Annual appraisal - how honest should I be?

[Lightsareonnobodyshome]

I have my 12 month performance appraisal and I just wondering how honest I can be with my LM?
At the moment I do not feel that I am being fully utilised as I feel that the tasks I am given are basic and not challenging or engaging as a result feel that I am being de-skilled and losing confidence in my own ability. A I have very little in the way of job satisfaction, I am keeping an eye on the job pages (not something I plan to share with LM) but just not sure whether it is worth being honest about how I feel?? To a certain degree these things are tick box exercises, which is equally frustrating.

A decent annual appraisal needs to reflect ongoing discussions. It shouldn't really be the once a year opportunity to get everything off your chest! So I think it depends on how cost/benefit of raising these issues. What's the benefit of raising it and at what cost?

I have been in this situation

try and go for a more positive spin on it. You say you feel underutilised so can you see opportunties, tasks or projects that you would like to take on?
So you could say that you think you've had a really good year, you have achieved x, y, z, developed a, b, c skills. You feel you have more to contribute and want to develop your skill set. I'd really like to do 1, 2, 3

If you are feeling under-utilised then you should raise it, there is no need to save it up for annual appraisal time. I probably wouldn’t mention job satisfaction just yet, as it is probably linked to being under-utilised so if you fix that it would hopefully fix the other.

@Ted27

I have been in this situation

try and go for a more positive spin on it. You say you feel underutilised so can you see opportunties, tasks or projects that you would like to take on?
So you could say that you think you've had a really good year, you have achieved x, y, z, developed a, b, c skills. You feel you have more to contribute and want to develop your skill set. I'd really like to do 1, 2, 3

I agree with the advice in principle but it depends on why the situation has arisen.

I took exactly this approach with my boss and he asked me if I was after his job (no, actually I wanted him to stop doing mine), then he removed me from anything that would give me any visibility, started engaging with my subordinates behind my back, not inviting me to meetings, giving me basic admin work to do, and finally after refusing to agree an exit package for the second half of 2019 he made me redundant as lockdown kicked in.