I find that performance reviews can be vague. You’re left with an “Ok, I’m doing well but now what?” And does “doing well” match up with your expectations regarding compensation, promotion, or new roles? Midyear reviews are better because you can do something with the rest of the year.

Here’s my advice on what your manager should know about you:

1. Your manager should know what you’re working on. If you have weekly meetings, great. if you don’t, fill that gap. One person who didn’t meet with me regularly sent me a “Friday recap” email telling me what he thought I needed to know every week. It was short, to the point, and I knew what he was doing.
2. Your manager should know your expectations: if you think this is the year you’re getting promoted, your manager should know that and the two of you should be talking about it. If it never gets mentioned? It’s not happening.
3. Your manager should know what you’re great at, and what you need to work on. I love the “what should I do more of, what should I do less of?” question…it helps managers think about what you do versus what you are.