For a company or an organization to perform well, the employees must do a self evaluation at one point or another. This is a procedure to analytically observe, examine and find the value of your own professional actions. Making self evaluation examples can be used to maintain your performance in the workplace or possibly improve it. Evaluation like this can be done by an individual employee or by a whole organization as it is mainly aimed at exploring and assessing the professional work, either of a single employee or the whole team.
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An employee self evaluation is a great way for the employees to consider, evaluate and document their performance objectively and honestly without being awkward while doing it. Employees can either fill in a self evaluation form or take a look at previously made self evaluation samples to serve as reference for their own. Self-assessment needs to be done properly so that the end result is genuine and accurate, not just made for the sake of coming up with a required document.
This can involve assessing established goals in the organization, competencies when it comes to job specifications or functions and overall performance of the employee. There are many benefits to doing this kind of procedure in an organization as it can lead to better productivity overall.
Self Evaluation Samples
What You Need to Make a Self Evaluation
In order for you to make a good self-evaluation, you would need a few things. Most, if not all, self evaluation examples were made with all these factors. These are simple things which would amount to a lot in the end and would allow you to make a great write up and in the process, being able to properly conduct an assessment of your work performance.
Enough Time
If you would have to complete the document while at the office, allot enough time to do it. An hour would be enough to review your performance and possibly go through any documents you may have which are related to your objectives and your competencies.
A Relaxing, Quiet Environment
You’d have to complete your evaluation in a quiet place without any distractions so that you can focus on what you are writing and on your personal reflections. Working in a quiet environment can also relax you, clearing your mind from other tasks and stresses, which would definitely work in your favor.
Knowing Your Strengths
You’d have to be well aware of your strengths and you need to know all the good things you’ve done over time so you can include those in your employee self-evaluation. When it comes to emphasizing highlights, don’t be shy! Lay down all the good things but remember to use an objective and diplomatic tone.
Write What You Know
Typically after you’ve made such a document, you’d be called in to have a discussion with your supervisor so it’s very important to write down what you know so you can back it up during the discussion. Word your document using a conversational style so that it comes off as natural.
Feedback from Coworkers
So that you won’t end up struggling with what to write, you can ask feedback from your coworkers before starting on your evaluation of yourself. They may be able to give valuable comments about your performance which you may have forgotten or which you may not have actually been aware of.
Good Language
To be able to come up with a good report, you’d have to use language which is appropriate, objective and easy to understand. Read up on previous reports to try and see what language you can use and what you should avoid.
Ready Your Suggestions
One of the purposes of doing this procedure is to find ways on how to improve your performance. While you are coming up with your report, think about some suggestions for improvement so you can bring them up or suggest them during the discussion with your supervisor.
Having these simple things and preparing for them before you actually make your report would allow you to complete it without much effort. You’d be able to make a comprehensive document which is well thought out and well written. Now let’s take a look at the reasons why evaluating one is so important.
Self Evaluation Examples
Importance of Self Evaluation
You may have already seen a lot of self evaluation examples and have an idea of how to make one. But before you do, have you asked yourself why it’s so important to make one? In fact, this procedure is a crucial part of organizational processes since it makes the whole performance appraisal a lot more effective. As long as it is done correctly, self-assessment can be very beneficial to the organization or company.
To Involve Employees in the Process of Performance Appraisal
Allowing employees to evaluate themselves gives employees an active role in the whole performance appraisal process. Rather than just receiving the appraisal, they are given the opportunity to assess themselves and have a conversation with their supervisor on what they had written in the report. In essence, this gives the employees a “voice” to speak up and be heard.
To Give Supervisors and Managers a More Extensive Perspective
Reading this document would definitely give your supervisor or manager more insight about your performance and your own perceptions about how you are performing in the workplace. No matter how closely employees work with their supervisors or managers, some things about the employee’s performance may be missed and not everything is understood unless it is written down and read.
To Establish Any Discrepancies before the Review Meeting
Typically the process of performance appraisal involves a review meeting. Correlating what is written on the supervisor’s appraisal with what is on the personal evaluation of the employee will allow the manager or the review board to prepare in case there are any differences in perception regarding the performance of the employee. This is important so that the review meeting goes smoothly and no one is caught off guard by radical discrepancies.
To Encourage Meaningful Conversations
When an employee is given the opportunity to asses himself and share how he perceives his own performance, he would be more willing to engage in a conversation about it and about how to improve performance if needed. Willingness to listen to a topic which is more personal to oneself is human nature – if an appraisal is just given, the employee might not be as interested to talk about it as opposed to if an appraisal is given and he/she is also given a chance to share his/her own side of the story.
As you can see, it’s important to conduct these self-assessments of employees so that your organization isn’t “one-sided.” There are many benefits which you can consider and think about as they can improve your organization a lot. To be able to come up with a good evaluation, you’d need some tips to guide you, which we will talk about in the next section.
Employee Self Evaluation Forms
Tips in Writing Your Self Evaluation
You may be asked to fill out a self evaluation form or you may have to make one yourself based on some criteria given by your organization. Either way, you’d be helped out a lot by learning some useful tips which you can use as guides. Here are some tips for you:
Be Proud but not Boastful
The top objective of doing this procedure is for you to emphasize all your good work and accomplishments. You’d need to enumerate particular projects or tasks wherein you had performed excellently. Emphasize the impact your work had made on these tasks and projects with pride but without being too boastful.
Be Honest About Your Performance
It is vital for you to be honest about your performance as you’d most likely be having a conversation with your supervisor or manager before the performance appraisal process is over. Only write down what you have done well and never invent things which you won’t be able to back up during the discussion.
Monitor Your Accomplishments
If you have a chance to see self evaluation examples, you’d see that the accomplishments of the employee are highlighted there. So it’s very important for you to actually monitor and keep track of your own accomplishments so that you’d have an easier time including them in your report.
Always be Professional
When making your personal evaluation, keep in mind that people above you will be reading it so you have to be professional always. You won’t be writing this document to rant or vent about what you don’t like about your work or what you think you deserve. You are tasked to make this report to share your perspective about how you are performing at work and how well you think you are working professionally.
Ask about any Opportunities for Career Development
When you’re done, you will have a conversation with your immediate supervisor or even with your manager. At this time, it would be good to ask about any opportunities for career development, especially if you believe you’ve performed exceptionally well.
Keep these tips in mind when you’re writing your self evaluation and you’re sure to make an effective and well written document which would benefit you, as an employee of the organization. Now let’s look at some steps in writing a meaningful evaluation for you.
Self Evaluation Templates
Writing a Meaningful Self Evaluation
Now that you’re armed with helpful tips, you may be gaining more and more confidence in your skills in regards to writing a good self evaluation example. Before you tackle that task, let’s take a look at some helpful steps for you to keep in mind when writing your report. These steps were carefully thought of to help assist you in completing your assessment document.
- Make sure to set aside an ample amount of time to write your report. You know your own skills so you can gauge whether you’d need a lot of time or just an hour or two to complete your self-assessment.
- Never rush your evaluation. You’d have to put a lot of thought into it and reflect on all your skills, objectives and everything else you’d like to include in it.
- Be honest in a way that you write down all your accomplishments as well as everything you know needs improvement. This makes your report more meaningful and more genuine.
- When writing about the challenges you had faced, provide insight on them as well. Write down what you had experienced as well as what you had learned from those experiences.
- Provide examples with each of the situations. Write down the exact event, task or such which led to your accomplishment or challenge so your supervisor or manager has a clear picture of the whole situation.
- Don’t just talk about your job and your duties but also talk about your career in general. Reflect on how well (or how poorly) you are doing and use this opportunity to decide what you would like to do long term.
- This is where you can look into career opportunities within your own workplace and start a discussion about it with your supervisor or manager.
- Remain open-minded throughout the process. Accept your weaknesses as much as your strengths so that you don’t end up bitter or angry when you are given constructive criticism.
- When time comes where you will have a conversation about your appraisal, speak up and share everything you’d like to while remaining professional and open minded.
- Ask yourself even the hardest questions so you know that you’ve covered everything in your assessment. You never know, the answers to these hard questions might be the key to you getting ahead in your career.
- Also ask about how the personal employee evaluations will be used in the whole appraisal process. Would you be given bonuses, promotions or incentives if you’ve performed well? Who will be reading your report? The answers to these questions will give you further insight on how you should be writing your document.
- Aside from keeping an open mind, remember to stay positive when making your report. Again, this report should not be used to convey negative emotions or to make known your frustrations in the office. It’s actually a tool which is to be used to improve performance.
- We’ve already established that you shouldn’t only speak about your achievements but your shortcomings as well. Once you’ve identified them, it would also be very helpful and productive for you to think about ways to overcome them and basically improve your performance at work.
- Coming up with solutions and suggestions for improvement would definitely impress your boss. It would give the impression that you’re ready and willing to take the necessary steps to further yourself and augment your performance.
- You can site some examples on how you would improve your performance by using the same examples of situations or events which you found challenging or which you had seen brought out your own weaknesses.
- Ask for career improvement avenues such as seminars or trainings if you need them. You may not be the only one in the office who has those particular shortcomings so your organization may actually benefit from giving these seminars or trainings which would boost the overall performance of employees in the organization.
- Make sure to keep a record of all your achievements to aid you when you would need to make an evaluation. Be very specific when talking about your achievements and provide all the needed details. This would give the readers of your report a clear picture of what had transpired and a good understanding of what you had contributed to the success of the event or task.
- Your achievements are a big part of the report so make sure to include them all. Write down all the facts and relay them in an objective tone or manner. Don’t build up yourself too much as it might actually put off the person who is reading the document you have written.
- Know that in the performance appraisal, there would be different points of view. This may be because you are interpreting things differently or there isn’t much exposure between you and your superiors which is why your perspective differs radically from theirs.
- Don’t fret, these discrepancies are normal. The important thing is that you will be able to back up everything you’ve written down to be able to make your supervisor or manager understands that you’re actually doing a better job than you’re given credit for. This is why review meetings and discussions are important elements of the whole performance appraisal process. To be able to sort out the discrepancies and come to an agreement.
- If you do have any weaknesses or shortcomings, you could ask for direction on how to improve your performance or even go as far as asking for guidance or mentoring from key people in the organization. Most likely you would be asked to evaluate yourself so that you can be aware of your own work performance and do a better job if needed.
- Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, in fact, it shows that you’re open to criticism and you are willing to be trained or guided. Speak with your superiors about what kind of help you can get and how you will be able to improve yourself in the long run.
- Always make sure that everything you’ve written down is relevant. You don’t need to use technical words or flowery language just to build the content of your report. In fact, adding unnecessary information might actually end up confusing your readers and might lead to them missing the point of your evaluation report.
- Once you’re done writing, make sure to proofread what you’ve written. Check if there are any spelling errors or errors in grammar to make sure that you’re to submit a well-made document. When you’re sure about what you’ve come up with, submit your evaluation to the right person and wait for feedback.
The exercise after the review
There are some important questions to be answered and to be taken care of by the managers after the self evaluation is over. A performance review, whether positive or somewhat negative, is always a great opportunity for an employee to learn, plan, grow, and move forward in his or her career. The management can encourage an employee to consider these important questions after the self evaluation:
- How do your work responsibilities align with the company’s strategic goal?
- As an employee, what are your most important accomplishments and contributions during the review period?
- What competencies (technical skills, soft skills, work knowledge) have been most important in achieving the targets set for you?
- What feedback have you received from coworkers/colleagues?
- What skill upgradation do you need to enhance your performance further?
- How satisfied are you with your achievements during the review period?
- What have you learned from your experience that can be applied in the future to meet the set targets?