September is a time of renewals, fresh starts and goal-setting.
For those of us in the northern/western hemisphere, it is closely linked to the new school year. Meaning new uniform, new pencil case, new teachers and new possibilities.
It’s time to reap the rewards of the harvest that has been ripening throughout the summer, and a time to get ready for the winter by being industrious and making the most of the last rays of sunshine.
It’s a better time to launch new things and set new goals than January, when the hangover from Christmas kicks in, everybody is on a budget and the short days are cold and unforgiving.
It’s the last chance to steer the ship before the end of the calendar year.
It’s also the first time this year that your personal development is more important than the business goals.
Don’t tell your boss I told you, but there’s only so much you can do at this point to change the direction of your KPIs for the current year. The hard work has already been done in the first 9 months; the systems and processes you’ve already put in place should be bearing fruit. And even if they’re not, you have a diminishing chance of changing this year’s outcomes due to lead time patterns and the time it takes to set up new revenue streams.
It is, however, the perfect time to set yourself up for personal success by influencing your End Of Year review and making your plans for next year known.
Don’t let your Q3 review get lost as the “penultimate” one, somehow less important than your mid-year or end of year review. I’ve seen it get postponed and cancelled more often than any other review, because for your boss and the company it feels less important, and this creates an opportunity for you.
YOU get the chance to take control and fill it with YOUR priorities, making it the most important review for you if you want to move up or across.
To avoid any nasty surprises for you or your boss in Q4, it’s time to get strategic about your development, and tactical about your KPIs.
#1 Get your head straight
We all exist on a spectrum, between believing we are god’s gift and believing we are a failure.
In my experience, most of us will lean slightly to the end of thinking we could always have done better. It’s because we care about doing quality work and want to show our best side.
It’s also because we compare our whole selves (messy internal thoughts and feelings included) with other people’s public personas.
“I need to work on my presentation skills because I get so nervous and make loads of mistakes, while Cassandra does a great job.”
Meanwhile, Cassandra is thinking the same thing about your performance.
So get your mindset straight before having conversations related to your performance. Try to see objectively what has been achieved, whether you hit deadlines, and what you are most proud of. There’s always space to say what you’d like to improve, but don’t discount what you’ve achieved.
If you’d like some help with shifting your mindset, consider working with a professional like me, to make your thought processes work for you not against you:
#2 Focus on your own development first
Like I said, at this juncture your personal development is more important than your KPIs so should take up the majority of time at your review.
If you want to move up or across next year, now is the time to lay the groundwork. Decisions are germinating now and if you don’t throw your hat in the ring, you might miss out.
- Review your progress against your Personal Development Plan. I’ll bet you a fiver that you have dedicated much less time to this, than you have to achieving the business KPIs.
- Who do you need to know, to get the role you want? Your boss isn’t the only person you need to convince. Ask them who you would need to know to get into the role you want. Not sure what role you want? Tell them what kind of tasks and projects you enjoy and get their input.
- Could you be brave enough to ask what End Of Year rating you would get, based on current performance? And a step further, could you ask what you would need to do to be rated excellent/smashing/five stars?
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#3 Do your HouseKPIng
It’s time to be tactical. There is less you can do now to influence your KPIs than earlier in the year, but they’re still the basis of having done your job well.
- Come prepared with a view of progress against your KPIs and goals, and what needs to change quickly to get them over the line. Is there a specific account that is behind? Is there a KPI which is just under target, that with focussed effort could reach it? Your boss should want to help with this, and could deploy extra resources to help you.
- Make sure there are no surprises for your boss at this point. No one likes to look silly and if they’ve been reporting upwards that everything is fine, they need to know before December if it’s not the case.
- You probably don’t have your KPIs for next year yet, but it’s a great time to show your strategic thinking and grasp of the business by planning a couple of activities to get ahead of the curve. If your destination has a long lead time, what needs to be done to set you up for success before the start of the year?
#4 Reevaluate your time
With the shift in priorities, are you devoting enough time and energy to your own development?
Are you still getting dragged into meetings with diminishing returns on your time?
If the year continues on the same trajectory, will you be proud of how it went?
Be ruthless, no one else is going to prioritise you, if you don’t do it first.
Try these 9 ways to take back control of your time, in 5 minutes a day.
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