Appraisal Aftermath

That time of the year is here.
It's like waiting for your annual results.
And as with any exam, there are casualties.

The right things to do if you are one:

1. Display a sportsman spirit (You may be seething in your heart for all it's worth - put up a similing face to the world). Congratulate your peers who have done well. Sympathize (not gossip) with others who share your lot.
2. Schedule an appointment with your reporting manager. Talk to him/her. Express your dissapointment - but do not stop there. Ask him/her how you can do better. Try not to adopt a negative tone in the conversation. Show enthusiasm and your zeal to do more, to do better. Give yourself a week or more after the appraisal results to get yourself in the right frame of mind.
3. Analyze the conversation with your manager. Some of it must ring true for you to be able to rebuild your motivation and carry on with the organization.
4. Once you have decided to give yourself (and the organization) some more time, it is time to act. Set short-term goals and proactively seek feedback every 3 months. This way you would not stray from your long-term goals.

A preventive action to save yourself appraisal blues is to get into a company that has an objective appraisal system.

Your rating, increment and incentive should depend on how well you have performed given your scope of the job. Do not keep feeding on the crap served out yearly by the higher management.

Some of the worst reasons for a bad appraisal result that I have heard across the years:

1. You have not been with the organization long enough.
Counter-argument: That I have been hired by this organization should be reason enough to believe in my abilities. Otherwise, you must re-evaluate the resource acquisition team. My appraisal result should be based objectively on my performance for the year and not on how many years I have put in. There is always going to be someone more senior to me in my project and/or organization. This excuse would limit me to perform better in the coming years.
2. You do not belong from XYZ school/college.
Counter-argument: This is lobbyism at it's worst. My work should speak for me and not where I completed my pre-school. (This argument works best if you are a lateral resource. The foundations for hiring you were your skills and experience and definitely not your academics)
3. You could not build up a rapport with the client.
Counter-argument: The scope of my work in this project did not include interfacing with the client. My team leader used to handle all of the client interaction. I cannot be accused of not doing something that I was not supposed to.

Hope this helps to make your appraisal woes bearable.