Summary
A self-evaluation improves communication between managers and employees and empowers them to take ownership of their own growth and development. This blog provides examples of informative, effective self-assessment comments that incorporate accomplishments, mistakes, challenges, goals, and peer recognition. It is recommended to follow the formula of action + result when writing about personal accomplishments and draw a comparison between the performance expectation and the final result. In addition, employees should include goal progression in performance reviews. This helps broaden the scope of feedback by incorporating the opinions of others.
What is a Self-Evaluation?
A self-evaluation is an opportunity for an employee to share their thoughts and perceptions about their own performance. Self-assessments are part of the formal performance review and prompt the employee to give their opinion about their performance, goal attainment, and workplace behaviors.
Writing about personal accomplishments can feel awkward and daunting without some guidance. It is important to remember that the goals of self-evaluation are to improve communication between the manager and employee and empower the employee to take ownership of their own growth and development. This article aims to help you accomplish both of these goals by providing best practices for writing informative, effective self-assessment comments.
What Are the Benefits of Self-Assessments?
A key part of talent development is providing employees with the opportunity to self-reflect. Self-evaluations push employees to be introspective and recall their contributions to the workplace. The list below highlights the major benefits of incorporating self-assessments into the performance review:
- The employee has a voice
History reveals decades of performance reviews being one-sided where the manager was the only person giving feedback. Modern-day performance reviews place a high value on the employee’s perceptions of their efforts and allow for feedback to be given and received. Self-evaluation gives employees a say in their professional growth.
- Employees are accountable
Setting the precedent that employee voices matter in the review process encourages a culture of accountability. When employees know they will be prompted to provide feedback, they are more willing to take ownership of what they have (and have not) accomplished.
- Self-reflection develops self-awareness
A team with a high sense of self-awareness is a team that has fewer blind spots. Pushing employees to be self-reflective encourages them to frequently consider their strengths, weaknesses, and challenges. This helps to eliminate unhealthy pride and ultimately makes the business less vulnerable.
- Managers gain helpful insight
Self-evaluation allows managers to see behind the curtain and gain a deeper understanding of their employees. Communication improves when both parties have a better grasp of what the other is thinking and feeling. Managers are better equipped to coach and mentor employees by praising accomplishments and tackling weaknesses and challenges.
- HR leaders gain insight into manager/employee relationships
Documented self-assessments give HR leaders a more comprehensive understanding of the manager/employee dynamic. Checks and balances are critical in employee development. Employees sharing their perceptions will help HR professionals minimize any potential gaps in communication between a manager and their direct reports.
What Should Be Included in a Self-Evaluation?
To make self-evaluation performance reviews most impactful, we have included the components below. This list is meant to be used as a guide, not an instruction manual. All employees should consider these bullet points while maintaining their own natural writing style.
- Wins– It is recommended to follow this formula when writing about personal accomplishments: action + result. For best-in-class self-evaluations, draw a comparison between the performance expectation and the final result.
- Mistakes– Humility is effective in self-assessments. Owning up to failures shows the manager the employee is self-aware and willing to receive helpful coaching feedback.
- Challenges– Employees should be honest about areas where they need help or additional resources to meet and exceed performance expectations. Managers are responsible for creating environments where employees can get the job done well, so clear communication is vital.
- Goals– For organizations that separate performance objectives from individual goals, employees should include goal progression in self-performance reviews. As goals are typically tied to the organization’s mission and vision, sharing goal progress highlights how the employee’s contributions affect business outcomes.
- Peer Recognition– If peer recognition is integrated into the company culture, employees should always include recognition they have received from others. This helps broaden the scope of feedback by incorporating the opinions of others. For employees who feel uncomfortable with sharing about their own accomplishments, including peer recognition can make this process easier.
- 360-Degree Feedback- For teams that 1) implement 360 feedback and 2) share that feedback with employees, this is a helpful resource that takes multiple perspectives into account. Adding feedback from various parties into the self-evaluation helps to eliminate bias, gives managers more information to use in coaching, and sets employees on a path toward reaching their professional potential.
Self-Performance Review Examples
Now that you have a firm grasp on the components of self-evaluations, it is helpful to see examples of what this looks like in practice. The 20 comments below are broken up into common performance objectives and core values/workplace behaviors. Each objective and value has 1 example that highlights strengths and 1 example that highlights areas of opportunity.
Performance Objectives
Job Knowledge/Self-Development
- Strength– In the last 3 months, I have actively pursued skills training through LinkedIn Learning and participated in a few lunch-and-learn webinars. I have also sought out feedback from peers on my project performance and have seen improvement.
- Opportunity– I have struggled to stay motivated to complete my continuing education hours. I recognize they are required to maintain my certification and I am committed to carving out a few hours each week over the next 4 weeks.
Problem-Solving and Decision-Making
- Strength– I have consistently been the person my coworkers reach out to for help in finding simple solutions to complex problems. I was recently requested to lead a brainstorming session regarding our newest client and we decided on 2 potential paths to move forward within an hour.
- Opportunity– I have noticed my hesitancy in making final decisions and am often caught in analysis paralysis. I would appreciate help breaking each decision down into its parts so I can more efficiently assess the path forward.
Productivity
- Strength– I have worked hard to eliminate distractions during work hours and instituted practices that improve my focus. The result has been that I am completing more work in less time.
- Opportunity– I have a tendency to mismanage my time and workload which leads to feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Time management is a skill I am actively working to improve.
Quality of Work
- Strength– I have consistently presented marketing materials with little to no mistakes. I have caught errors faster and fixed them before submitting finalized drafts.
- Opportunity– I know my assignments recently have contained careless mistakes. I recognize I need to slow down and review all material before submission and would appreciate you holding me accountable to that.
Delivers Results
- Strength– I am comfortable delegating necessary tasks to my colleagues for the purpose of producing the intended results on time, with accuracy, and with multiple levels of accountability. I am best at delivering results when I invite help from others.
- Opportunity– I struggle with task prioritization, which leads to inconsistent results. It would be helpful to have a conversation about prioritizing them more effectively.
Core Values
Adaptability
- Strength- I have fully embraced the changes that occurred after the merger. I have made a concerted effort to speak positively to my coworkers about the policy updates in an attempt to lead by example.
- Opportunity– Change is something I have always struggled with and realize it is beginning to affect my work. I have a difficult time adapting plans as necessary so I will willingly accept coaching in this area.
Collaboration
- Strength– I have worked hard to collaborate well by initiating cross-departmental meetings. I strive to hear from every person at least once in these meetings to ensure all voices are heard and considered.
- Opportunity– I have gotten feedback that I appear to work better in a silo than with a team. I like to stick to the old way of doing things because I feel it is tried and true, but I am realizing I can grow in this area.
Communication
- Strength– I take pride in the ability to convey information to my teammates, clients, and leaders concisely and with impact. I am often complimented for my well-worded emails and informative presentations in meetings.
- Opportunity– I have a difficult time translating what I am thinking into written or spoken words. I have been told my memos and phone calls come off as rude or inconsiderate and I would appreciate help in dissecting why that is.
Inclusivity
- Strength– I steer clear from office ‘water cooler’ talk and actively quash it if I witness it. I always try to make the effort to celebrate wins with my colleagues and take any personal accountability for team losses.
- Opportunity– I have recently found myself in the middle of office ‘drama’ and recognize it is unprofessional. I find myself in the middle of interpersonal conflicts often and would like some insight into how to avoid them in the future.
Work Ethic
- Strength– Due to the increase in client requests, I have had to stay past normal working hours to get everything done. Because I fully support our mission and vision, I have no problem working longer than expected on occasion.
- Opportunity– I struggle to stay positive and motivated when tasks take longer than expected to complete. I don’t believe I am lazy by nature but it has been challenging to remain focused on completing the task at hand recently.
Using the Right Tool
Self-evaluation performance reviews increase transparency and ensure that feedback is a two-way conversation. Documenting these conversations in the right performance review software eliminates the risk of losing valuable input and saves critical time.
WorkDove’s Performance Reviews allow employees to see all objectives and core values in one place, choose a star rating of 1-5, and provide open commentary for each objective and value individually. With integrated views, employees can view recent peer recognition and notes from one-on-one Check-Ins with their manager. Easy access to this information allows them to self-assess comprehensively and in half the time. If your organization desires to elevate employee voices in the performance review process, give WorkDove a try today!
