It is getting close to performance appraisal time in many companies and so here a few tips on how to make this best work for you.
Performance appraisal period is always a nerve wracking time for most of us. You work hard for the past one year and the effort is getting judged on a single day based on few sentences captured in an excel sheet or a portal somewhere. Strangely enough, I have seen clashes between employees and managers at the time of the appraisal due to communication gaps between them. Then you realize UH-OH! my manager’s expectations were different from mine? You just screwed up!!
Here are few tips that can help you make your performance appraisal work for you
Know your manager’s expectation
Get your Key performance indicator communicated and agreed between you and your manager at the beginning of the year. Don’t wait until the performance appraisal period nears because you won’t get enough time to work towards meeting your target then. Communicating this will help you and your manager get on the same page about what is expected from you and can avoid possible misunderstandings on this regard.
Record your contributions
Maintaining a file every month which talks about you about your achievements and contributions will help you to get it straight during the time of evaluation. More than that this will help you to track your growth month by month and will be easy for you to recollect and discuss about it during the time of evaluation. It is like when you prepare for a job interview you write down your accomplishments to help you articulate your work to the interviewer.
Make it a practice
People might get nervous when they sit down with their manager to discuss their evaluation. Most often they forget to highlight a few of their achievements which had not received any recognition previously. So to avoid your stress and nervousness, practice appraisal as a routine. Instead of waiting for quarterly and yearly appraisals to come by, sit with your manager every month to get feedback and reviews. Knowing your areas of improvement and working to improve on it every month will make you better prepared for the yearly appraisal.
Never underestimate yourself
Never underestimate your performance during the self appraisal time. Self appraisal should totally be based on how effective you think you achieved your goals. If you feel that you deserve to get a rating of 5 out 5, go ahead and rate it and provide convincing inputs about your contributions in the comments column. If you don’t yourself believe that you deserve a 5 then why should others.
Communicate your career needs
Performance appraisal is the right time to evaluate whether you had all the means and information necessary to do your job. If you feel there is something that will help you do your job better ask confidently. For example: training required for latest technology, support from senior executives and more resources needed to help your team etc.
Communicate your career goals
Letting your manager know what you really want from your career will help him to keep you engaged in your job. Ask your manager where does he see you going in the next 2 to 3 years within the organization and inform him where do you want to see yourself going. This will help you work towards accomplishing your career goals.
However all this tips are of no use if you don’t work your ass off for accomplishing what the company is expecting from you!! So just do your job well!
Do you feel any other tips useful for employees? Please share below in comments!!
