Success Thought of the Day – 7/13/20

Tell your story.  If you don’t someone else will, inaccurately. – James Rosseau, Sr.

As we enter the second full week of July, midway through the year, you may not be ready to even think about having your mid-your performance appraisal nor writing a self-assessment.

However, try to reframe this as telling your story.  As a fan of keeping things simple, here are five steps (FAVOR) to help you prepare.

Facts:

• What were you asked to do (the goals)?

• What was the situation when you began (the starting point)?

• What is the situation now (the ending point)?

Actions:

• What actions did you take to drive the change from the starting point to the ending point?  Draw this out in narrative form to ensure you don’t miss any of the details.

• Consider all partnership work.  Who did you collaborate with, whether acting as an individual contributor, leading others, or influencing others, internally and externally?

• Did you create or alter anything (e.g. systems or processes)?

Value:

• “Zoom out” and take a few steps back.

• What value did the changes from the starting to the ending point create within the organization (e.g. a unit, department, or otherwise)?

• How can you express that value (e.g. throughput, reduced steps in a process, cost savings, or increased sales and revenue)?

Obstacles:

• What unexpected challenges did you face?  What did you to do overcome those challenges?

• What did you learn about yourself during this time?

• What did you learn about the organization during this time?

• What out of scope work did you deliver in order to get to the ending point (we almost always deliver out of scope work and in many cases fail to take credit for it)?

Recurring

• Beyond this year, what are the on-going (year-over-year) benefits of the value you created?  If that can be expressed numerically, I would suggest a three-year number.

I hope this helps.  Happy writing!
James

#successtotd