How to Write a Stellar Performance Review Self-Evaluation
(And not hate your life while doing it)
For some, fall means pumpkins and sweet potatoes (ahh, America!). For others, it is the looming feeling of Q4 and what that means for our businesses, jobs, and arguably our professional self-worth. As someone who uses writing and podcasting as an outlet and a means of reflection, I actually get excited about the performance review season. Before you write me off as a crazy person, it is because I view it as an opportunity to learn more about myself, how others perceive me, and how to articulate my value professionally.
Now, I will take this moment to say that the outcomes of a performance review (including ratings, compensations, and promotions) do NOT define who you are for better or for worse. In fact, if you discover that your self-perception is mismatched with your employer’s, it can feel much like getting punched in the stomach. And hopefully, if that’s the case, you can find the silver lining: the nudge to change your trajectory, whether that is through accepting/rejecting the feedback you’re given, switching teams, or even employers.
However, today’s newsletter is about the actual art and science of making the case for yourself as it pertains to all things year-end and performance reviews as a whole.
So, without further ado, let’s get into it.
If your company has a system or key dimensions for assessing your performance, break down your self-evaluation in those terms. I love a format change or a funky re-frame. Regardless, suppose your company says that X, Y, and Z define excellence. In that case, your self-evaluation should outline your excellence using X, Y, and Z as overarching themes and cater to your accomplishments to that (and not the other way around).
Documenting your wins is an ongoing process. I often keep a document summarizing my wins, highlighting their value as I progress throughout the year (vs. at the end). If I feel extra organized, I will compartmentalize them by the company’s performance dimension system. This way, when it is time to self-evaluate, I have a whole repository of wins instead of scrambling last minute.
If you haven’t been documenting throughout the year, take some time to do a brain dump/brainstorming exercise with yourself to identify as many accomplishments as possible. One way to make this easier on myself is by looking at my calendar for the previous year, month by month. Meeting invites/emails can often trigger my memory of everything I worked on or drove when my memory fails me.
Categorize your wins into the different dimensions of your company’s performance review AS IS MOST STRATEGIC. Lots of wins can be attributed to more than one category. For example, “launching X feature” can be both a business result and an example of leadership. Consider what category is the most favorable, but also get flexible about where to put what if you feel you’re lacking in certain categories. Data is only as valuable as it is well-framed, so once you collect all of your wins, the hard work can often be categorizing them strategically.
“Less is more” if each bullet point is actionable, numeric, and dazzles the reader. My manager says nobody wants to read a six-page essay, and he is right. Try to keep your accomplishments to bullet points, but make sure each bullet point reads like a SMART goal. For example, instead of saying, “Zoia led X initiative with cross-functional stakeholders and launched ahead of schedule,” you should say, “Zoia led X initiative with Y # of partner teams, resulting in an improved Z experience for 44 million customers, with completion x3 quarters ahead of schedule.”
The above principles should get you to a solid place to escape from the dreadful blank screen to some organized chaos. With that, it is clear that putting together your self-evaluation is not a one-day process. There is a considerable advantage in getting started early, working through a reflection/brainstorming phase to a well-organized draft, and then to a clean and manager-ready document.
Perhaps most importantly, consider your year-end self-evaluation as a partnership with your manager. In most management/leadership courses I have taken, you are told that you’re not a very good manager if the year-end feedback you give your team surprises them. It’s a great point. As an employee, however, it is also your responsibility to ensure that your manager is aligned with how you think about your performance ahead of time.
With that, I like to connect with my team pre-brain dump to call out some ideas for thought as they go and brainstorm. I then reconnect with them once they believe they have a good draft to give any feedback or offer advice on re-categorizing a win or using a different win as a key highlight. By the time a self-evaluation is submitted to me, we are all hopefully on the same page. I am more likely to advocate up the chain on their behalf as a co-creator and collaborator of what my team puts together (vs if we were not in alignment).
Finally, suppose the whole process and effort around an EOY self-evaluation STILL makes you sick to your stomach or feels like a massive waste of time. In that case, I’d urge you to think of it as a repository of great stories for your next job, whether it is at your current company or for external opportunities later. At the very least, it can be an imposter-syndrome-fighter and something to look back on as a series of accomplishments.
I wish everyone good luck! Please don’t hesitate to reply to this email to connect further on product, career, and self-development.