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Preparing for Performance Reviews

Preparing for Performance Reviews

This tutorial walks you through using HeroJournal to prepare for a performance review, from filtering relevant achievements to exporting a polished document for your manager.

Before You Start

Ensure you have:

  • Achievements documented throughout the review period
  • Your review period dates (check with your manager if unsure)
  • Any specific requirements from your company’s review process

Step 1: Set Your Date Filter

First, filter to show only achievements from your review period.

  1. Click the date filter button (calendar icon) in the toolbar
  2. Choose the appropriate filter:
    • Quarter for quarterly reviews
    • Year for annual reviews
    • Date Range for custom periods
  3. Select the specific time period
  4. Click Apply

You should now see only achievements from your review period, with a count like “12 achievements in Q4 2024 (45 total)”.

Step 2: Review for Completeness

Go through each achievement and ensure it’s complete:

Check Altitude Sections

For each achievement, verify:

  • Peers section has technical details
  • Manager section describes outcomes
  • Skip Level connects to org priorities
  • Leaders has a one-sentence business impact

Check Evidence

  • Metrics are quantified
  • Evidence links are working
  • Tags are consistent

Fill in Gaps

If any sections are empty:

  1. Click the achievement to edit
  2. Use AI suggestions if available
  3. Add missing information
  4. Save changes

Step 3: Prioritize Your Achievements

Not all achievements carry equal weight. Identify your top accomplishments:

Rating Criteria

Consider each achievement’s:

  • Impact - How significant was the outcome?
  • Difficulty - How challenging was it?
  • Visibility - Was it noticed by leadership?
  • Alignment - Did it support key priorities?

Reorder if Needed

Sort your achievements by:

  • Date (for chronological narrative)
  • Or manually note your top 3-5 for emphasis

Step 4: Polish Your Altitude Descriptions

This is the most important step. Your altitude descriptions should be:

Clear and Specific

Before: “Improved performance” After: “Reduced API response time from 800ms to 120ms”

Action-Oriented

Before: “The project was completed” After: “Led a team of 4 to deliver the feature 2 weeks early”

Quantified

Before: “Saved the company money” After: “Reduced infrastructure costs by $150K annually”

Step 5: Use AI for Final Polish (Optional)

If you have AI enabled:

  1. Open each achievement
  2. Click the Improve button on each altitude field
  3. Review suggestions - they often catch wordiness or vague language
  4. Accept improvements or use them as inspiration

Step 6: Export Your Achievements

Choose Your Format

Audience Format
Manager review doc Excel
HR system CSV
Self-review form Markdown (copy/paste)

Export Steps

  1. With your filter still active, click Export (or Cmd/Ctrl+E)
  2. Select your format
  3. Choose a filename and location
  4. Click Save

Step 7: Prepare Your Narrative

Use your achievements to tell a story:

Opening

Start with a summary of your review period:

“This quarter I focused on platform reliability and team mentorship, delivering improvements that supported our Q4 revenue goals.”

Body

For each major achievement:

  1. What you did (Peers level detail)
  2. What it achieved (Manager level)
  3. Why it mattered (Skip Level/Leaders)

Closing

End with:

  • Growth areas you worked on
  • Future goals
  • Appreciation for support received

Step 8: Practice Your Talking Points

For verbal reviews, prepare to discuss:

For Each Top Achievement

  • 30-second summary (Leaders level)
  • 2-minute deep dive (Manager + Peers level)
  • Evidence if challenged

Common Questions

  • “What was your biggest challenge?”
  • “What would you do differently?”
  • “How did you grow this period?”

Pro Tips

Combat Recency Bias

  • Early achievements are just as valuable as recent ones
  • Review chronologically to ensure even coverage
  • Use dates to remind yourself of timeline

Quantify Everything

  • Numbers make achievements concrete
  • Even estimates are better than vague claims
  • Include before/after comparisons

Tell Stories

  • Achievements are more memorable as stories
  • Include the challenge, your action, and the result
  • Use specific examples

Save Your Prep

  • Keep your export for next review period
  • Note any achievements that span review periods
  • Document verbal feedback received

Quick Checklist

Before your review meeting:

  • Filter set to review period
  • All achievements have complete altitude sections
  • Metrics are specific and quantified
  • Evidence links work
  • Document exported in appropriate format
  • Top 3-5 achievements identified
  • Talking points prepared
  • Stories ready for verbal discussion
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