Part of being a great employee is evaluating yourself and making continuous improvements. The key to improving yourself is to have a positive attitude. Instead of thinking, “I’m never good enough!”, think, “I have achieved a lot, but how can I improve myself?” Your performance review will give you answers to this question as well as specific ways that you can improve yourself. Make sure you take this advice seriously and try to apply it to your work.
Let’s look at the five following tips to help you make continuous improvements after a performance review:
- Have a positive attitude
- Sharpen your skills
- Find a mentor
- Study your profession
- Work smarter, not harder
Have a positive attitude
The most important thing to remember about improving yourself is to have a positive attitude about yourself and your performance. Remember that you have every reason to feel good about your work if you work hard and help meet company goals. Recognize yourself as a valuable employee and know that your hard work makes a difference to your team, department and company. By focusing on these positives, you will be more likely to want to make a difference and continuously improve yourself.
Sharpen your skills
In addition to having a positive attitude to improve yourself, you should keep up with your skills and sharpen them regularly. Making improvements in this way will help you follow up with suggestions given to you during your performance review, and will ultimately help you become a better employee.
Here are some ways you can consider to sharpen your skills and continuously improve:
-Practice problem solving skills by taking on a new task or assignment
-Lead your next group meeting to work on communication skills
-Meet with your mentor or supervisor and ask how you can improve your performance
-Network, or speak with others in your field, about the latest developments
-Take a class relevant to your job or receive training in a new area
-Read a book, article or magazine about your field
Find a mentor
A mentor is someone you can look up to and ask for help in improving yourself. He or she can be a very valuable resource to help you continually improve and develop in your career. A mentor can help you reflect on your strengths, weaknesses and overall job performance. Your mentor can also help you set and meet both short and long-term goals. In this way, they act similar to a supervisor. The difference is that you meet with your mentor on a more regular basis than with your supervisor. Meeting often with a mentor will give you regular feedback and help you to improve. This will help you to have more successful performance reviews.
Here are some people you might use as a mentor:
-Peer in your department
-Person in your field at another company
-Your supervisor (can act as a mentor in smaller departments)
Often times you will be given a mentor to help you in your first weeks on the job. You can continue to use this person as your mentor throughout your time at the company. If you don’t receive one, ask your supervisor where you can find a mentor.
Study your profession
Studying your profession will help you make continuous improvements in your field. There are many things you can do to keep up with your profession. This is especially important as technology evolves. Staying on top of these latest developments shows continuous improvement and will help you to be a better employee.
Work smarter, not harder
By making continuous improvements, you will be able to be a smart worker for your company. Make sure that you keep up with your skills and profession and find a mentor to give you regular feedback. By doing these things, you will be able to work smarter instead of harder.
Remember that your boss has the same goal as you: to help the company succeed. If you keep up with your job duties and work to continuously improve yourself, you will be confident in your performance review. Be honest, but direct, in this meeting with your supervisor about your strengths, weaknesses and overall job performance. This will guarantee that you will leave your review with more positive motivation than ever.
We hope you enjoyed our series on performance reviews. If you would like to learn more about teaching workplace readiness skills, click the free trial link below.
