Don't be afraid to "toot your own horn."

Whether you are a manager or individual contributor, the performance review process provides you with an opportunity to:

1. recognize yourself for your accomplishments,
2. share your accomplishments and contributions with others, especially your manager, and
3. re-focus and re-commit yourself to future challenges and performance goals.

Dawn Taylor of WebWorkerDaily outlines some great tips for freelancers and virtual workers that can be applied by all of us.  In summary:

1. Keep good records. Take a few minutes at the end of each day and week to document and reflect upon your accomplishments for the day.
2. Demonstrate your expertise. Everyone has expertise in something. Demonstrating and communicating your expertise in a variety of ways keeps your expertise top of mind AND can help others achieve their goals. Take time to share your ideas and expertise with others - be the one that people seek out for advice and information.
3. Learn new skills. Ongoing skill and knowledge development is critical for your ongoing success and will continue to make you more valuable to your organization and clients. Without ongoing learning, we risk having our skills becoming obsolete.  Steve Covey's Habit of "Sharpening the Saw" remains relevant!
4. Brag to your manager. Despite the fact that you work really hard at your job, your manager has limited ability to observe all of your achievements (hence the value of 360 degree feedback).  It is your responsibility to make sure that your manager knows about the important things that you do and the ways in which you are contributing on a regular basis.  Rely on your work diary and come prepared to outline your contributions during your performance review.

Ultimately, you are in charge of your own career and it is your job to manage your own performance and career development plan.

Please share your comments and additional suggestions!

Read Dawn Taylor's full article at 5 Tips for Better Performance Reviews.

Click here to download our eGuide to Performance-Driven Individual Development Plans.