Jan 09 Boost Valuable Leadership Brand During Performance Reviews
As many organizations begin closing out the fiscal year, leaders will be asked to write a performance recap. This is a great opportunity for you to proactively showcase your accomplishments and elevate your leadership brand. Boast about your team, and how it contributed to the organization. Engage in a meaningful dialogue with your boss about the value you brought to the table. Start to lay the groundwork for the future. Strategically plan to win that predictable promotion you deserve in 2018.
Keep in mind that it isn’t shameless promotion if you are just telling the truth. Too many executive leaders are reluctant to talk-up their achievements. I find that this especially applies to women. But that is what you are being asked to do during a performance evaluation. Don’t be shy or hesitant. Here is your chance to level the playing field…and emerge as a team winner.
Here are three secrets to help you articulate your leadership brand and highlight your value-add to the organization’s core DNA.
1) Think Big Picture Accomplishments
Take a high-altitude view. List out all of your biggest accomplishments and then rank or prioritize them. Which ones had the greatest positive impact on your team, your department, your division, or your entire organization? Did your efforts reduce costs or improve profit margins? Did you increase sales or engagement and help innovate with cross-collaboration? Can you quantify your performance outcomes or illustrate them with productivity metrics?
Strategically plan to win that predictable promotion you deserve in 2018. Click To TweetHere’s some valuable insight. We all like to think that our superiors really know what’s going on with our team contributions. But the truth is that most of them don’t, because they have too much on their plates. You need to sell yourself, list your accomplishments, and highlight your success stories. Point out the triple crown achievements of productivity, performance, and profits. Then also explain how your personal leadership vision and unique approach made it happen.
2) Show How You Attract, Develop, Promote, and Retain
Leadership means to become a talent master. You should be attracting and recruiting the best talent to your team. You should develop and promote the people around you into higher levels of responsibility. You should retain the cream of the crop by creating a fantastic, inclusive work environment. Those are the behavior traits of a truly outstanding leader. Demonstrate that kind of leadership, emphasize it through your performance review, and your organization will reward you for being a precious asset.
When companies are looking to promote people they want to ensure the individual has the people skills to inspire and motivate others. Highlight those skills. I can assure you that the higher you rise in any organization, the more you’ll be responsible for building talent within the organization. If you know how to do that, your superiors need to know – so point it out in your year-end review. You’ll make their job of picking the next leader to promote easier…because they will recognize that it is you.
3) Position Yourself for Predictable Promotion™
The more you learn, the more you enhance your excellence and broaden your executive experience and power. Use your performance review as a chance to ask for specific developmental opportunities you believe will make you a more dynamic and capable leader. Think in terms of what do you need to be fully qualified and ready to lead with greater responsibility.
What will ensure your productivity and make you a more valuable asset to your organization? If it’s good for your leadership career, then it’s good for your company’s top and bottom line. Let me share a secret with you. Every top Fortune 100 leader I coach does this. They constantly request development and get it, because organizations know that the best investment they can make is to invest in the future of their top leaders.
Skillful Communication Helps Your Work Speak for Itself
A well-articulated performance evaluation will help your boss sell you upward, to the HR team and senior decision makers. Great leaders are concise but influential communicators, so frame your comments accordingly. Use language that is powerful, compelling, but succinct.
Pick your best accomplishments, those of which you are most proud. Brag about your team members, and sincerely promote their own careers. True leaders measure their own worth by the success of those they lead. Develop them as pipeline succession talent and your own predictable promotions are guaranteed.
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Sarah Hathorn, CEO of Hathorn Consulting Group, is the go-to-expert in working with leaders and companies to create successful corporate DNA. As an executive coach, consultant and speaker she collaborates globally with clients and brands such as Deloitte, McKesson, Kimberly-Clark, Sherwin-Williams, Home Depot and other leading organizations.
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