HOW TO WRITE AN EASY SELF-ASSESSMENT
OVERVIEW
No one knows what you’ve accomplished better than you. Your input provides a more accurate insight of your effort and could determine a better rating. Your performance review will follow you for years and influence your career success both internally and externally. Now there’s no excuse to say you don’t like what your boss wrote, regardless of your job or position. Here are targeted tips how you can influence your own performance review with a Self-Assessment (“SA”) that is easy, consolidated, benefits your career, but doesn’t come across as self-effacing.
No one knows what you’ve accomplished better than you. Your input provides a more accurate insight of your effort and could determine a better rating. Your performance review will follow you for years and influence your career success both internally and externally. Now there’s no excuse to say you don’t like what your boss wrote, regardless of your job or position. Here are targeted tips how you can influence your own performance review with a Self-Assessment (“SA”) that is easy, consolidated, benefits your career, but doesn’t come across as self-effacing.
IT'S THE BOSS' JOB
Have you ever thought “It’s the boss’ job to write my review, not mine? He should know what I did!”? Your SA fills in the gaps regarding your level of effort, accolades, and contributing factors that provides a much more clear and accurate picture for how you achieved success.
Have you ever thought “It’s the boss’ job to write my review, not mine? He should know what I did!”? Your SA fills in the gaps regarding your level of effort, accolades, and contributing factors that provides a much more clear and accurate picture for how you achieved success.
IF YOU DIDN'T MEET OBJECTIVES
I recently had an employee who did not achieve any of the required outcomes on his three work objectives. Should he receive a “failed” rating on his Review? He received a good rating because he did everything within his sphere of control and level of skill to produce results.
I recently had an employee who did not achieve any of the required outcomes on his three work objectives. Should he receive a “failed” rating on his Review? He received a good rating because he did everything within his sphere of control and level of skill to produce results.
SUMMARY
If you don’t contribute to your performance review, then you’re
letting others document your results and determine your destiny. Even if you’re not required to produce a SA,
don’t leave it up to the boss to decide and document what you achieved.
SA FUNDAMENTALS
Just as you don’t like reading long emails or lengthy
company memos, neither does your boss.
That can be a particular challenge when you’re summarizing a full
year. So keep in mind a few
fundamentals:
- Report on results, not activities.
- Ratings are based on substance of the contribution, not how well it’s described.
- Know your job performance requirements/expectations.
- Keep track throughout the year, such as saving
accolades, emails, and other documentation.GUIDELINES
- Correspond each result to either your goals, projects, or organization strategy.
- Highlight significant achievements, not the day-to-day activities.
- Make the connection between what was accomplished and why it matters to the organization.
- Provide perspective of the achievement, such as why it exceeded expectations and how you faced challenges.
- Don’t exaggerate or try to cover up. Don’t justify bad results by explaining why it wasn’t met. Describe your level of effort to try and get it met.
- Start each bullet with “Met” “Exceeded” or “Didn’t Meet” Expectations.
- When describing the level of effort, include:
a. Statements of fact that support the results.
b. Describes perspective of the value.
c. Addresses contributing factors, such as communication,
team work and customers and extenuating circumstances.
EXAMPLES (these are
abbreviated to provide a starting point)
1) Met expectations for the Help Desk call response times.
Average weekly call wait time was
1.4 minutes, which was slightly better than the requirement of 1.5 minutes as
reported by the call tracking system.
Objective achieved despite extended absences of two call center reps
mid-February through mid-August.
2) Exceeded expectations
for the Help Desk customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction averaged 4.6
on a 1 – 5 scale, which was significantly better than the requirement of 3.0 as
reported by the weekly Customer Satisfaction Survey. My supervisor reported in an email on 6/15/13
that customers consistently report positive comments regarding my communication
style and friendliness.
Posted on the blog http://mycoachken.blogspot.com/2013/10/self-assessment-how-to-write-easy-self.html
Do not post or publish without permission. It's ok to link.
