Any employee worth their salt is constantly doing their daily responsibilities during the year with review time in mind. You work your hardest to complete all assigned tasks in a timely manner, show off your skills whenever you have the chance, and even do a little bit of brown-nosing to an executive or two! So what happens when the work you thought you were doing over the past 10 months did not leave the same impression on your superiors as you thought it did? As black women, we are systematically misunderstood by our co-workers at larger rates than our white counterparts.  Whether it’s because of the lack of diverse images of us in the media or just plain ignorance due to minimal interaction, the mainstream public may have preconceived perceptions of how we act, speak, and feel.  If we don’t answer our manager’s questions in a certain tone, we may be accused of having an “attitude”.  If we don’t wild out and get drunk at the company Christmas party, we may be accused of being antisocial.  And worse yet, if there is a sensational event going on in the news involving black people, we suddenly are viewed as the spokeswoman of the race and expected to offer up commentary on the state of black people in America.  These misconceptions, unfortunately, can and do spill over into our year end reviews. How can we as women of color deal with this disappointment and turn review time into a positive experience?

The most important piece of advice to remember is to remain calm. This means you should refrain from any action that can be interpreted as crying, yelling, or sulking.  For the most part, the day of your review will be announced to you ahead of time, take the time to mentally prepare for anything that may be discussed in your meeting.  Recently, I was given a less than perfect review by my manager.  From the beginning of my career I had been used to receiving glowing accolades and it truly felt like a slap in the face to realize that my new boss did not think I was perfect.  I thought I was being aggressive and had initiative when I went in to work every day and it hurt to find out that it was interpreted as having an attitude and being pushy.  I thought I was composed and in control and my manager interpreted it as harsh and condescending.  Being the emotional person that I am, my first instinct was to get angry and defend myself.  However, my feelings quickly shifted from anger to sadness.  I remember sitting across the room from my boss thinking how weak I would look if I burst into tears at that moment.  Even though I was a wreck on the inside, I made sure that I held it together on the outside. 

Negative feedback is a part of life, especially in a professional environment, and it is important that black women feel empowered to accept the criticism without internalizing it.  Part of being successful at taking criticism is preparation.  Give yourself a day or two to go over all of the events within the past several months at your job. Think of your own strengths, weakness, and goals.  How can these things be interpreted by those around you?  Come to the meeting armed with questions and your own personal concerns. What do you feel can be done in order to help foster and environment in which you are able to flourish professionally.  Do you need a mentor? Are you being micromanaged? Do you need more challenging tasks?  I've found that at least 15 mins of meditation the morning of an important meeting does wonders for your inner calm.  Use the time to think about what you feel you have accomplished and what you plan to tackle in the upcoming months.  Be prepared to hear the criticism from your manager, whether it is positive or negative. 

Another important point to remember is that any feedback you receive is a criticism of your actions and not of your personal character. Isolate yourself from the actual criticism. Internalize what you need to and throw away the rest.  When my boss made the comment that I can sometimes come off as harsh to my colleagues, I thought about what that statement meant.  Somewhere in my communication with my fellow teammates, I must say or do something that allows them to perceive me as being negative.  This does not mean that I am a bad person or incapable of speaking to people professionally, it just means that I need to focus on how my tone of voice and word usage affect the way others perceive me.  I also recognize that a small part of the miscommunication stems from the cultural barriers that are present being a woman of color on Wall Street and I realize that no matter how hard I try to work on my communication; some things will inevitably remain lost in translation. 

The most important thing to remember is that you should not let a negative review break your spirit or derail your motivation. You already know you are great! You know you are hardworking and successful. Try your best to make your managers see that too. If that does not happen, accept the fact that sometimes as hard as we try we can't change other people’s opinions of us.  Ultimately what matters is your overall job performance. No matter what nuances of your personality your managers/co-workers have an issue with, the fact remains that the results of your work ethic will speak for itself.  If you accomplish your tasks in an accurate and efficient manner, you will eventually get noticed for the positive things you do.