1. Best Practices

2. Start with a Plan
Work with your supervisor to set up the meetings necessary to complete the evaluation process – ideally you should have 2 to 4 meetings (1 meeting for planning, 1 or 2 for discussion and feedback and planning, 1 meeting to finalize the evaluation and sign it).
Built these meetings into your regular meeting schedule with your supervisor.
Review the overall calendar of due dates and clarify due dates for your evaluation.
June 15 – July 12: Employee prepares and submits year-end progress report on FY 2010– 2011 Individual Work Plan, activity and accomplishment reports, and/or self-evaluation.
July 1 – August 19 Supervisors develop and draft staff performance evaluations, schedule and hold meetings, and finalize evaluations.
August 19 – Signed evaluation due to LHR.
Ask about deadlines within your unit /department and any additional due dates outlined by the department head and/or supervisory AUL.
Meet all deadlines!

3. Understand the Process
Make sure you understand the process – the one within the library, within your department, and the process used by your supervisor.
Do not be afraid to ask questions as necessary.
Ask your supervisor.
Come to Library Human Resources.
Find out what form or format will be used by your supervisor or within your department.
Ask your supervisor to describe how they compile information, develop and draft evaluations, and what criteria they use to evaluate and measure performance, what type of outcomes and results do they look for, etc.
Ask about process – how to the upper levels of management participate in the process in your unit/department?
Understand the culture of evaluation in the organization, specifically what do the ratings mean and how are they viewed.

4. Prepare Your IWP Status Report
Start working on the year-end status/progress report on your FY 2010– 2011 Individual Work Plan – this must be attached to your evaluation! Summarize the status of each goal – completed, in progress, deferred, dropped, modified, etc. – and write a short summary/abstract of what you accomplished including specifics – statistics, time involved, process,, impact.
Add a section entitled “Other Activity and Accomplishments” and summarize significant items that were not part of your work plan. Use your calendar and other tools to refresh your memory on what you accomplished.
Be sure to summarize what learning and development opportunities you participated in during the past year.
Strive to honestly and objectively evaluate your successes, contributions, problems, issues, challenges.
Be prepared to answer questions and provide information.
Pull together supporting documentation – statistical and narrative reports, completed projects, letters, etc. – and share with your supervisor.
Submit to your supervisor no later than July 12, 2011.

5. Review Last Year’s Evaluation
Pull a copy of your last evaluation – review the comments as well as goals and objectives, action plans, recognition, contributions, criticism, and challenges and issues that were identified in that evaluation.
Summarize what you’ve done since the last evaluation.
What goals and objectives have been finished?
What action plans have been completed?
How have you addressed any criticisms, issues, or challenges?
How have you built on past successes?
What changes took place that prevented or accelerated activity? Were these factors within your control?
Be prepared to answer questions and provide information.
Pull together supporting documentation – statistical and narrative reports, completed projects, letters, etc. – and share with your supervisor as early as possible in the process.

6. Mine Your Job Description
Get a copy of your current job description and mine it for information for you IWP status/progress report and/or evaluation.
Review each section as a way of prompting your memory to help you summarize your key activities and accomplishments during the past year.
Review the job description to determine if an update is necessary – revisions and updates of job descriptions should be done AFTER the evaluation process is complete.
What needs to be changed, modified, updated?
What needs to be added?
What needs to be deleted?

7. Assess Your Knowledge & Skills
Summarize what your job knowledge and skill set are in relation to the department’s work.
Identify your areas of strength and/or contribution.
Consider how you might leverage these strengths and enhance your contribution in the department and library.
Make suggestions on how you can use your strengths to benefit the department.
Identify areas of weakness.
Develop ideas for how to turn weaknesses into strengths and include in the learning and development part of your work plan.
Make suggestions for what learning and development opportunities exist to help you address weaknesses.
Ask your boss what they think your strengths and weaknesses are in terms of job knowledge and skill set.

8. Prepare Your IWP for Next Fiscal Year
Start working on your Individual Work Plan (IWP) for the coming fiscal year – 2011 – 2012 – this must be attached to your evaluation!
Look at the past year’s plan and identify incomplete, deferred, dropped, modified goals and determine if they need to be included in next year’s plan.
Review your departmental work plan to develop your IWP and ensure that your IWP reflects all of those that have your name on them.
Add any goals you want to accomplish in relation to your job description and career path – discuss with your supervisor (who must approve).
Be sure to include a learning and development section of the plan – plan to learn.
Be prepared to discuss your work plan and goals for the coming year – as well as your career goals – with your supervisor.
Identify what you are interested in doing and why.
Be open to suggestions from your supervisor.
Get your supervisor’s approval for the IWP. Your supervisor will get all other necessary approvals, i.e. department head, supervisory AUL.

9. Anticipate Your Supervisor’s Perspective
In reviewing your last evaluation, work plan, job description, and activities and accomplishments summary, try to think like your boss.
What is their perspective on your accomplishments?
What is their assessment of your performance and contributions?
What is their view of your team skills?
What will they think of your goals and objectives?
What new work might they want you to take on or new skills to learn?
What suggestions might they make to improve or enhance your performance?
Be willing to listen.
Listen first, react second – possibly in a second meeting.
Expect them to be fair and objective and to provide supporting evidence and example when discussing both positive and negative performance.
Ask them what they think you can do to contribute to the department and the library in the coming year.
Keep in mind that it is often as difficult for supervisors to provide performance feedback as it is for employees to receive it.

10. Plan for the Performance Discussion
Read the draft evaluation prior to the meeting and develop comments and questions.
Think about your activities and accomplishments as well as your career plans and overall job satisfaction – plan for the discussion. Use the performance discussion meeting to raise issues for discussion – let your supervisor know what you want to discuss or what questions you have in advance of the meeting. Your supervisor can help in some of these areas.
Prepare for the meeting by asking yourself some questions:
Did I meet the expectations of my position in the past year? Why or why not? How?
What are my key accomplishments and activities? How are they measurable or assessed?
Do I have evidence that is specific and objective?
What are my strengths and contributions?
What are my weaknesses and challenges?
What knowledge and skills do I need to acquire or enhance?
How do I want to grow in the coming year? What do I want to be doing next year?
What have I learned this year?
Are my goals for next year SMART goals? Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant/Results-Oriented and Time Bound/Sensitive?

11. Ask for Specifics – and Reflect
In reviewing your past year’s activities and accomplishments, pick the three things you think you did particularly well and three that you feel provided challenges or difficulties.
Ask your supervisor for specific feedback in regard to each.
For your successes – what did you do particularly well or was there anything that stood out to the supervisor as exceptional in regard to a particular project?
For those challenges – what might you have done differently from their perspective to address the challenge?
Identify what you need you learned from successes and challenges in the past year – practice reflective learning.
Be prepared to offer your reflections on how you might approach projects and assignments differently in the future based on what you have learned in the past year.

12. Listen . . . And React Accordingly
Listen carefully during the performance discussion. Focus on the speaker.
Listen for ideas, not just facts and explanations.
Be an active listener. Practice it by learning to restate or paraphrase what you heard in your own words to ensure mutual understanding.
Listen with your eyes and your ears. Watch for nonverbal cues and body language.
Let your supervisor finish before you interrupt, seek to clarify, or ask questions.
If you don’t understand something they have said, say so. Ask questions to clarify.
Ask for specific examples of what you should or should not do as a way of clarifying your supervisor’s expectations.
Control your reactions – seek to avoid defensiveness, bias, anger, etc.
When discussing your point of view, focus on your performance. Do not compare yourself to others, compare yourself to the measure or criteria.
Demonstrate you want to learn from mistakes and missteps – improve and develop is growth.
Keep an open mind.

13. Communicate During the Discussion
Keep in mind that the performance discussion meeting should be a two-way conversion.
Work to actively participate.
Prepare yourself to answer questions. Your supervisor might want your feedback.
Prepare questions to ask of your supervisor.
What do you think went well this year?
What do you think I should do differently next year? Why? How?
What can I do to improve my rating in the area of ____ next year?
How could I be more helpful to other people on the team or in the department?
What new knowledge or skills do you think I need to acquire or develop? Are there any projects or assignments that might allow me to gain new knowledge or skills?
What are your most important goals for the coming year? What are the department’s most important goals? What challenges will we face in the department and library in the coming year? What changes are ahead? How might I prepare for these?
Is there anything I can do to make your work or the work of the department easier?
What career opportunities do you see for someone with my background?

14. Plan for Learning & Development
Your IWP for the coming year should have a learning and development section that outlines your in this area.
Be sure to include a learning and development section of the plan – plan to learn.
Set a goal to achieve a specific number of learning hours. Use a range instead of a set number.
Set goals to attend specific classes or participate in specific activities.
Set goals to learn specific knowledge or skills.
Distinguish between self development, professional development, and career development goals:
Self Development – Focus is on developing/improving behaviors.
Professional Development – Focus is on developing knowledge and skills for the job.
Career Development – Focus is on helping you attain long-term career or work goals.
Identify your preferred learning style – learning by doing, learning by thinking, learning by perception, learning by intuition.
Identify informal and formal methods and modes of learning.

15. Prepare Yourself for Disagreements
If you have faced challenges or there have been issues or you and your supervisor disagree on a specific issue or situation, prepare for this part of the evaluation.
Identify if it is past or ongoing – this makes a difference.
If past, what did you do to correct or address the situation?
If ongoing, what actions are you taking to correct or address the situation?
Handle it professionally.
Acknowledge the difference of opinion in a professional manner. You may not agree, but you need to hear the supervisor’s reasons for their assessment.
Avoid knee-jerk reactions. Listen and consider the supervisor’s perspective.
Avoid defensiveness, crying, arguing. Stay calm. Agree to disagree agreeably.
Ask questions to clarify future expectations – in particular ask how you might have handled the situation or issue differently to be viewed as successful.
Consider your options – and discuss with LHR.
Provide evidence as a counter when appropriate.
Consider adding commentary to your evaluation.

16. Finalize the Evaluation
Hold as many meetings as necessary.
Be prepared to work with your supervisor to finalize the evaluation.
Pull the required pieces together:
FY 2010 – 2011 Performance Evaluation Form with Signatures
FY 2010 – 2011 IWP Status/Progress Report with Signatures
FY 2011 – 2012 IWP with Signatures
Meet all deadlines.
Review it and suggest changes if asked. Provide corrections for typographical errors or factual information as necessary. Make suggestions as appropriate.
Add your comments in the section for employee comments in a timely manner – do not delay the submission of the evaluation. If you have not completed your comments, by the deadline submit the completed evaluation by the deadline. You can submit your comments to your supervisor and LHR after the due date. They will be attached to the evaluation.
Sign the evaluation – recognize that your signature does not mean you agree with the evaluation only that you saw it and read it.