelling And Impact
• 4:16 Know The Criteria Early
• 6:07 Prep Six Months Out
• 9:49 Mentorship And Community Support
• 11:46 Strategy, Power Skills, Exceeds Ratings
• 13:21 One Big Advice And Closing CTA

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:09

Hey and welcome back to the Transparent Nature Podcast. It's your host, French Tate, and this is another career chat bite-size inspiration on the Transparent HR Podcast. Today, we have a very special guest with us. In fact, she's no longer a guest, she's become a friend. La Shanique, welcome back to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 0:33

Hi, thank you so much for having me. I can't wait to dive into today's topic.

SPEAKER_00: 0:37

Absolutely. Today we're going to be talking about performance reviews. Oh, those dreaded performance reviews. La Shanik, we know these performance reviews are coming right around the corner for a lot of people. And a lot of people get super, super nervous. But not only that, they don't have a strategy, right? So when you think about, and I know you've coached and you mentor a lot of people who are trying to pivot into HR or even grow within HR, but why do you think performance reviews, for so many people, it makes them nervous? And how can they shift their mindset around them?

SPEAKER_02: 1:22

Oh such a great question. Yes. So as someone who has gotten really nervous about performance reviews and seen so many people get nervous, like I it is nerve-wracking, okay? Like, let's just name it. Um, because at the end of the day, all the things you've done is being put on a sheet of paper, right? And then you're getting literally reviewed by your performance, right? And I think that most people are nervous for so many factors. One, because we're hard on ourselves, right? And so we don't know what to write, we don't know what to put. Um, we feel like maybe we didn't accomplish anything, right? Um, sometimes it feels like I know I did a lot, like I executed a lot, I was busy all the time, but like what did I actually accomplish that's enough to put on paper? Um, if you've made mistakes, I know this was me. Like, I've if I've made a mistake, I'm feel like, I mean, they're gonna rip me to shreds in this in this performance review, right? If you've made mistakes, a lot of people feel like that might have outshadowed all the other things that they've done. Yeah. Or if if you truly just didn't actually meet the objectives, right? If you think about from um, because some some performance reviews, there's like little data that you have to meet or performance ventures you have to meet. If you didn't meet those, again, even if you did a ton of work and you feel like you didn't meet those objectives, it can feel kind of daunting going into those conversations. Yeah. Because you're like, what, what, like, what do what do I say? What do I do? But but one of the mindset shifts I I always have had, and why I have created um models and different frameworks specifically for the performance review is that you can tell a story. You have to think about it like, what story do I need to tell? Right. And everything you did had some type of accomplishment or some type of impact or outcome. Even if it, even if you're reaching for the stars, there's a reason why you didn't get to the stars. Tell that part, tell the challenges you overcome, right? I see a lot of people leave out all the stuff that they had to overcome to get to the places that they did. Yeah. So that that's the mindset shift. And I'll and I'll just share one one. I had an amazing manager where I went in, I was so tough on myself for my one of my reviews, and I like marked myself like low on everything. And she was like, I know you didn't meet these, but like you didn't talk about the things that you did accomplish within each one, and that forever changed my perspective. And I and she rated me totally different than I rated myself. And from then I was like, it's about the story you tell. It's honestly about the story you tell.

SPEAKER_00: 3:54

No, absolutely. It is about the story. But you know, a lot of times, and let me say this: even in our conversation today, when we talk about performance reviews, it's not just the annual performance reviews. We're also talking about the 90-day reviews, right? Um it's the same approach. A review is a review, right? You need to have a strategy when you come into the when you know you're about to have it. But I think one of the biggest gaps that I see is a lot of times people don't know, especially if this is like your first or the organization, a new organization that you're working for, and this is um, or maybe a new position. A lot of times people don't know what they're being rated on until they have to do the performance review. So what suggestion would you give to people for them to maybe start looking into, okay, what's going to be on, I like to say, what's going to be on the test?

SPEAKER_02: 4:58

Yes, yes. Yes, that it and and that one is uh that that breaks my heart a lot of times, right? Because as HR, we are helping the organization a lot of times set up the goals for the year. And then we we we get into the year and we forget like what where what we where we started, right? And what the objectives we put for ourselves. And even if you don't have formal objectives, because I am seeing a lot more people with companies that don't have formal objectives, I I still encourage all my clients who don't have formal processes to make sure they understand, okay, what are some of the milestones and things that I should be meeting? And so if if you're in self, because right now I know self-review is kicking off, don't fret. Just go back, go back to those initial conversations, some of those initial town halls information and just look at what was the vision, right? What were some of those emails that came out in the newsletters and what was the original vision? And and then start to tell your story around that. Um, but if you have formal objectives, right? Don't forget about those and make sure that you're telling the story around those because otherwise that that's what you're gonna be rated on. And a lot of people do forget about that for sure. That's a great point. I'm glad you brought it up.

SPEAKER_00: 6:06

No, absolutely. And I I think for a lot of people, like you really in your one-on-ones with your leader, just ask them, hey, I I'd like to get ahead and want to be prepared for my performance review. Can you remind me what are what are the objectives, right? What am I what am I being rated on? And oftentimes it's always a template, depending on the level of your position.

SPEAKER_02: 6:32

100%.

SPEAKER_00: 6:33

And most of the times, just because you're in HR doesn't mean you own it, right? Uh because maybe one person owns it in in your HR organization, or maybe it's a specific department, right? And so whether you're in HR or not, right? Like you need to go to your leader and ask them just straight out, hey, uh, what what I like to say, what's the questions on the answer? What's the questions on the fist?

SPEAKER_02: 7:02

Yeah, that's so that's so good. So good.

SPEAKER_00: 7:04

Yeah. And I think a lot of times we don't think about that. By the time performance review comes, it's like, oh my God, now I gotta rate myself. But I'm gonna tell you this, as we talk about rating, as as you prepare to rate yourself, there's other steps you need to do before going into the performance review. So, La Shani, help us help our listeners to understand what are some things they want to do before the performance reviews. Maybe these are things, these are items that they're focusing on before, uh, maybe six months before. What are some things they should do before the review?

SPEAKER_02: 7:45

Yeah, yeah. So if you're proactively thinking about next year, right, you're like, okay, how do how do I make this happen? How do I make my review seasons go better, feel better? Six months before definitely is a check-in meeting with your leader, right? Again, to your point, gathering what's going on, what has changed? Do you do you see our priorities? Have they shifted, right? Really gathering that information so that you continue to stay on track. I can't tell you how many leaders at the end of the year forgot to change the objectives, forgot to change those things. And then they're like, but I can't rate my team on this, right? Where I'm like, well, if somebody could be proactive, like you know, so for me, that was something I always did, a check-in, like, hey, are we still on the same, on the same path? The second thing I always encourage is stakeholder feedback. So always have check-ins, either right before the review itself, or at some point again, either that six months to three months before your review, get stakeholder feedback. That's important because you're gonna get gather perceptions about you. You're gonna gather what people think you did great, what people think didn't go so great, and you have time to turn those perceptions around and make sure you capture and gather those in your in your performance review. Um, the other thing that I like to do is I do like to, to your point, I like to win the meeting before the meeting. And so I'm always checking in with my leader from a couple perspectives. One that we haven't touched on is I like to know how they're rating themselves. Like, tell me how are you rating yourself? How like what did you feel like you accomplished? What do you feel like you missed? And whether I agree with them or not, it gives me data and information to know how I should then position myself or the the the polite challenge that I might have to their perspective, right? So those are some of the ways that I kind of think about um how you want to move forward. It's always checking in, it's always stakeholder, and then it's definitely multiple conversations with your leader.

SPEAKER_00: 9:40

Absolutely. I couldn't agree with you more. LaShanik, you created this thing called the HR Mentorship Summit. And I mean, like, you create the summit that we're about to go into in just what, not even 30 days.

SPEAKER_02: 9:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 9:59

So, how does this play into when we talk about uh mentorship and performance reviews? How can mentors help their mentees grow professionally, but at the same time be prepared for their performance review?

SPEAKER_02: 10:22

Yeah, yeah. So, one, I think when it comes to review season, and like I say, us being hard on ourselves, anyone being hard on themselves, sometimes it's good to tap into others and tap into others, but to that that have noticed your work throughout the year, that have seen you work, know your strengths, because honestly, the biggest thing that I see what helps people feel way more comfortable in the review season is when they start to remember everything that they did, right? They're like, oh yeah, I forgot I did that. So if you're not a good person, somebody that's good at tracking everything or go to your mentors, go to your peers, go to the people that are going to help hype you up. And so when you, if you do come to the HR mentorship summit, which you should, because our host, Prince Tate, will be there and he will be talking about his amazing strategies for um coming into an organization and talking about your reviews uh and and your performance, um definitely lean into your community, into your mentorships, whether they're inside the organization or outside of the organization. And I'm just excited for everybody to be loved on at this at this summit and to get the mentorship and the advice they need so they can feel empowered during the review season and beyond and beyond.

SPEAKER_00: 11:34

Oh, absolutely. I'm super excited. You you've already broke the news. I'll be a guest speaker at the HR Mentorship Summit, and I'm super excited. Uh, this is really a great opportunity because I have some uh I like to call it uh power skills that I want to share that can help people be prepared during any type of review they're going into, right? And when we talk about going into a performance review and being prepared, there is what I like to call you have to have a strategy. You cannot walk into a performance review and just expect this to be, again, a report card. But you have to be proactive, and I'm super excited to share those skills, to share some strategy uh with those who attend the HR Mentorship Summit. Uh look, you do not want to miss it because I have some strategies and I'm gonna share my story on from when I started, from you know, what did I do? What did I realize? What is something I wish someone told me from the beginning so I can win and receive exceeds expectations every single time, regardless if that's a 90-day review, regardless if that's an annual performance review, I'm gonna give some tips, some tricks. I'm gonna give you everything I've got in that moment so you can seed, so you can succeed in your career. Amazing, amazing.

SPEAKER_02: 13:17

I can't wait. I know I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00: 13:19

So I got one more question for you. If you could give one piece of advice to any professional that's listening today, whether they're a senior leader, a leader, uh, entry-level employee, uh, regardless of the level they're in, what would that be regarding their performance review?

SPEAKER_02: 13:40

Give yourself more credit. Give yourself more credit. Give yourself more credit. That's probably the number one coaching advice and mentorship that I have to give for all aspects of like performance review and perform, like just thinking about impact. Give yourself more credit.

SPEAKER_00: 14:01

I love that. And you know what? That's something I'm gonna talk about at the HR Summit.

SPEAKER_02: 14:08

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00: 14:08

How do you speak up for you and showcase your power skills?

SPEAKER_02: 14:17

I love it.

SPEAKER_00: 14:17

I'm super excited and I can't wait for it. Uh, if you're listening, make sure you sign up. La Shanik, how can they sign up to attend this mentor event?

SPEAKER_02: 14:27

Yes, absolutely. So go you can go straight to my uh my LinkedIn, La Shanique Plumber, and you can see easily how to sign up there. Otherwise, if you go to balanceis.com slash mentorship summit, you'll be able to sign up right there. Um, and yeah, there's if you sign up for my newsletter, you'll get information. But all that's the best way, the easiest way is just go straight to my LinkedIn page and you'll be able to sign up.

SPEAKER_00: 14:51

And you know what? If you just don't know how to spell her name, guess what? You can also go to my page because I'm gonna be sharing it, I'm gonna be promoting it, and you will see my beautiful face on that flyer. Well, I love it. I love it so much. Thank you so much for all of the great insights that you shared today. Uh, again, for this quick chat bite-size inspiration. Uh and again, if anyone is listening, if this conversation resonated with you, make sure you join us at the HR Mentorship Summit. Um, I'll be speaking again at this uh summit about the power skills you need for growth. And I promise you that if this session is really going to help you level up on how you approach any type of review. It's gonna really, really help you. So make sure you attend. But I want to say this as we end. Thank you so much, Lachini, for joining us today. Thank you for being, again, not just a guest, but my my friend in HR. It's Prince Tate, and until next time, keep navigating your career with clarity and with confidence. See you on the next episode.