Why You Should Be More Focused On Your Annual Self-Evaluation
If you avoid completing the periodic self-evaluation that your company requires, or view it as a tick-the-box exercise, you’re not alone. Professionals in all industries and at all levels often put off this task as long as possible, viewing it as part of a long, sometimes opaque evaluation cycle. But the fact remains that the self-evaluation is still a tool used by many companies and organizations as a key element of the performance and review cycle. So how can you dread your self-evaluation less, and leverage it instead to be a valuable exercise for you? A couple of ways to rethink why it’s worthwhile to spend time on this work task:
It’s an opportunity to tell your story
Your self-assessment is a great way to make the evaluation process more of a two-way street. You want the people conducting your review to first hear from you about the work that you have been doing, and what you think are your accomplishments and strengths. You also are giving them information that they may have forgotten, are not aware of, or had not realized reflected events and efforts that took place during this evaluation period. By doing that, you are not only providing the evaluator with your perspective on your achievements, but also offering them the foundation that they can use to craft their review. You’re also making sure that you provide a record of what you have worked on, what you have achieved and what you view as significant milestones in the last year.
It provides another way to get feedback in advance of your annual review
Make sure you are delivering on what you need to communicate in your self-assessment by seeking comments on a draft before you finalize it. This can assist you in getting information on what might be good to emphasize or include, by helping you learn what your evaluator might be looking for when they read it. You don’t want to wait for your formal review, only to hear that there was something that might have helped you if you had only included it in your self-assessment. Ask your evaluator if they are willing to read a draft of your self-evaluation and let you know their thoughts about it, including any changes they would suggest. This has the added advantage of communicating to the evaluator both that you are being thoughtful about the review process and that you want to make sure what you are providing is actually helpful to them. It can also be helpful before you submit it to share your self-evaluation with a mentor or trusted advisor within your organization. Ideally, you want to identify someone who is willing to read your draft and provide a view as to whether the submission clearly gets across critical points about you and your work.
It helps you describe the specifics of how you are succeeding
If asked to comment on how you showed leadership during the evaluation period, you might say that you did this by managing your team effectively or chairing a committee. But you need to help the evaluator understand what you did to support those descriptions. For example, you might say: “I worked closely with my team to develop a process to reduce our aging receivables this year, and as a result we improved our collection rate so that we are now averaging less than 30 days from billing to payment.” Or you might provide other details such as: “The committee met its goal of developing and implementing five training modules for new employees by the beginning of Q3. Over 80% of the employees who completed those trainings rated them as ‘extremely valuable’ in getting to know the company.” These details give specifics about your impact and achievements. You aren’t just telling the evaluator that you succeeded, but rather describing the facts of what you did that demonstrate that success.
It reminds you of what you have accomplished
A year can go by quickly. You may forget what you did or didn’t do, and how that lines up against feedback you received in last year’s annual review or the goals you set for yourself in your development planning. In particular, if there have been some tough periods during the year, you want to make sure you pause to recognize what went well for you and where you did meet your goals. Checking to make sure you reference in your self-evaluation any great feedback or commendations you received from clients, direct reports, colleagues, or supervisors is important as well. That’s another reason to keep a file or log of good things that happen to you during the year, for example, creating an electronic file folder of emails from people that gave you credit for a job well done or acknowledged how much your work contributed to a successful result. Keep track of your success and it will help you weave that into your self-assessment.
If I can be of assistance to you with working through your self-evaluation, the review and feedback process overall, or other professional work life issues, please reach out to me at laura@lauraterrell.com to discuss how coaching with me may be helpful.