Performance evaluations used to hold much anxiety for me, and, to be honest, depending on my work situation, it still could. There is so much build up to a performance evaluation for most employees and, I would imagine, managers. Due to the nature of the administrative work, it almost seems impossible to organize your work in such concrete and quantifiable terms.
Here are my performance evaluation tips and strategies I’ve compiled to help you put your best foot forward. This week’s post is a general discussion about performance evaluations and the admin.
Hard to Quantify
I’ve mentioned it many times before on other posts how difficult it is to define administrative roles. Minimizing the “gray area” from the very beginning will help you, especially when it’s time for your performance evaluation. A lot of sites will tell you to set measurable goals, but this isn’t often possible for an admin.
For example, how would you quantify:
- the increase in office efficiency when you’re the only person in charge of office efficiency and no historical/current data to compute?
- becoming the “reliable” admin in the office who is asked to do more tasks because of that fact
- discovering a new software that they taught themselves to increase productivity?
- unofficially training a colleague on a standard applications
Furthermore, what would that actually mean if you could actually quantify it? Administrative work rarely operates on an itemized payout. First, employers consider any work “part of the job,” and if you refuse you’re not a team player. Second, completing and excelling at work makes us worthy of us keeping our job, but not worthy of a raise/promotion.
I’m not saying all additional work is worthy of a raise or a promotion every year. However, I believe one of the major failures in our field is there is no common benchmark to show what administrative success is.
Admins have no grounds or leverage to advocate on their own behalf, which makes it harder to demonstrate when we deserve a promotion or raise.
For example, a company’s growth is inevitable, therefore, so is an admin’s workload. They should consider the relative ease of transitioning during phases of growth as a huge administrative success and should be compensated accordingly.
An Administrative Perspective
In every performance evaluation, I’m hoping my manager will point out how they have viewed my efforts over the past year. I walk in wanting this meeting to not be about the company or department, but about me and my performance.
The First Performance Evaluation
Having said that, I consider the first performance evaluation the most crucial. It is the first opportunity to confirm you and your employer are on the same page. I’ve had both really great first performance evaluations, and really terrible ones.
Take the time to understand what your manager is saying and their perspective in your first evaluation. Of course, we’d love for everything to be positive, but that is not reality. Now is a critical time to understand if you still feel you’re a good fit for the company/manager.
It’s a huge red flag if you’ve had terrible experiences until now, and now they are gaslighting you. Conversely, if you thought everything was going well, but they have a very different perspective. It’s a good time to check in to make sure you’re happy where you are.
I’m not saying these red flags are quit-worthy. If you feel willing to work through it, go for it! However, keep that in mind, in case they move the marker again next year.
Performance Evaluation: A General Perspective
The performance evaluation is the opportunity to learn how and what our managers viewed your contributions throughout the year. Personally, I found past employers didn’t really have too much to say about my work itself or my specific contributions – everything seemed generalized.
Why?
I believe the cause to not just a product of our seemingly overgeneralized and ambiguous profession but a general lack of professional interest. Furthermore, there is almost a silent assumption and resignation of there being no clear path toward advancement within the administrative field.
So… why would you need a promotion? How could you justify a raise? It’s the same work, right?
Walking into your evaluation with that thought in mind can add to anxiety because you don’t feel you’re able to grow, but simply to sustain. Sometimes, we walk in performance evaluations hoping we leave the room still employed because we’re worried our best wasn’t good enough.
Everyone wants to feel like they are growing professionally in their respective field. Company, organization, and manager’s (COMs) lack of insight should not be the cage that holds us in. Use your performance evaluation to document your awesomeness. Save your performance evaluations.
Reality Check
The reality of the situation is that there are three parts to the process of the evaluation. Your manager, the evaluation, and you. To set yourself up for success, simply do your best every day.
It really is that simple.
Know within yourself that you couldn’t do any better than what you’ve already done. That way if they agree with you (awesome), you feel like they understood and accepted your best. But if they disagree, you know inside of you there wasn’t anything more you could have done.
No, I’m not saying you had to be perfect. Don’t be ridiculous. Mistakes are human. I’m simply reminding you to not let someone (who might not fully understand what your actual world is like) to supersede your own feelings. Consider them, but take the time to sort through what is helpful advice/constructive criticism versus their issues.
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Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
