by
Pamela Skillings
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Have you been naughty or nice this year? If you’re toiling in Corporate America, your year-end performance review is your chance to show what you accomplished in 2007 and make a case for a juicy bonus in 2008. We all look forward to that bonus check, but many dread the actual performance review process. At many firms, the year-end evaluation is more about political maneuvering than about honestly evaluating your accomplishments and setting inspiring goals for the new year. You work hard all year only to get burned by an unfair review.
Even so, when done right, the annual performance review can be a very rewarding process (and not just when it leads to big bonus dollars). The process of inventorying your past accomplishments and setting concrete goals for the next twelve months can be incredibly valuable. That’s why I recommend that all entrepreneurs, career changers, and aspiring corporate escapees take some time to compile their own personal year-end performance reviews. The idea is to evaluate your progress toward your long-term career goal — whether that means landing a new job in a different field, launching your dream career, increasing your revenue as an entrepreneur, or otherwise making your career vision a reality.
The best part is that you can be 100% honest when conducting your personal performance review. There’s no need to position your accomplishments so that they look better to your boss or fit more clearly with the corporate mandates of the month. Instead, you can take a good, clear look at where you are in your career and where you want to go. You can determine your realistic next steps in 2008 to get you closer to your dream.
Many entrepreneurs already go through a process like this at year-end, but many others are so busy running their businesses that they don’t stop to evaluate and put their successes and goals down on paper. Career changers are even less likely to conduct a formal evaluation of their progress. Even if you haven’t made any big moves toward your dream career this year, it’s useful to catalog what you have done. Maybe you’ve investigated a few career ideas, read some books, or updated your resume. Do you need to make more time for your personal career goals next year? What are the next steps? What can you commit to in 2008? It’s unlikely that your dream career will just fall into your lap. You need a plan and you need to hold yourself accountable to moving forward — even if it’s just taking baby steps at first.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the typical corporate year-end evaluation process, it’s fairly straightforward.
Your 2007 Accomplishments
First, sit down and document your key accomplishments in 2007. You may find it useful to go back and look at your calendar or skim through email folders to refresh your memory. During the corporate review process, you generally will be comparing these accomplishments to measurable goals set at the beginning of the year (of course, those goals often have been rendered irrelevant due to reorganizations, budget cuts, or other developments).
If this is the first time you’re going through this process for yourself, you may not have set formal goals. That’s okay, though you will be amazed at how much more you will achieve when you do set concrete objectives for 2008. At this point, it’s enough to just list the key steps that you have taken this year. Did you make any key decisions? Were there on-the-job or leisure-time accomplishments that helped you strengthen your skills or meet valuable contacts?
Some people avoid this process because they feel guilty that they haven’t achieved more. This is self-defeating behavior. Cut yourself a little slack if life got in the way of your grand plan in 2007. Not everyone can (or wants to) make big moves right away.
The act of documenting your progress lets you celebrate your successes and analyze where and how you could have done better. Take a look at what obstacles stood in your way. Can you find better ways to address these challenges going forward?
Your 2008 Goals
Even if you think it might be years before you’re ready to start your business or your new career full-time, you should be working toward your goal at least a little bit every year. That might mean attending a seminar or networking with someone who is successfully living your career dream. These are things that you can do even while juggling a busy work and home life. The key is to make consistent progress and keep your future vision in mind at all times (even if it’s only in the back of your mind). When you have written goals, even very modest ones, your perspective shifts. You go from fantasizing to working a plan. This mental change is just as important as any concrete step you might take. You never know what opportunities might come along if you stay open to them. Personally, I was amazed at how many ideas and opportunities appeared to me as soon as I made a committed decision to change my career path.
Suddenly, I met people with great advice and saw strengths in myself that I didn’t realize I possessed. I went from feeling stuck and depressed to feeling inspired by my possibilities. What can you do in 2008? Take a lesson from Corporate America and set goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). For example, don’t just plan to "network more often." Commit to joining a particular organization or attending a specific event (or a defined number of events). The time-bound aspect is very important. Think about setting objectives for each quarter to keep you on track. In any case, you will want to revisit your goals at least once every quarter to see how you’re doing and whether you want to shift direction or re-order priorities.
Have a Happier New Year
Remember, you don’t have to prepare a long, detailed list of activities to justify your existence like you did in your corporate days. Your entire year-end review could be just one page long. It’s a document for you, not for anybody else. Take this opportunity presented by the end of the calendar year to reflect on the past and visualize your future. The time you spend is well worth it — every big, audacious goal can be broken down into small, achievable steps. But you’ll never start taking those steps until you have a plan. Start planning now to make 2008 your biggest, proudest, most thrilling year ever.
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any suggestions as to how to repair an entreprenuerial train wreck? I’ve done the “captian of my own ship” for 20 years and am now overcome with regret and feel as though I have wasted so much of my life and the opportunity if I had only done things the “normal”way …. now what?
Hi Owen,
I’m sorry to hear that you’re feeling down and frustrated. I think everyone — including entrepreneurs and corporate all-stars — goes through hard times when we wonder if we should have gone in a different direction. It’s hard to give specific advice without knowing the specifics of the situation. Please feel free to email me at askpam @ escapefromcorporate.com if you want to.