There's a common five-word phrase that sounds humble and collaborative, but can also undermine your hard-earned impact and even tank your performance review: "It was a team effort."
Of course, you should give recognition to your colleagues where it's due. The problem is when you downplay your role so much that your individual contribution disappears. If everything was a team effort, then what skills did you bring to the table? What outcomes did you create? It's much harder for your boss to justify a raise or promotion with no concrete data about your personal performance .
As an executive coach, I've spent the past 15 years helping high performers at organizations like Google, Amazon and JPMorgan build influence with powerful people. I've observed that those who emerge from performance review season with the biggest opportunities proactively communicate the value of their work. They don't simply hope their boss can decipher and remember what they accomplished.
You can still be fair and generous toward others. But instead of insisting that "it was a team effort" and leaving it at that, follow up with these strategies to advocate for yourself in your performance review conversations and year-round.
Even if a project was a collaboration, someone still had to choose what to prioritize, how to tackle the plan and how to respond when things changed.
Clarify your role in the choices that drove the group's execution or identify what obstacles you personally cleared. This puts on prominent display your judgment and problem-solving, which are two essential skills for higher-level responsibilities.
Compare what you did on a recent project to what you handled six or 12 months before. Measuring yourself against your own past performance makes it easier for your boss to grasp your growth.
For instance, explain how your scope or level of influence has grown. Perhaps you're managing larger accounts, presenting work directly to executives or setting project strategy.
Reference something concrete you created that has added value to the team effort. Maybe you built a dashboard, documented a process or designed a template.
This proves your efforts have a longer-lasting impact on how the team operates. Explain how this asset has now made everyone's work faster, more productive or more consistent going forward.
I've seen how people tend to take someone seriously when they come recommended. So mention how a colleague specifically sought you out for an opinion, an executive tapped you for an initiative or someone praised your effort. It's evidence that your individual contribution stood out within a larger project.
Your performance review is one of the most important career moments of the year. Take the opportunities you have leading up to it — and all year long — to make your results visible to your boss and to build the case for better projects and more money.
Melody Wilding, LMSW is an executive coach, human behavior professor and author of " Managing Up: How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge ." Get her free training, 5 Steps to Speak Like a Senior Leader, here .
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