As we get ready to welcome 2018, it’s time to take a moment to celebrate what you were able to accomplish in 2017. Not only is it good to celebrate your achievements, it’s also important that you focus on what you’ve been able to do for your upcoming yearly review. Management may remember some of your achievements, but you should be ready to talk about places you’ve excelled throughout the year. Here are four tips that will help you go into your review prepared and ready to talk about everything you’ve accomplished this year:
Evaluate Yourself in Regards to the Goals You Set for this Year
You no doubt entered the year with a list of goals and responsibilities that were drawn up at your last annual review. As the year draws to a close, use this list and address what you’ve done to accomplish each item. For those that are still a work-in-progress, consider what still needs to be done to complete them. This will give you items to focus on when talking about accomplishments and personal growth with your manager.
Back up Your Achievements with Objective Data and Verifiable Numbers
Accomplishments always look better when they have some context. Find objective data and verifiable numbers that will make them quantifiable. Management may know that you had a good year, but numbers can help them have a better understanding of what you bring to the company. For example, if one of your goals going into the year was to increase efficiency in the department, come into the review armed not just with the new filing system you implemented, but with the fact that it now takes 20% less time to close a project out, which translates to $6,000 in saved labor expense.
Ask Your Peers for Feedback
Your co-workers can give you a unique perspective on your achievements throughout the year. As you prepare for your review, ask your peers for feedback as to how you help them and what you could do to help them even more. Doing this can also help you set goals and make adjustments for your reviews and beyond.
Be Ready to Talk about Next Year
Because a portion of your yearly review is going to focus on setting goals for the upcoming year, it’s good to come into it with some ideas of what you would like to achieve. Some goals may relate more towards personal professional improvement, while others may involve ideas that will help the company grow. Regardless of your ideas, bring them with you into the meeting so they can be discussed and added to the docket going into next year.
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