YOUR YEAR END PERFORMANCE REVIEW

by Deb Weidenhamer

I began preparing to do the year end reviews for the staff at my company, and it occurred to me that I will not be getting a year end review.  Whether you are a one person operation or the head of a large auction firm it is important to be able to rate your own performance and look for areas in which you had accomplishments and those areas that need additional fine tuning.

I have previously asked employees to rate my performance, in the corporate world these performance reviews are referred to as 360 degree reviews.  And I have found these reviews encouraging because they point out my good management traits.  However in a company of less than 100 employees, 360 degree reviews can be ineffective.  There is a fear that in a company that is small that the manager may recognize the staff member responding to the review.  So often times this type of review can be an ego booster but not a true measure of performance and skill growth.

Knowing this has led me to examine how to conduct a year end review for the head of a small company, specifically an auction company.  For the purposes of this review let’s assume that the focus of your firm is to grow.  There are several ways to grade your performance as a leader, manager, worker and possibly as an auctioneer.

The task of conducting your own performance review is much more simplified if you set goals for yourself at the beginning of the year.  These goals would allow you to gauge your success as well as your skill sets that need additional work.  We will assume you did limited goal planning and you are vowed to do more in the coming year.   So we will start with some basic questions.

Obviously the fact that you are conducting your own review means you owe yourself honesty.  So make a promise that you will be neither too hard nor too easy on yourself in the review process.  The purpose of the exercise is too see if there are ways in which you can grow your company and yourself better and faster to achieve your business dream.  You will need to create your performance review around your company and your specific tasks, but here is a starter.  

Leadership.  Are you a better leader of your company today than a year ago?  A good gauge for this is to review whether you are spending more or less time dealing with issues around staff, processes and clients.  Less time working on problems and issues rates better performance than more time “putting out fires”.

Management.  Do you manage people and processes with more ease today than a year ago?  This two-part question can actually become three questions.  Are you managing your auction processes more efficiently?  Do you manage your auction staff with ease, working on better skills?  Is the process of managing your clients for higher profit for both your firm and your client improving? 

Worker.  Are your own skills continuing to be developed?  What have you done in the past year to gain more knowledge of your industry and its future?  If you were your manager, how would you rate your performance as a worker?  Would you give yourself a raise?  Would you require more follow through of your tasks?  What skills would you want you as a worker to work on in the upcoming year to be more valuable to the firm?  As an employer would you be concerned that you as an employee may have too much knowledge and if you were to leave (or get sick) there would be a huge gap in your auction company?  If so, how will you correct that in the upcoming year?

Lastly, look at your goals for the upcoming year.  If you aren’t a big goal setter, at least take a few minutes to write down five areas you would like to see improved over the next year.  How will you rate yourself at the end of the next year on your progress?  And if you are really bold share both the goals and the measures for your goals with your spouse or your employees.  Accountability is a wonderful thing and a great way to make sure you continue to grow in the new-year.