The Mid-Year Review
I’m sure a few of my jobs pre-adulthood had some version of it, but I remember getting my first midyear review about ten years ago. I understood the concept immediately, even if I didn’t know exactly what to expect. Yearly reviews and merit based raises I was used to. But the midyear review was a novel concept.
I loved preparing for my midyear review. We had set goals several months earlier, and the midyear review was meant as a check-in. A chance to revisit your goals. A chance to see if your progress was on target with your expectations. And a chance to adjust as needed. The midyear review is a rest stop on the journey of your professional year. The place where you look under the hood and make sure everything is how it should be to reach your destination.
What I love most about the midyear review is that they are never the thing to stress about. They are a chance to discuss your goals with your manager. Share what’s working and what isn’t, and if needed, make a plan to change your trajectory by the year’s end. They exist in a bubble as an acknowledgment of your progress on record. But they aren’t the deciding factor of whether or not you get a bonus or your annual raise. They are simply the best time in your professional year for organized, honest feedback dedicated to helping you do your job.
I’m sure there are jobs or times where the midyear review means more for your permanent record. But I’ve never had one of those experiences. The midyear review has always felt like an opportunity for gathering my thoughts. A chance to take the most objective view of how I’m performing, then have an open dialogue with my manager. While end of year reviews still cause butterflies in my stomach, the midyear review feels like catching up over coffee with a friend.
In fact, I like the midyear review concept so much that I’ve started incorporating it into my not professional life too. For a few years now I’ve been looking at my personal goals the same way as I do professional goals. So a few times a year, especially at the midway point, I gather my thoughts and get ready for a meeting with my manager. I objectively take stock of what’s working and what’s not, what’s on track and what isn’t, and what goals need to be reassessed.
Then I sit down with a cup of coffee and have an honest conversation with myself. First I look at the goals I set for the year and decide if they are still things I’m excited about working towards. I review where I’d like to be in six months against where I am now and decide if my timelines were realistic. Inevitably I was overly optimistic on some goals and under motivated about others. So, I make the necessary adjustments and get back to work.
A few years ago I read a couple books that changed my perspective about setting goals and evaluating progress. While you need some tangible achievements as north stars to follow, the more important work is on your systems for getting there. The question isn’t how do I achieve this somewhat arbitrary mark I’ve put on paper in the timeline I made up for myself. Instead it’s can I break my goals down into daily manageable chunks that help me feel like the person I am working to become.
It’s taking this approach that has made the midyear review a valuable checkpoint for me. It’s a chance to take a step back and measure progress against expectations. A rest stop where you can take a moment to pop the hood and make sure everything is how it should be. A chance to update priorities and adjust as needed.
The thing about setting goals is that we are very bad at predicting the future. When we set goals for ourselves, we only consider what’s in front of us right now. We don’t often plan for the unexpected. But we don’t know what new variables are going to come up that will require our attention. And we’re overly optimistic. We think things will take far less time than they do.
As I pulled my data together for this year’s personal midyear review, I felt like I’ve been way off track. Gathering my thoughts about my own progress and my opinions of where I should be, I thought that there is no way I could be anywhere close to my expectations. That what I’ve done better than anything else this year is ignore my personal goals and not put in any work towards them. Simply put another way, I prepared for a tough conversation with my manager.
That isn’t what happened. When I looked at the goals I laid out during January, I am not as far off as I thought I would be. I’m not exactly where I’d like to be either. But I’m not on track for failure. While my progress is slower than I’d like it to be, I can see progress nonetheless. I can see my renewed commitment to the things I’d let slide that I wanted to get back to.
My systems and my motivation have not been perfect. But I haven’t lost sight of my goals. I’ve made and continue to make adjustments every time I’ve realized something isn’t clicking. The effort has been there all year, and that’s what was most important to me six months ago. That I consistently show up for the things that are important to me.
I’m still working on running more miles each week and going to bed earlier. I’m still chipping away at being more consistent with my writing. But I’m sitting here with my empty coffee cup after my meeting and I know I’m not failing. I’m going to have to keep focus on refining my systems. But remarkably, I’m still on track.
