As December nears, so might be your performance review.
I know this might be one of your important meetings of the year.
Due to the importance of these meetings, I’d like to share with you six topics that are super important to address with your higher-ups during your annual performance review.
First, it’s important to take charge
In order to ensure that these six topics are covered, you need to take charge of the agenda during your review if needed. This should be done in a professional, assertive manner—allowing for you to receive the most accurate feedback and recognition you deserve in this review.
Now that we’ve covered taking charge, let’s dive into the six topics, shall we?
#1: Accomplishments
Did you know that recognition is the #1 thing employees say their managers can give them that inspires them to produce greater work?
One of the best ways to ensure you’re receiving the recognition you deserve is by making sure all of your accomplishments are being recognized and captured in your performance review.
Think about this… 69% of employees say that they’d put more effort into their work if they were better recognized for their efforts and accomplishments.
Oftentimes, it’s easy for us to remember the past few months of our work, but it can be easy to forget the accomplishments we made at the beginning of the year. This is why it’s important to keep a list of all of the accomplishments you’ve made throughout the year. This way you can just pull it out at the end of the year before your performance review.
If you haven’t done this yet, simply go back through your calendar and look at your meetings, timelines, and different projects that were assigned to you throughout the year and capture the success you’ve had.
#2: Day-to-Day Responsibilities
Make a list of all of the tasks you complete on a day-to-day basis and discuss them with your boss.
It’s important to make sure that you are in alignment with your manager in terms of your daily duties and responsibilities. Too often I see that people do things on a daily basis that their manager has no idea about. It should then not be a surprise that their manager puts too much on their plate or that they’re not getting recognized for it at the end of the year.
It can also help shed light on any tasks that you may no longer need to be doing that could be outsourced to another team member or department. This is a great time to revisit the topic to see if your boss truly thinks your time is best served on these tasks.
#3: Areas of Development
Explore with your manager the areas you can work on improving next year. This includes anything that you should be doing more of, less of, and any skills that you could benefit from developing further.
Take feedback seriously and take great notes. Feedback is your #1 tool for improvement!
Plus, if there’s a particular training, seminar, or certification that you would love to bring to their attention, as you believe it could help enhance your skills and capabilities on the job, this is a great time to bring it up.
#4: Areas of Strengths
During your performance review, it’s essential to discuss your strengths.
Mention both ways you demonstrate job proficiency as well as personal characteristics such as work ethic, resilience, and integrity.
Highlighting your strengths provides an added opportunity for your efforts to be recognized.
#5: Career Plan
What are your career plans for the future?
Do you have a 1-year or a 3-year plan?
If so, your performance review meeting offers a wonderful opportunity for you to make this known.
If you don’t have a plan, it’s important to think about what you’d like to accomplish over the next few years, as far as your career is concerned, before you go into your performance review meeting.
Think about your career outlook, ideas, and goals for the future. You may also want to have conversations about these things with your team members to get a feel for what they would like to achieve moving forward.
Discussing your career plan also provides a wonderful opportunity for you to show your loyalty to your company to those who would like to see it.
It can also help to determine if you are on the same page as it relates to the future of the company and where you fit in moving forward.
Opening the topic of your career plans up for discussion is also a great way to determine which goals for your career will be possible in your current role, and to see if your company can facilitate the growth you see for yourself and your team members.
#6: Immediate Next Steps
This involves all of the tasks you should be tackling next.
Whether this involves networking and meeting new people, initiating new projects and tasks, or making a significant change, etc. Whatever is coming up immediately for you as far as your job is concerned, or what you would like to be coming up for you next, should be discussed.
This will help you narrow your focus as you enter into the new year. It will also help you determine what you should be working on the most moving forward if there are areas of development needed.
This concludes the 6 topics I find to be the most important and beneficial in performance reviews.
If you’d like to learn more or need a pep talk before going into your performance review, I’d love to chat with you. Click HERE to schedule a call for us to talk about what that could look like and mean for you.
