One of the motives behind self-evaluation is the desire to verify or validate self-conceptions. So, in the case of performance reviews, employees want to show management what they have achieved over the past year.
The best way to do this is to back up claims of achievement with data. Using a private or shared stream like Fellow makes it easy to capture and record progress over time.
1. Be Specific
If you’re a business leader, employee self evaluations are a valuable opportunity to gain insights into your employees’ strengths and weaknesses. They’re also a good way to ensure your employees feel valued, which is crucial for morale. However, it’s not always easy for employees to write a self assessment that is both honest and helpful. The process varies from company to company; some use templates while others ask employees to describe their achievements in a more open, free-form manner. Regardless of the format, there are a few best practices for conducting self-evaluations.
For example, it’s important for an employee to be specific when describing their accomplishments. Vagueness robs employees of the chance to be proud of their work and can make it hard for managers to appreciate their contributions. Employees should also strive to connect their successes to the overall goals of the company. For instance, if they are successful in growing sales, they should highlight how it helped the company’s bottom line.
It’s also a good idea for employees to be specific when listing their areas for improvement. It can be difficult to admit one’s flaws, but this is an important part of the self-evaluation process. By identifying their weak spots, employees can prepare for conversations with their managers about how to address them in a productive and constructive manner.
Finally, it’s a good idea for employees to finish their self-evaluations on an aspirational note by stating what they’d like to achieve in the future. This shows that they take career development seriously and are invested in their job. It can also help their manager understand what professional growth opportunities are available to them.
For instance, if an employee wants to move into a different role within the organization, their manager can provide them with training or other resources that will help them succeed in this new role. Moreover, employees can ask their managers to help them develop their soft skills through coaching or other means.
2. Be Honest
Few would disagree that honesty is a desirable virtue. It promotes trust and healthy relationships, strengthens organisations and societies, and helps prevent harm. Unfortunately, it seems to have fallen out of fashion in recent decades. Honesty isn’t easy, but it’s essential to the self-evaluation process. Being honest enables an employee to identify their own strengths and weaknesses, set realistic goals for improvement, and develop a plan for achieving those goals.
Using honesty in the context of self-evaluation can also help managers make more accurate decisions about salary and bonus increases, internal promotions, and other rewards. Managers want to see that employees value their hard work, and that they are willing to be candid with them about the challenges they’re facing.
However, it’s important to balance candour with tact. It can be difficult for employees to write about their achievements in a way that doesn’t sound boastful or arrogant. Trying to be overly humble or downplaying their accomplishments can also damage an employee’s credibility.
As such, it’s vital for employees to be aware of the impact their tone can have when they’re writing a self evaluation. They should carefully consider what they are writing and how they’re writing it, especially if their manager is in attendance.
When preparing to write a self evaluation, it’s a good idea to ask your manager what the purpose of the assessment is. This can provide a clearer picture of what kind of tone is expected, and how far back the review may go. It’s also helpful to know if the goal is to assess progress since your last performance review, or if it’s intended to be used in making salary and bonus decisions.
It’s a good idea to start jotting down accomplishments in real-time, or even between reviews, to ensure you can remember all your brightest moments when it comes time to do your evaluation. Keeping track of things like how much revenue you generated, how many customers you acquired, and what improvements you made to your role over the course of the year will make it easier for you to bring your best examples into your evaluation.
3. Keep Track
A self evaluation is an opportunity for employees to highlight their accomplishments and demonstrate how much value they’re bringing to the company. It can also be a good time to identify areas that may need improvement. Using metrics and examples from over the course of a year can help employees paint a clear picture of their value and show that they are making efforts to improve upon their weaknesses. This can help to set an employee up for success when it comes to their next performance review and can foster a more collaborative performance management system.
One of the most important aspects of writing a successful self assessment is to make sure you’re keeping track of all of your achievements throughout the year. This can be done by keeping a folder marked “self assessment” and regularly checking in on your progress to keep yourself organized. This will save you a lot of time when it comes to the actual self evaluation because you’ll have all of your accomplishments documented and ready to go.
It’s also helpful to keep a spreadsheet of all your achievements so you can back them up with data when necessary. For example, if you write in your self assessment that you’ve been able to shorten the amount of time your team spends on certain projects, it helps to have a metric on hand such as the number of hours saved or a percentage increase in customer footfall in stores. This will provide your manager or employer with concrete evidence of your accomplishments and will make it easier for them to agree on a score when it’s time for a performance review.
The self assessment process can be a daunting task for many employees, but it doesn’t have to be. By following these simple tips, you can turn your next self evaluation into a productive opportunity to advocate for yourself and your career.
While it might seem like the opposite of what a self evaluation is intended to do, by taking a proactive approach to the process, you can make your boss aware that you are putting in the effort to improve and excel in your role. This can help to foster a positive relationship between you and your boss, as well as allow you to take control of your own professional development.
4. Be Timely
The self-evaluation process is a great way to get in the habit of regularly assessing your own performance and making improvements. You can use these insights to set goals that push you to position yourself for professional growth in the future. If you’re trying to work towards a promotion, for example, your self-evaluation can help you pinpoint what areas you need to improve in order to reach that goal.
When it comes to evaluating your performance, it’s important to be timely. Keeping notes in real-time about your accomplishments and areas of improvement will make the self assessment process easier. By the time it’s time to discuss your evaluation with your manager, you’ll already be prepared to talk about both the good and the bad.
Another benefit of self-evaluations is that they help employees understand how their work impacts the company. By allowing employees to identify their strengths and weaknesses, they can see how their contributions align with the company’s goals, values, and mission. This helps employees feel like an active part of the team rather than a passive cog in the machine.
Lastly, self evaluations help foster a more collaborative performance management system. When managers have a clear picture of their employee’s wins and misses, it allows for a more open and honest conversation that can lead to a more productive workplace.
Writing a self-evaluation takes time and shouldn’t be rushed. If you can, try to schedule the evaluation for a day when you’re not working so that you can focus on the task at hand. Also, write a first draft and let it sit for a few days before coming back to it. This will allow you to review and revise the document with fresh eyes.
When it comes to evaluating your performance, be sure to highlight the positive aspects of your work and how they contribute to the company’s success. This will make your supervisor or manager more likely to be enthusiastic about giving you a raise or bonus when the time comes for a review. Likewise, if there are areas you need to improve on, frame those as opportunities for growth rather than threats to your job security.