Women Preparing For End-of-Year Reviews: How To Frame Wins That Aren’t Obvious

As the calendar year winds down and performance review season approaches, many of us feel the pressure: how do we show our value when our contributions aren’t the kind that plug into a spreadsheet? For women professionals, this question often feels even more urgent because so much of our work is hidden behind the scenes, in collaboration, emotional labour, mentorship, process improvement, and culture building. 

These wins matter, and they deserve to be named, claimed, and leveraged.

In the words of authors Marc J. Lerchenmueller, Olav Sorenson, and Anupam B. Jena for a Harvard Business Review research: “Despite a narrowing of the gender gap in science, women still lag behind men, especially at the highest levels.” Their article also notes that women “hype their findings less than men do.”

Another useful piece from HBR by Priya Fielding-Singh, Devon Magliozzi, and Swethaa Ballakrishnen finds that women often step back from visibility because they sense the dominant leadership style is individualistic and self-promoting, and “they recognized that visibility is probably going to get them forward, but they also know that visibility is not serving them the same way it can serve other actors in the organization.” 

Finally, authors R. Ely and Irene Padavic in this article argue the root barrier is not work-family conflict per se: “Women were held back because they were encouraged to take accommodations, such as going part-time and shifting to internally facing roles, which derailed their careers. The real culprit in women’s stalled advancement, the authors conclude, is a general culture of overwork that hurts both sexes and locks gender equality in place.” 

Taken together, these findings help explain why women may enter a performance review feeling busy or overloaded and yet lacking statements of “here’s what I delivered and why it matters.”

When preparing for your end-of-year review, you can start by framing your contribution by identifying what you did, what changed because of it, and who benefited. For example, you organized peer-mentoring, improved onboarding, managed a vendor crisis, improved a process, or enhanced team morale. Then phrase it like this: “I led X, which resulted in Y, benefitting Z.”

Quantify when you can: even a ballpark number or percentage helps convert qualitative work to a measurable outcome. Swap weak language like “helped” or “supported” for strong verbs such as “led,” “initiated,” “improved,” or “accelerated.” Link your win to business priorities or to your next-step role: “Because we improved X, I am now ready to lead Y.” Many women hesitate to spotlight their accomplishments because workplace cultures often reward personality traits, like visible enthusiasm, that don’t always align with women’s self-presentation norms.

As Harvard Business Review authors Joyce C. He, Jon M. Jachimowicz, and Celia Moore note, “When (employers) rely on subjective criteria like an employee’s passion for their work, these programs may actually reinforce gender disparities.”

In other words, passion, while often seen as a universal marker of commitment, tends to benefit men more than women.

Therefore, you can highlight examples of non-obvious wins worth naming, like mentorship and coaching, team morale and culture building, crisis management and adaptability, or emotional intelligence and stakeholder relationships. All of these are real wins, even if they are hidden from public view by default. 

Your value at year-end is not only in the big, obvious metrics. It is often in the relational work, the behind-the-scenes contributions, the ground-level efforts that hold everything together and create conditions for bigger wins.

“Everyone knows that success at work depends on being—and being seen as—both competent and likable,” wrote author Leslie John in this report. “You need people to notice your growth and accomplishments while also enjoying your company.”

By sharing your contributions in a clear language, measurable indicators, and confident framing, you turn invisible labour into visible impact and make sure your full effort is seen, claimed, and celebrated. You’ve done the work, but now it is time to own it!