It's the last quarter of the year.
Here are my top tips to help guide you in writing your best performance review yet.
About the Work Environment
How have you delivered on the job requirements and expectations?
Any compliments or written feedback received from peers, managers, cross-functional managers?
Have you participated in any strategic projects in your team outside of your daily responsibilities?
Have you contributed to social impact opportunities at the organization , e.g., volunteering etc.,
Are you now certified in any new professional designations and/or did you attend training that benefits the department or the organization?
What strengths have you developed over the past year ? And, what new strengths and contributions are you making?
How can you express your contributions in the context of what matters most to your department? E.g., if quality is a key metric, or time to complete, be sure to express your impact in this way.
About Relationships
What employee resource groups have you joined and/or led over the past months?
What strategic cross functional relationship have you cultivated and/or nurtured? E.g., if your department works closely with Finance, can you ask the Finance Lead or Head to share their opinion on the relationships you have been cultivating or the work that you have been a part of?
Who have you mentored in your relationship or coached / developed ? This is an area often overlooked. The success of any team is made up by the members, if you coached less experienced staff, or you are the individual who folks come to when they want to get the answers to the tough questions, you should absolutely include this in your performance review.
Remember, education opens doors, but relationships open them faster.
About Upward Mobility
Getting a promotion is all about proving that you are already capable of performing the work.
Internal promotions are notoriously more difficult to achieve than external promotions.
So take this time to be incredibly selective and intentional about what you share.
Attach written feedback from individuals at your boss' peer level who you may have worked with over the past year.
Ask for written upward feedback from any individuals who you lead and/or your peers and attach this to your performance review.
About Future Growth
At the end of your performance review, be sure to write what your goals are for the next 6 months to 1 year and if it's to be considered for advancement, write that also. E.g., "Achieve Manager by July 2022 as a result of my strategic, coaching and collaborative skills."
Identify trainings and certifications that you are interested in pursuing. Remember, while certifications help the company, they most of all help you. You will always be able to take your education with you, no matter where your career grows.
Identify new relationships and collaborations that you want to achieve that align with your department's strategic vision.
Remember, it is not your responsibility to improve everything at work that you think could be better. You are paid to perform a very specific job - so, before you take on additional tasks or initiatives outside of your core role - be sure you know how your job is measured and success is defined and be sure to deliver on it! Once you are meeting your expectations, consider taking on additional initiatives that help to drive value, solve key problems and support your organization's wider strategic objectives.
