Optimum Talks Blog

The Most Important Performance Review You Will Ever Complete

It is already the last week in January and the new members at the gym are starting to disappear. The annual collapse of New Year’s resolutions has begun and it’s almost back to business as usual.

For some, resolutions consist of health or personal goals, whereas for others it may be more related to professional development or your career. Over the holiday break, you may have been one of those individuals who decided that this would be the year that you find your dream job. But alas, the first month of 2016 has passed and you have not found the time to look for your next opportunity.

It already is hard to find enough hours in the day, so it is understandable that it can seem almost impossible to dedicate the time to devote to your career; but, you must ask yourself, if you don’t find the time, who will?  In order to achieve your career goals, start by imaging yourself as a CEO. The CEO of You Corp. to be exact. Most CEO’s certainly would not let a year by go without the completion of annual performance reviews. So as CEO of You Corp., neither should you. You should commit to investing in your career and take the appropriate time to complete a performance review on yourself.

Think of it from this perspective – you are truly the CEO of your career; you run the Strategic Planning, Human Resources, Legal, Finance, Marketing, IT, and Risk Management departments of your business.  As the sole proprietor of your career, you are spread thin and sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start, so I propose that you begin reviewing your performance across some of the same metrics a Fortune 500 CEO would be reviewed on:

Strategic Planning

• What opportunities exist for your career in the short and long-term?
• What experience do you need to secure your next internal or external opportunity?
• How will you gain the experience you need?
• Are you able to gain the experience you need internally or is it something that could come from an external source such as a volunteer role?

Financial Review

• Are you delivering results on time and on budget?
• Do you create value for your organization on a year over year basis?

Legal

• What legal obligations do you have if you were to make a move from your current firm?
• Are you limited by a non-compete or other contractual obligations?

Marketing

• How is your personal brand?
• Are you active on social media?
• Are you a member in your appropriate industry organizations?
• Are you active in the community?

IT

• Do you stay up-to date on technology?
• Are you familiar with the recent technological innovations in your industry?

Human Resources

• Are you working with the best talent that is out there?
• Are you surrounding yourself with amazing people to mentor or coach you?
• Are you developing future talent within your current organization and inspiring a new generation of leaders?
• How engaged are you and what needs to change over the upcoming year?

So, how have you faired?  Would you give yourself a bonus or would you need to have a conversation regarding areas of improvement?  This is your career – own it. Take the time and take charge.