As suspected, our human resources team sent out our performance evaluation paperwork today.  It’s now time to put my money where my mouth is and tie all my 2013 accomplishments to the goals that my manager and I created.  If you have been following my posts related to performance reviews, then you will have been keeping up with your lists of accomplishments throughout the year and taking stock of where you still need to go.

Here are some of the questions I will be thinking about this week:

What have I contributed to my team?

  • For each goal that I created with my manager, I will write out clear examples of how my contributions helped our team get better and faster.

Where did I go above and beyond expectations? 

  • While it’s nice to meet my manager’s expectations, my goal is always to get an “above average” or “exceeds expectations” rating.  If I’m not exceeding her expectations, then it means I’m coasting instead of growing.  To ensure my manager sees where I have gone above and beyond, I plan to include a bulleted list of comments outlining how my actions were above what was normally expected.  These will not only include accomplishments and partnership projects, but also any adopted suggestions I made to other teams for process improvement.

While I’m at it, I am going to get started on 2014 by answering the following:

What do I want to improve upon for next year?  Do I want to stay in the same role, change focus or move up the ladder? 

  • The answers to these two questions will help me form my “development goals,” aka “areas for improvement.”

Next, I will figure out what steps I need to take to achieve my new goals. 

  • If you are familiar with SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) goals, then you will know that you need to be as specific as possible when creating your them.  This ensures that you focus your time and efforts on what is most important.
  • I plan to take things one step further this year by writing out what success looks like.  This will help me recognize when I accomplish my goals and give me an opportunity to find ways to go above and beyond.

Finally, I will figure out what kind of support, if any, I need from my manager to accomplish my goals.

What kind of process do you go through during review time?