At Coleman Search Group, we enjoy sharing our perspectives on the future of talent, leadership, and change in our industry. This article, originally posted on LinkedIn by Matthew Nickens, explores what can happen when an annual performance review doesn’t go as planned and how candidates can respond with clarity, accountability, and action.
So you just tanked your annual performance review with your manager. Now what do you do? Countless questions are rushing through your mind:
“What was I thinking?”
“Why didn’t I prepare better?”
“Why didn’t I ask more questions?”
“Why didn’t I tell my boss more about my efforts?”
“Why didn’t I get my bonus?”
“Why didn’t they mention the promotion that we had talked about all year?”
“Do I need to find a new job?”
“Am I a valued member of this team and company?”
“What should I do now?”
Maybe you walked into the meeting underprepared or, worse, with no plan at all. Or perhaps your manager’s feedback was different (and not in a good way) compared to last year’s. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t what you expected to hear, and you were caught off guard. Now regret and disappointment are setting in.
The commonly held insurance industry perception is that once an annual review is done, that’s it. Why is this still the rule? It’s an obsolete way of approaching talent development and career planning, and a new approach is needed. You can’t change how your meeting went, or what you did or didn’t say. However, doing nothing is not a viable option.
To compound matters, this is not the year to leave things sitting. While it feels like you’re grappling with this problem on your own, you’re not. Your manager may be just as disappointed with how things went as you are. The good news is that together you can face the reality of what you can’t change and then chart a path forward to change what you can. You have the power to influence your career path and your future throughout the year, not just at review time.
The first course correction is the damage assessment – take an honest, objective look at how your meeting went. You failed to engage your manager about your professional goals and didn’t talk about the significant contributions you made during the year. Put another way, you took the passive approach, which won’t cut it in today’s competitive professional marketplace.
You need to do more.
Recognizing the reality of your situation is important, however uncomfortable it can be. Once you’ve ripped off the band-aid, think about how the meeting should’ve gone. What would you have discussed and acted on? Re-review your short- and long-term professional goals and decide what kind of attention they need to come to fruition. Then, develop a concise and proactive plan to reach those goals. Now is the time to put in the requisite thought and care that you should have done the first time around.
Now that you know what went wrong and what you should’ve done instead, it’s time to put your plan in motion. You can’t leave this open-ended, waiting for your manager to do it for you. You have 2 to 3 weeks to address your annual review meeting with your manager before the opportunity slips away. Reengage your manager and ask when you can set aside time to go over your meeting. This could be done as a verbal discussion followed up by an email to confirm scheduling. When it’s time for the follow-up meeting, in-person if you can or via video at the very least, don’t be afraid to call out the elephant in the room:
“I’m disappointed with how my annual performance review meeting went, and I want an opportunity to make it right.”
Owning up to the misstep is huge – it demonstrates that you’re willing to admit a mistake and then take steps to correct it. It’s important to remember that this is not all about you: A follow-up provides both you and your manager with the time and space to reestablish dialogue and delve into what truly matters to both of you. Take this opportunity to solicit honest feedback on your performance and discuss the action points you drew up beforehand. Actively listen and reflect with empathy throughout the discussion – this will help engage your manager and show your sincerity. Take initiative on certain projects your manager may have laid out during your team’s 2026 goals and objections. Before ending the meeting, schedule check-ins at regular intervals to track your progress.
You will leave the meeting having shown not only accountability but also the willingness to take remedial action. Additionally, you will have flipped a single annual review touchpoint on its head, having leveraged it into multiple interactions during the year, keeping your positive progress fresh in the mind of your manager.
Taking this proactive approach deviates from the traditional expectation that once your review meeting is done, it’s set in stone. With our industry in a continual state of flux, taking ownership of your career development is essential. This is not just to address an immediate problem, but also it’s a valuable lesson to carry forward to next year’s review and beyond. If you pass up the opportunity to remedy a failed review – thinking that there’s always next year – you may well find yourself facing your next review in a worse position than if you’d done otherwise. Taking these forward-thinking steps will increase the likelihood that 2026 will be a year of success for you, and not another missed opportunity to grow, develop, and be rewarded for your successes.
By Matt Nickens, Partner, Coleman Search Group
