It’s that time of year when managers begin the task to evaluate progress for the past year and the planning for the new year. How would you rate your performance this year? Have you paid attention to the goals you set last year?
If you haven’t, it can not only be a good exercise for yourself, but an aid to your manager in writing your own assessment. You might say this is my manager’s job, and you would be right. Are you fully comfortable with how your manager has viewed your performance?
Writing your own review before the fourth quarter begins offers the opportunity for a push to complete any unmet goals or to address any issue that surfaced. It can refresh your own memories of what you have accomplished this year. Arming your manager with your list of accomplishments before they develop your performance evaluation from their own perspective will have greater impact then responding to their list in your performance review meeting.
The other opportunities this exercise provides is in impacting your future. Your work for the coming months or years could be solely defined by someone’s plan for your role. If this is the case, you are then left to respond to their interests. This may or may not align with your own interests or strengths. Regardless, it will define how you will be spending your time. The benefit to letting this happen is your ability to claim “It’s not my fault this didn’t work. I was just following directions.” It also allows you to criticize your manager or the company and feel independent of responsibility for the result. In so doing you are also distancing yourself from your work, your manager, and your company. This is a recipe for discontent, and unhappiness. You will be putting in your time to get the paycheck and looking forward to the day you can leave.
