Your Personal Performance Review
As we enter the holiday season, I’m reflecting back on past holiday seasons that were filled with shopping lists, parties, travel, and a general pattern of go-go-go! There were definitely years when it felt like we had to be everything, everywhere, all at once. Blasting through the holiday season in high gear provided few, if any, opportunities for personal reflection and self evaluation. By the time New Year’s Eve rolled around, ill-conceived resolutions served as the outcomes of what little self reflection and self evaluation I’d done. Knowing in my heart of hearts that my resolutions had no hope of becoming reality, I began another frantic trip around the sun.
Ironically, it is during the holiday season that most businesses engage in their annual performance evaluation process. In many cases, employees are asked to provide a self evaluation of their performance throughout the year. In my experience, both managers and employees fail to give this process the attention it requires, leading to less than optimal outcomes for both parties. I’m on the record as being a fan of scrapping the annual performance review, weaving performance evaluation into the flow of work, and replacing the annual performance review with an annual learning and skills gap remediation review. See my book, The Balanced Business, for more on the subject.
But until that idea gains traction, what can we do to make the annual performance review process more meaningful—especially for the employee? My recommendation is to link the mandatory self evaluation that’s part of your performance review at work to your personal self evaluation, or personal performance review..
In last week’s Muse, I introduced the “I get to”/”I have to” ratio and the value that improved self reflection and self awareness can have on outlook and mindset. If you haven’t read that work, I recommend that you pause, read last week’s Muse, and then come back. Why? Today, I’m suggesting turning the “I have to” of performance evaluation into an “I get to” exercise. Making this link between personalperformance review and your employee self evaluation will turn a perfunctory, check-the-box process into an opportunity for fulfillment and growth.
Guidelines for an Effective Personal Performance Review
All evaluations must be based on a plan—it’s not possible to evaluate progress toward your personal goals if you don’t know where you’re going. If you haven’t developed a personal plan, my Personal Planning Guidebook is a great place to start. When developing your plan, pay particular attention to the definition of your personal purpose and vision for the future.
Your personal performance review should take precedence over the self evaluation that is required as part of your annual performance review at work. In doing so, you’re making it clear to yourself that your personal performance and well-being takes priority to what is happening at work. All too often, work takes precedence, we get stuck on the hamster wheel, and we’re left personally unfulfilled.
Use the results of your personal performance review as a guide to your employee self evaluation and then compare the results of the two exercises. Are there more points of connection than there are disconnects? If so, your work is likely fulfilling and aligned with your personal purpose and vision. If there are minimal points of connection between the two exercises, this is a signal that a change may be in order—from a small job-role tweak to full career change depending on the level of disconnect.
The bottom line is that life’s far too short to be stuck in a role that doesn’t suit you or to let time pass in a career that doesn’t align with your personal purpose. Just like a holiday season that zips by because we’re constantly on the go, don’t let your working life zip by and be filled with more “I have to’s” than “I get to’s.” Committing to an annual personal performance review is a great first step.
