If you want deeper support, join the live Toxic Culture workshop ⁠https://www.lizjolley.com/toxic⁠.

In this episode of The Great Leader, Great Mom Podcast, Liz Jolley dives into that gut-punch moment when your performance rating doesn’t reflect the work, impact, or integrity you know you’ve brought all year. You prepped for your performance review, hit your goals, carried the team… and still got a lower-than-expected rating with almost no real feedback.

Liz breaks down why modern performance management systems are often more about perception, politics, and calibration meetings than a pure, objective measure of your value — drawing on insights from authors like Daniel Pink, Margaret Heffernan, and Alan Colquitt. Instead of letting one rating define your identity, your potential, or your future, she’ll help you see it for what it really is: data about how the system works, not a verdict on who you are.

You’ll learn:

• Why performance ratings rarely equal “true performance” (and what they actually measure)

• How office politics, visibility, and bias shape your review behind closed doors

• How to stop tying your worth and potential to a single rating or label

• Practical ways to respond after a disappointing review without blowing things up or shutting down

• How to reclaim your power, clarify what you want next, and move forward on purpose

If you’ve ever thought, “This rating doesn’t match my reality — am I crazy?” this episode will help you feel seen, grounded, and back in the driver’s seat of your career.

Connect with Liz or learn about The School of Courage™ membership: https://lizjolley.com