Performance reviews - employee guidance:

2.Review your performance over the past year

On this page:

    Introduction

    Before your performance review meeting, you’ll need to dedicate some time to getting ready.

    To help you with this, we’ve broken the process into three parts that match the topics you’ll talk about with your manager.

    For the first part, you need to reflect on your past year at work and note down your thoughts on how it went.

    What you need to do

    We appreciate that reviewing your own performance isn’t something you do everyday, and it can be difficult knowing how to approach it.

    You’ll need to think about:

    • what you have achieved and how you have achieved it
    • the challenges you have faced this year and how they may have affected your progress - this could be work-related, like being asked to work on another project, or something to do with your personal wellbeing
    • the support you have received during the last period, and any other support that would be useful to you moving forwards.

    The guidance below will help you look at each of these points. Make notes as you work through them and take these to your performance review meeting.

    How to review your performance

    1
    Where to start

    A good place to start is with the performance review form your manager completed during your last performance review meeting.

    This will remind you of:

    • the future plans you and your manager discussed at your last meeting
    • any training or support that was agreed.
    Not had a performance review before?

    If you’ve never had a performance review, you won’t find a form to download. But you should have some goals and objectives from your probationary review meetings that you can use to work through these steps instead.

    2
    Work you have achieved

    Consider the tasks and projects that you and your manager agreed at your last performance review meeting, and the actions you set to achieve them.

    For example, you could have been working within a team to improve the take up of a service, or leading a team to make savings.

    Think about:

    • what progress you have made towards each of your planned areas of work
    • any goals or objectives you had to alter because the work you were suppose to do got postponed or changed
    • how your achievements have contributed to your team plan and/or service plan
    • examples of where you believe you have demonstrated each of the values and behaviours expected of you as a council employee
    • anything that you feel you need to improve on.

    Bring together any evidence you have of your efforts and the results.

    Other achievements

    Alongside anything you had planned to achieve, it is likely that you’ve been involved in other tasks or projects where you have made a positive impact. Make sure to include these on your list as well.

    3
    How you have delivered your work

    As a council employee, you should embrace the council’s 17 values and behaviours as you deliver your work.

    Write down specific examples of how you have incorporated the values and behaviours in your day-to-day work. For example you may have:

    • improved the effectiveness of a service, which shows you want to achieve quality
    • a ‘can do’ attitude when presented with a problem, which shows you have pride in your work
    • involved the community and sought their opinions on a project you are working on, which shows you respect them and want to gain their trust.

    4
    Continuous improvement

    As well as setting work goals at your last performance review meeting, you and your manager will have discussed some goals for personal development. This may have been to:

    • build upon the values and behaviours you demonstrate
    • learn new skills
    • enhance your strengths
    • work on ways to do your job better
    • advance your knowledge in your current role
    • progress your career.

    Make notes on any areas where you have improved. You should also think about any other opportunities you have had to enhance your skills and knowledge over the past year. This could include:

    • eLearning or training workshops
    • webinars or conferences
    • educational courses and/or qualifications
    • mentoring opportunities
    • skill-sharing with your colleagues.

    Consider how these activities have benefited you and contributed to your professional growth.

    5
    Challenges

    Acknowledge any challenges you have faced in the past year and think about:

    • how you navigated them
    • what strategies you employed to overcome them
    • any lessons you have learned from those experiences.

    6
    Feedback and recognition

    Think about any feedback you have received from people you have interacted with over the past year at work. This could be:

    • colleagues
    • managers
    • direct reports
    • customers.

    If someone has praised your work, or given you positive feedback, write it down so you can tell your manager about it. Also, get ready to discuss any suggestions your manager has received on how you can improve or develop in your role.

    If you haven’t received any feedback, think about creating a survey using the 360 degree feedback tool to gather some prior to your performance review. This tool provides the opportunity for you to invite people you work with to feedback on how you perform against the values and behaviours expected of you as a council employee.

    1
    Open the application

    Use the button below to open the application.

    If you are connected to the council network, you will automatically be logged in with your network user name and password.

    Have questions or need help? Find out more about the 360 degree feedback tool.

    2
    Set up a survey

    There are two survey options to pick from. The one you choose will depend on if you want feedback on all the values and behaviours, or just some of them:

    • 10-12 behaviour - gives you the option to pick between 10 and 12 behaviours for your survey
    • Full 360 - means your survey recipients will be asked to rate your performance against all 17 behaviours.
    Please note:

    These instructions assume you've chosen the 10-12 behaviours option. If you go for the full 360-degree review, the form questions might be a bit different.

    Create new button

    Select the Create New button.

    From the Version dropdown, select the 10-12 behaviour 360.

    Course Name should remain as Not applicable.

    Line manager details

    In the Line Manager field, add your manager’s full name.

    Select the Search button.

    Then choose your manager's name from the list.

    Select the Next button.

    List of behaviours

    You are now shown the full list of 17 behaviours.

    Go through the list, and tick the checkbox next to any behaviours you want feedback on. You can choose between 10 and 12 behaviours.

    Select the Next button.

    3
    Invite others

    Invite colleagues to provide feedback

    You need to invite at least two of your colleagues to receive the survey.

    In the Search ERYC Employees field, type the name of the first person you would like to send the survey to.

    Select the Search button.

    Then select the employee's name from the list.

    Continue until everyone you want to invite has been added.

    Select the Save button.

    4
    What happens next

    The survey will be emailed to the colleagues you have selected.

    The survey responses are sent to your manager, who will share the results with you during your performance review meeting.

    Employee confidential helpline

    0330 380 0658

    Speak to fully qualified counsellors and support specialists at any time, 365 days a year.

    Use code 107574 to access the online resources.

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