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How to prepare for your own performance appraisal

1. Quotable quote

Derek Rowntree, The Manager's Book of Checklists, Gower, Aldershot, 1989, p.129.

"Staff appraisal should not be a once-a-year ritual. Good managers do it all the year round."

2. Ask yourself

The end of the first year in a new position can be a major milestone. It is, therefore, an appropriate time to re-read the CV and letter of application you submitted for the job. Use these documents to evaluate your progress as a manager, focussing on such areas as:

  • Have I begun to achieve what I set out to do?
  • What factors have helped or hindered my progress?
  • How accurate was my reading of the situation and culture of which I am now a part?
  • What do I know now that I wish I had known before?
  • How can I use this knowledge constructively?
  • How closely has my practice reflected my beliefs?
  • What would I write now if I were to re-apply for my own position for next year?

3. Ask yourself

  • How do you feel you have performed in your job, during the period under review?
  • What difficulties (if any) have you encountered relating to aspects of the job which are within, and outside, your control? …