The Executive Suite: How to Respond to An Employee Evaluation

Saturday, December 21, 2013

How to Respond to An Employee Evaluation

It's common practice in large and mid-sized companies to have employees fill out a self-evaluation as part of their annual review. It usually includes questions on qualities such as attitude, accountability, communication, teamwork and problem-solving. Completing an evaluation can be a tricky. You want to strike a positive tone and make yourself look good without going over the top or boasting. It's also vital to be constructive about the company for which you work.

Suggestions

Give yourself plenty of time to complete the evaluation thoughtfully. Don't wait till 10 minutes before it's due to fill it out. Set aside an hour one day to draft your answers, and then come back to the evaluation another day to revise and complete it.
Read through the entire evaluation paper so that you have an idea of the scope of the questions as a whole.
Brainstorm and list several examples of concrete achievements that you made during the year that you can use to illustrate some of your answers.
Write down a list of qualities or job objectives that you particularly want to project when you complete the evaluation.
Draft your individual answers before filling in the form and then read them through before making a final copy. This is especially important if the evaluation is a paper document rather than an electronic form.
Read each question carefully, and if it has several elements, or asks for a list of qualities, be sure to address each part in your answer.
Be honest about weaknesses or mistakes, but discuss them in terms of the ways you are striving to improve, or steps the company could take to help you in your professional development.
Be specific. For example, if you want to highlight your productivity, indicate that with numbers related to your work product.
Be constructive. This is especially important in questions that relate to the company's treatment of you or the company's provision of tools and services. If you have improvements you would like your superiors to consider, it's best to couch them in helpful, positive terms that solve problems rather than highlighting weaknesses.