This article walks you through a simple yet comprehensive approach to assessing your performance at work. When you know where you stand with respect to achieving the year's objectives, please assess yourself you are able to focus your energy more clearly over the remaining time. I suggest that you undertake this exercise four times each year, one of those times ahead of your annual performance review.
Being on top of your own opinion of the contribution you make to your employer will also empower to discuss your performance with your manager at any opportunity. Finally, it will be helpful should you decide to answer a headhunter's call or accept to go for a job interview.
So let's look at how you are doing. The easiest way to start off is to compile a list of what you worked on. Don't hesitate to note down even small tasks as it is better to be all-inclusive and later trim down. A suggestion: leave aside your list of original objectives as it risks constraining your thinking and causing you to overlook one or more important unplanned achievement(s).
After you have inventorised what you have done so far, it is time to move on to what I call the 'so what' stage. For instance, you wrote a report - that is what you did. But you will not be rewarded for keeping busy. Rather you will be recompensed for the positive impact your work had so please answer me this: "You wrote a report: so what?"
This may sound basic but I cannot begin to tell you how often I had a team member in my office - and a senior one at that - with a long laundry list of tasks they had completed trying to sell me the length of their list while I was looking for the benefits to the organisation from their industriousness.
So go back to each of the items on your list and ask yourself 'so what'. For instance, what about this report you wrote? The answer is: "I wrote a report so that we could identify the shortcomings of our IT system." Ask yourself the question several times for each task so that you flesh out all the benefits of your hard work. Again using the written report as an illustration, asking the 'so what' question several times will make clear that the benefits of the reports are that (i) it lists the shortcomings of the IT infrastructure, so that (ii) a business case can be made for (iii) a project to remedy these shortcomings which will (iv) deliver cost savings and (v) lead to fewer customer complaints. When you cannot answer the 'so what' question, put a line through the task and forget about it.
The merit of the 'so what' approach is that it gets you focused on your contribution to your company's bottom line - even if it is indirect. Think about how you helped make or save money. Companies want to make money so connect to how your work impacts profitability. The second benefit is that it does not matter if your activity list is short as long as your 'so what' list is long. I remember that, for the year 2007, I had one single objective to achieve. But when I eventually sat down with my boss, I had a list of benefits for that one objective which was two pages long.
Step 3: if you have a list of objectives for 2011, it is now time to compare it to your list of achievements. And make 3 final lists. I know this is sounding like death by list but the '3 list' method will guarantee you a structured approach to your yearend review. List number 1: those objectives you were set which you have achieved together with their benefits to the organisation. That the benefits feature on the list will prove determinant. List number 2: any unplanned achievements not originally part of your year's objectives and their benefits. List number 3: those of your objectives which are not yet done.
So there you have it. A simple, list-based process to take stock of your work achievements so far. I will let you get on with it. When your 3 lists are done, please look for more articles detailing follow-up activities.
Author of the "5 Gear Shifts to Accelerate your Career!" report, Alexandra helps ambitious and high-performing professionals tackle their frustration at work so that they resolve a complex problem, find a way out of a difficult situation or achieve a personally-meaningful objective.
As a Career Accelerator, Alexandra works with gifted individuals to obtain the promotion they deserve, orchestrate an in-house move to a different group, succeed fast in a new role as well as get clear about their next job and how to find it.
Alexandra's clients get to do more interesting work which they enjoy, avoid becoming stuck in one job when in fact they want variety, and learn to lead and work through others if they wish to. That way, they make a greater difference to their firm and, of course, grow their income!
Alexandra will share with you stories and insights please assess yourself from her gratifying but eventful 23-year career in global finance, from Paris to the City of London via New York's Wall Street which you can use to accelerate your career faster than on your own!