Are you a 3, 4 or fired? Thoughts on the modern performance review.
As part of our review process (in beta), we’re publishing our goals for the year. The intent of publishing our goals is to give everyone the proper context for giving feedback, but also open up opportunities for peer-teaching.
The goals I’m sharing here are informed by my latest performance review and conversations with my manager. The over arching ideas the summarize the focus of this coming year for me are leadership and performance.
Leadership – Just because we can’t attribute any idea to one specific person, doesn’t mean there wasn’t a person leading the charge on the project. Our flat hierarchy means that everyone is expected to take on the responsibility of leadership when it’s their time to do so.
I want to set my team up for success.
- Set the tone for my projects and think beyond the deliverables. Every project should be viewed as an opportunity to learn something new about marketing, to make a contribution to culture, or discover a new way of working.
- Experiment with processes that maximize the strengths of the team. A well-tuned team is capable of developing better ideas and are more productive.
I want to make my projects accessible to everyone.
- Leverage the open spaces around the office as war rooms or project spaces. This kind of transparency will allow anyone to check in on my projects, and if they’re feeling generous, send a few thoughts my way.
- Conduct and share post mortems for my projects.
Performance – I like to break down performance into parts that are inward and outwardly facing. For inwardly facing performance, I believe in modeling my skill sets after the T-shaped worker and want to extend the horizontal bar. For outwardly facing performance, I believe that it needs to be objectively validated by a third party. We can’t be the only ones drinking the Kool–Aid.
I want to become a more well-rounded strategist.
- Learn search engine marketing and how it can be leveraged for insights.
- Develop a working knowledge of key UI/UX principles and best practices.
- Develop an understanding of key public relations principles and best practices.
- Evolve my perspective on marketing. This time next year, I want to have a different outlook on how I practice marketing and solve problems for out clients.
I want to perform at a high level.
- Have at least one project that is worthy enough to be written up as a case study on the Zeus Jones website.
- Have at least one project that can be submitted to the Fast Company Innovation By Design Awards.
While almost all of the people who stumble upon this blog can’t really give me feedback on my work, you could help me with the peer-teaching aspect of it. If there are any resources (blogs, articles, videos, or podcasts) that would help me reach my goals, please feel free to share it with me.
(Source: zeusjones.com)
