HOW TO SELF-ASSESS YOURSELF
We offer you tips from HR experts on how to assess yourself
effectively and put your best foot forward during a critical time at work
It's appraisal time for a lot of us, and with it, comes the race
to getting to the highest bonus bracket. Except, there's one big hurdle. Has
Human Resources already shot you an email with the link to fill up your
self-assessment?
Has that left you staring at the screen twiddling your thumbs
muttering to yourself that this is your manager's job? Well, we're going to
make the job easier for you today.
Many organisations ask employees to assess themselves as the
first step of the evaluation process in the appraisal. This is done to give
employees a `voice' rather than simply be a recipient of feedback from their
manager. Such participation helps make employees more engaged in their
performance as well as the review process.
But, as we all know, that is easier said than done. Don't worry,
though. With these nuggets of advice pooled from HR experts around the globe,
you'll be writing your self-assessment in no time!
START WITH THE
TECHNICAL GOALS
Vedant Kantharia, Director at Unify Search Solutions, an HR
Consultancy firm, suggests that you first identify the technical and
non-technical goals. “Technical goals include those that are directly related
to the specif ic skillsets needed for your job,“ says Kantharia. “For example,
sales targets for a salesperson or increasing website traffic for a digital
marketing executive these are technical goals.Such goals are usually
quantifiable and easier to assess. Evaluate yourself against these targets
first. Then, move on to non-technical goals, which are mainly soft skills. For
example, communication skills or people management these are nontechnical
goals.“
TALK TO PEOPLE
So how do you judge yourself on non-technical skills such as
whether you are “contributing to the entire department's knowledge growth“? If
your organization doesn't quantify this, you need to talk to people within your
department. What have others done to contribute? Have you done anything
similar? Talk to people you have helped in the past. Sometimes we forget the
assistance we have given others that they can recall. Note all these points to
write in your self-assessment.
START POSITIVE
Always emphasise your accomplish ments and achievements first.
This creates a first impression that sets the tone for your evaluator. If
possible, align your achievements with the overall goals of the organisation.A
summary like “I, along with the team, created the sales strategies that led to
a 10X growth in customers and a greater than 70% retention rate“ showcases how
the results of your effort helped the company achieve its customer-focused
goals.
OFFER
EXPLANATIONS
Acknowledge your mistakes carefully. You want to use a tone that
shows that you have learnt from your mistakes instead of regretted making them.
So instead of writing “I was unable to complete a project on time“ and leaving
it at that, you would rather explain by saying, “Due to resource constraints, I
was unable to complete a project on time. However, I have already discussed a
solution with my manager and HR so that this situation does not repeat itself.“
USE
SELF-EVALUATION TO ASK FOR WHAT YOU NEED
If you think your people skills really suck and you can't get
any of your peers to like you, this is the best time to ask for enrolment to a
training course! Timothy Butler, a senior fellow and the director of Career
Development Programs at Harvard Business School, thinks that smart employees
use self-assessment to look for career development opportunities. “Because if
you don't ask, it's not going to happen,“ says Butler. Telling your manager
what you need not only exhibits your capability to reflect and self-assess
seriously but also shows that you are a solution-oriented person. Also, this is
the best way to ensure that you have a more positive assessment in the people
skills section during the next appraisal cycle.
CATER TO LAZY
BOSSES
Some managers are too lazy or simply too busy to spend time in
articulating their evaluation of you.Instead of writing something fresh, they
would rather copy-paste what you give them. “Many lazy bosses see it as an easy
way to shuffle off the difficult task of writing a review,“ says Dick Grote,
author of How to be Good at Performance Appraisals. Cater to this by writing
your appraisal in a way that all your boss needs to do is replace `I' with `he'
and `my' with `his'.
TALK TO YOUR
BOSS
Finally, talk to your boss before submitting, especially if you
have questions or nagging doubts. If you feel like a certain evaluation
parameter is unfair, discuss your concerns with your manager to understand how
you can self-assess. Rajeev Mehta (name changed), a marketing professional,
found it disconcerting that the appraisal required him to target high financial
goals as well as business delivery goals. “My profile was under Digital
Marketing,“ says Mehta, “yet I had marketing as well as finance goals, with
both having the same weightage, even though there was a separate team handling
the latter. On the other hand, I had given a lot to support various team
members which wasn't even being evaluated. Therefore, it is important to build
a rapport with your boss so that when you explain these things, he can find a
way to balance out your appraisal.“
Alpana Mandal
MM16APR16
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