The adage, “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity,” comes to mind when reviewing Marlo Lyons’ guidance for preparing for annual reviews. She advocates doing a self-assessment ahead of time and shares five steps to create a self-assessment draft:
1) Focus on the entire year
2) Consider company and functional goals
3) Look for alignment with those goals
4) Seek feedback from colleagues
5) Draft a concise list of accomplishments
Source: Harvard Business Review, December 12, 2023. Link.
Managers with many direct reports likely won’t have visibility into or remember all of your notable accomplishments from the year, and they don’t have time to read a long recap.”