How to Get Ready For a Performance Review

I'm writing this article on January 4, 2012.
I hope you'll read it this month.
Because this is the best time to prepare for your performance review at work.
However, you may come across this article months and even years from now.
No problem! It's never too late to get ready for your performance review. Unless, of course, it's tomorrow!
Get Inside Your Company's Heart and Brain
I'm serious. Pretend you are a stock shareholder for your company. You want to see a profit at the end of the year. That's the bottom line.
So how can you understand your company's wants and needs?
Pay attention to the company's vision, mission, values, and purpose statements.
If your company is smaller, make sure that you find this information out from your direct supervisor.
This information is vital, because it tells you what the company stands for and where your company's leaders want the company to go in the next year.
Pay attention to your specific department's strategic goals.
Your boss is your main customer. How can you make your boss's life easier? Find out what kind of problems she is struggling with. Then figure out how you can help solve those problems.
Have a conversation with your boss. Find out what one or two key result areas you can focus on to contribute meaningfully to meeting your department's bottom line goals.
Get Inside Your Own Heart and Brain
This is easier said than done!
Do you know what your own personal strengths and skills are?
Most likely you do, if you're reading this article.
However, you may not have thought much about it. In the past few years books like Go Put Your Strengths to Work, by Marc Buckingham; and Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath have shown us how important it is to figure out both what we're good at, and what we love to do.
Pay attention during the course of a work week. Think about what specific activities you a) enjoy doing and b) are good at.
Your boss can give you candid feedback about your areas of strength as well. You're not doing this for a pat on the back: you need this feedback so that you can amplify your strengths and form goals around them.
Once you've identified two key areas you'd like to impact for your department, find ways that you can use your strengths to accomplish those goals.
Design SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely?) that will help you get there.
For example, maybe you gave a presentation last year and found out you love putting materials together and speaking to an audience, teaching them valuable information.
You may want to have a goal of "Design Two Presentations on Customer Service and on Marketing Excellence to deliver to external customers by June 15, 2012", provided that customer service and marketing excellence are areas that your department wants to improve in.
Have a Daily Routine
Every single day, review your SMART goals.
Write down one key "next action" you can take toward meeting those goals.
Sometimes, during the course of the year, you may be asked to take on a lot of extraneous projects. Go back to your boss, review the goals you have set up, and ask what should take priority: the Goals you formulated, or these extraneous tasks. If you bring it up politely, your boss will understand you want to focus your most important contributions.
Record and quantify your accomplishments.
Create email folders for yourself. Your Main Folder will be "Performance Plan"
Then you can create subfolders: Accomplishments, Customer Compliments, Projects.
Don't be afraid to share your accomplishments as you meet your goals, sending a copy to your boss and cc'ing yourself.
Then, when it comes time to prepare your performance review, you will have documented evidence to back up your excellent performance for the year.
Don't Forget Your Weaknesses
It's really important to address your weaknesses as well. Pay attention to the negative feedback from your previous performance review.
Then create a personal development plan to help you improve.
Start each day asking yourself the question, "How can I improve 1% in this (key area)?"
Then work on doing that.
If you do this over the course of the year, I can only imagine the improvements you will make.
To Summarize
Study your company's needs, strategic plans, mission statement, vision, and values. Make them your own.
Study your department's needs, strategic plans, mission statement, vision, and values. Make them your own.
Talk to your supervisor about two key areas you can focus on to help the department reach it's year end goals.
Figure out your areas of strength and interest.
Use those areas of strength and interest to form SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely) pertaining to those key areas.
Review your goals daily and take one next action toward the goals.
Record your progress via email in your Performance Evaluation folder (with subfolders labeled Accomplishments, Customer Compliments, etc)
Put together a plan to improve upon your areas of weakness, using the principle of improving 1% per day.
Here's to your remarkable performance review in 2012!

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