Question:
About a year ago, before COVID, I received an average rating at my Performance Evaluation review. I really want to be an above average employee. Now that we are working remotely I don’t know how to get my manager’s attention and to show her how hard I am trying to raise my average score. What should I do?
Answer:
It is truly more difficult to be visible to your manager and to highlight your professional wonderment when working from home for 12 months. There are ways to up your visibility and improve your performance if you make a plan, be consistent, take the initiative and assertively herald your results.
Review your PE from last year and ascertain what areas/skills/knowledge need to be worked on now, soon and later in the year.
Once you have a plan, meet with your boss and share your plan with her. Take the initiative and offer to write and submit weekly or monthly progress or new idea reports. Record learnings and discoveries you experienced and share them on video webinars or in a written article. Create a newsletter with articles with quotes from colleagues about their expertise and adventures over the past month.
Offer to be a mentor or ask to be mentored or start a mentor/mentee program. Suggest a social “wrap up of the week” every Friday at 4:30, for instance.
Volunteer or ask to chair a group meeting for the experience and for the visibility. Study up on virtual meeting best practices.
Use I, not we, when you give feedback or activity reports, so your manager knows what YOU have been doing to make a difference, which also makes you sound confident but not boastful.
