How One Word Can Hold You Back

I know. You're killing it. Slaying everyday, but do you know the one word that could be holding you back from moving forward? The year was 2018, and while I knew about the calibration process, I had no clue how subjective and biased it could be. In fact, these sessions had gone in my favor in the past. After you've received consecutive exceeds ratings, calibration really isn't a word that shakes you. But if there are people in the room who want to see you crash and burn—they can not only impact your rating, but they can also hit you where it hurts most—your compensation. It happened to me, and I think the most surprising part was the negativity came from people who had no real experience with my work or with working with me. They fed into the gossip mill, shared false information that had nothing to do with my work and ultimately impacted my compensation. Not all calibration processes are horror shows like the one I just described. In fact, many of them are not only transparent, but they have a process that must be adhered to and leave very little room for "opinions," especially from people who have very little to do with your work. Still, there are those who may not have one thing against you, but are willing to go to bat from someone else and don't mind your being the collateral damage. It can get ugly. That said, it is imperative that you know about the calibration process in your company. Knowledge is power, and it also yields the ability to impact the outcome by having some awareness of who will be involved. How's the strength of your brand? How's your reputation? How many strong advocates will you have in the room? (Ready and willing to counter attacks?) How are they positioned politically? How many detractors? What could be their political motivations? Moving forward blindly could hold you back. Get to know your calibration process... good, bad or ugly.