No one looked forward to presentations at school. It was embarrassing standing in front of the class trying to explain something you barely understood. The teacher’s eyes laser focussed on you, sweat dripping down your face while you pray for it to be over.

Team presentations were even worse. There’s always that one person who didn’t do the work and tries to make it up as they go. But team assignments and presentations can teach us very valuable lessons about collaboration. When one person doesn’t pull their weight, the whole team suffers.

When tasks are delegated properly and expectations clearly defined the whole team benefits. At work, good collaboration is even more important because poor teamwork can affect the bottom line. Teams that have excellent collaboration skills set a good example to the rest of the company and can lead to increased sales and productivity.

Let’s take a look at some valuable collaboration skills and how they fit into a team environment.

5 Collaboration Skills Every Team Needs

1. Self-Awareness

Understanding how you fit into the team is the first step to creating an environment where collaboration can thrive. Your past experiences are a big part of what you bring to the table. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

When discussing project deadlines you need to be realistic about timings. You need to understand your skills and abilities and how much work you’re capable of handling. Hubris will get in the way and can harm team efforts. Be honest with yourself and your coworkers.

Another thing to understand is that your perspective will be different from your teammate’s. It’s important to create an atmosphere where every member of the team is heard and questions can be asked if necessary.

Some people are critical thinkers and others are creative thinkers. It’s common for the two types to clash when it comes to new ideas. However, the team needs to be encouraged to examine all possibilities as open-mindedness is key to successful collaboration. If there is resistance from one member of the team let them speak their concerns and ask any questions they have.

2. Communication

Self-awareness is the basis for effective communication. If you can appreciate that people communicate differently then you’ll foster better collaboration. Some people naturally gravitate towards leading group discussions while others may be shy or nervous. While that’s not a bad thing, it can lead to only one opinion being heard.

Quiet people often have great ideas but if stronger personalities are stealing the limelight, they may not speak up. Sometimes they need to be nudged to take the floor and it’s important to give people space to talk without being interrupted. The team leader should mediate and intervene if someone is being talked over.

Having a social component at work can help the different types of people be identified. Leaders especially should know how their different team members like to communicate so they can get the best out of people.

There are three types of communication to be aware of:

Verbal communication: What you say and how you say it is very important for teams. If there are disagreements they should be handled with respect. Your words can hurt or offend, regardless of intention, so you need to be considerate with your words.

Written communication: Misunderstandings can stem from written communication because the intent is harder to grasp. Without non-verbal cues, a lot of the nuance is lost. Coworkers can interpret sarcasm as being rude, for example. Be mindful of what you’re writing and how it can be interrupted, especially with remote working.

Non-verbal communication: The way our body acts when we’re talking gives off non-verbal cues that can share our sentiment. Someone who is slouching or facing away from the conversation isn’t fully engaged. Your tone of voice can alter how people interpret what you’re saying is.

3. Group decision making

Making decisions as a group is crucial for maintaining a collaborative spirit. Ultimately delegation lies with the team leader but it’s beneficial to include the team in these decisions. By having your staff help to coordinate projects they will have a deeper understanding of everyone’s workload.

This helps to keep staff organized and focussed because they will be more aware of the impact they have on their colleagues. It’s also a great opportunity for peer learning as your people will be able to share experiences, tips, and shortcuts.

Leaders should encourage debate among team members in a constructive manner. Hold debates when discussing new ideas but avoid the conversation becoming personal. It’s a helpful collaborative tool to share perspectives and move ideas forward as a team.

4. Adaptability

If only every collaborative project could work out as planned and right on schedule. The brutal reality is that things can and will go wrong which is where your team’s collaborative muscles are really put to the test. Adapting to change is crucial. You can’t predict what could go wrong but you need to be able to react when it does.

A team member could fall ill, or part of the project takes longer than expected, or an unavoidable technical issue occurs. If your people are good at collaborating they will be able to take control of the situation, mind map potential solutions, and get to work on them.

Adaptability is something that comes with experience. The more your team collaborates the better they will get at responding to changes. When things go wrong they provide a valuable learning experience. Encourage your team to discuss what happened and what could be improved next time.

5. Feedback

Feedback plays an important role in professional growth. Peer-to-peer feedback is when your team can praise or criticize one another in a constructive way. Most feedback from this source is informal feedback and coworkers do this without realizing it. It’s sharing knowledge, or shortcuts, or advice.

Team members need to be able to provide this feedback to each other and a team leader should encourage it. Everyone benefits when knowledge is being shared. However, how people share feedback is important. If someone feels talked down to or targeted it can create a hostile work environment. The same can be said for excessive positive feedback.

Collaboration thrives when coworkers can share feedback with each other productively. Team members grow professionally and the next project will benefit from added insights. Team leaders should be wary of negative feedback that doesn’t provide value and help their people to rephrase things in a constructive way.

We’ve all been there: stuck in yet another painful work meeting that could have simply been an email.

Meetings have become such a frequent activity in the workplace that it’s easy to joke about why have them in the first place, especially if they’re virtually ineffective and a drain on time and energy. Since 2020, we have experienced a surge in our time spent in meetings. According to Small Business Trends, we now average around 4 meetings per day.

Choosing the right type of meeting and structuring it carefully can save precious time and ensures everyone is working towards the same goal in an innovative manner. Here are the 10 essential meetings you need in the workplace and how they can work for you.

Orientation Meeting

An orientation meeting is one piece of a company’s onboarding procedures to help officially welcome a new employee to the team. This meeting can make a powerful first-day impression, so it needs to have a positive impact on the employee by being organized and informative, but not too overwhelming. According to Indeed, there are three main benefits of orientation meetings:

1. Boosts employee confidence
2. Improve long-term retention
3. Introduces new employees to a team’s expectations and company culture

Newly hired employees are likely feeling nervous on their first day and anxious to get started with their new responsibilities. An onboarding meeting can help reduce some of their stress and replace it with excitement about joining a team that is welcoming, thorough, and helpful. In order to cultivate a positive work environment with a thriving team that sticks around, the employees should feel like they’ve been taken care of from the beginning.

Performance Review Meetings

These meetings can nurture a supportive culture. Let’s first define a performance review.

A performance review is a written evaluation of an employee’s performance and is given on a quarterly or annual basis. A meeting is then scheduled to:

• Do a high-level overview of the evaluation
• Praise successful milestones
• Encourage the employee’s continued growth
• Address areas for improvement
• Get feedback on the level of support needed
• Review future goals
• Ask clarifying questions
• Have collaborative discussions about pending matters

Some companies favor the 30/60/90- day review periods (with an annual review) as a way to support new employees during their first year and make sure they’re on the right track. For managers, this means three performance-related meetings within the first three months.

Others opt for a more traditional annual performance review only, usually around the time of a fiscal year-end (May-July).

Performance reviews are opportunities to see how an employee is improving, which can create possibilities for promotion and advanced training.

One-on-One Meetings

Regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings are essential for manager-employee relationships and performance management. A Gallup study showed that out of 7,272 adults, 1 in 2 left their positions because of their boss, which was a direct result of poor communication.

A one-on-one meeting should not be a checklist of topics to go over with the employee. It must be an organized, yet organic conversation that supports the employee professionally and personally.

According to Quantum Workplace, 55% of highly engaged organizations said employees expect a monthly or quarterly check-in meeting. Establishing expectations on how often the check-in meetings will be, creating a structured agenda, and setting up a designated time for employees and managers is an important part of fostering a supportive environment. Consistent and productive communication can establish a healthy working relationship and gives the employee an opportunity to own their performance, which results in higher engagement. Every one-on-one meeting should follow a similar structure:

• Casual open – Employees are shown to have higher levels of engagement if their manager has shown interest in them as people, not just as work colleagues. (Source: Gallup) Try to open the meeting casually to build a connection.
• Relevant updates– Find a natural point in the conversation to begin discussing work-related updates about upcoming projects/events or status reports.
• Action items to Identify/discuss/solve – After relevant updates, continue with action items that have been identified as potential issues, engage in a collaborative discussion on possible solutions, and come to a decision together.
• Open discussion – Once all the action items for the meeting have been completed, open up the floor for questions or further comments before closing out the meeting.

Kick-off Meeting

The purpose of a Kick-Off meeting is to set the team up for success and establish structure. When the group is about to start a new project or implement a new process, it’s important to establish:

• Goals – What are the goals of this project? What do we want the end result to be?
• Roles and responsibilities – Does everyone have a task assigned to them?
• Timelines – Are we aligned on the vision for the project and when it’s supposed to be complete?
• Due dates – Do we have clear deliverable due dates for each assigned task?
• Methods of communication – Where do we communicate any updates, delays, or questions?

Without a Kick-Off meeting, there is more room for miscommunication, confusion, and setbacks in workflow and delivery.

All-Hands Meetings

An All-Hands Meeting, or otherwise known as a Townhall, gathers everyone from the organization to listen to their leadership speak about important updates. These work meetings should be scheduled regularly and only when leadership is sharing news company-wide. This is a chance to address several key areas:

• An inspiring welcome message that sets the tone for the rest of the meeting
• The current state of affairs including successes and challenges
• Celebration and recognition of different individuals and teams
• Updates on the future to remind the team of the vision and goals
• Q&A that invites everyone to ask questions

All-hands meetings create alignment within the organization, show that the leadership is thinking of the collective group, and build trust by being transparent.

Retrospective Meeting

A Retrospective meeting is typically held after major project implementation. In these meetings, the team has a chance to reflect on their success, the challenges that came up and identify areas for improvement. However, only 4% of companies measure and manage their documented processes per BP Trends.

The inability to perform this type of evaluation can stall a team’s creativity and effectiveness for future projects. This is an opportunity to improve processes so that over time, the changes are efficient and contribute to more successful outcomes.

A Retrospective meeting is another way to foster an employee’s growth by giving them an additional platform to provide their insights, experiences, and suggestions for the next project. It also acts as a way to keep the momentum flowing and properly see to the project’s completion.

Brainstorming Meeting

Meetings specifically scheduled for problem-solving and brainstorming can produce innovative results. If conducted properly, the team will leave the meeting feeling energized, ready for the next steps, and feeling like a valued member of the process. Here’s why a brainstorming meeting is needed in the workplace:

• Inspires creativity and diverse ideas – Whenever the team needs new ways of approaching different issues or reinventing established processes, a brainstorming meeting will help trigger new ideas. To have a successful brainstorm, the team must identify, discuss, and solve the issue(s) at hand. Everyone should be prepared beforehand by having an agenda of the various topics for discussion. Expectations must be set at the beginning so that the participants feel like they have the room to contribute freely.
• Develops soft skills – Effective brainstorming meetings typically improve communication, teamwork, collaboration, leadership, and emotional intelligence skills. The more productive the meeting, the more opportunity there is to refine soft skills for everyone on the team.
• Improves morale – When a team is actively involved in the creation of new solutions, they feel appreciated and valued. This helps boost their overall morale, commitment to the organization, and results in high productivity as they are empowered to voice their ideas or concerns without repercussion.

Conflict-Resolution Work Meeting

There are two types of conflict-resolution meetings that help ensure operations continue to run smoothly even when disagreement arises.

• External conflict: These types of meetings are created to resolve any breakdown in communication or expectations with the clients the organization serves. This could involve a deeper look into existing processes, clarification of any related discussions, and ways to establish and implement the solution. It’s important that every participant comes into this meeting willing to solve the problem instead of focusing on where to place the blame.
• Interpersonal conflict: Conflict within the team is unavoidable, but structured meetings that are scheduled to address these issues are critical for a healthy workplace environment. Depending on the nature of the problem, there may be a need to involve the HR department or outside counsel for further guidance. However, if a manager feels comfortable facilitating the meeting and does not need HR intervention, the problem needs to be addressed quickly and professionally in order to avoid escalation and further tension, which can impact the rest of the team’s productivity. A constructive, non-accusatory discussion should be conducted in order to discover the root of the problem and the proposed next steps.

Training Meeting

Professional growth is an important part of fostering a positive work environment, which means offering mandatory and specialized training meetings for the team. This not only prepares the employees for higher-level responsibilities but also exposes them to different skill sets. 74% of workers are willing to learn a new skill or be re-trained to remain highly competitive in the workplace, according to research done by Lorman.

Whether the organization is implementing a new system, service, or procedure, training meetings are a way of sharing knowledge and getting everyone up to speed. The different types of training are:

• Onboarding training – This is designed for new hires who need to have designated times for training with managers and coworkers. Usually, an agenda is in place to identify the trainer, any other relevant participants, and the objectives of the meeting.
• Procedural training – Any new procedures or changes to existing processes need to include the affected team members. This training allows for the team to effectively deliver on the implementation and streamline processes.
• Technical skills training – This training allows for employees to further develop their skills so they can do the essentials of their position and stay current on any new skills that need to advance in the role.
• Safety training – Crucial for any workplace, safety training must be available for everyone that joins an in-person team. This prepares them for any emergencies that may arise.
• Service/Product training – If the organization is offering a new service or product, it’s important to keep the team members up to date so they understand its features, benefits, and how to use it.

Exit Meeting

The exit meeting is just as important as the onboarding meeting. Exit meetings are normally conducted when an employee leaves an organization. This type of meeting is used to close out any existing matters, complete any necessary paperwork, and gain overall feedback about their time with the company.

Most places usually treat the exit meeting as a formality — something that needs to be checked off as part of the offboarding process or HR requirement. According to Harvard Business Review, 70.9% of companies have their HR department conduct the exit interview and about 19% are performed by their direct supervisor. The overall results of the survey suggested that almost all companies don’t do anything with the data collected from these exit interviews. In some cases, exit meetings aren’t even done at all!

Exit meetings can be a powerful tool in gaining insights into the inner workings of your workplace environment, the processes or procedures that worked (or not), and how they truly felt about working for you.

It’s not always a comfortable situation. In some cases, employees leave because of poor leadership, lack of work-life balance, an uneven workload, or unresolved problems with colleagues or managers. The feedback may not be positive, but here’s why it’s important to take your employee’s experience seriously and use that data to assess and improve the current procedures implemented in the workplace:

• Gain valuable feedback on the management team and staff as they currently operate.
• Learn about the competition that’s attracting your team to another organization.
• Gather insights on how to improve the current company culture.
• Learn about the inner-workplace conflict that needs to be swiftly resolved before it becomes a recurring issue.
• Avoid more turnover by listening to the real reasons why they’re leaving and how to improve existing procedures/behaviors.
• Notice the positive and negative patterns consistently brought up by employees so that leadership can address and strategize accordingly.

Exit meetings need to be treated with the utmost care. The right interviewer, detailed notes, and active listening are all major factors in conducting a highly effective exit meeting. Keep in mind that depending on the work culture, some employees may feel they can’t be honest during their last meeting due to potential backlash or repercussions for any prospective opportunities. Organizations who take their workplace culture seriously will create an environment that makes their employees feel safe and heard.

Meetings are an important way for teams to share necessary information. It’s the backbone of project management and helps to keep things progressing smoothly.

Scrum meetings are considered to be a great way to collect information and gain feedback from development, management, and stakeholders. These types of meetings are held often and are face-to-face meetings – including virtual meetings.

The idea of frequent meetings might not sound appealing to all team members but the Scrum framework is tried and tested. It is an Agile framework and is an important component of the sixth principle of the Agile manifesto.

“The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.”

There are 5 types of “Scrum ceremonies” (in layman’s terms – it’s a meeting) that this article will share with you alongside some best practices to get the most out of your team.

What Are the Types of Scrum Meetings?

Scrum is one of the methodologies development teams use which is based on the Agile framework. (Kanban is another popular style businesses can use.)

Agile is an entire framework and step-by-step process of approaching software development, although it can be used in a wide range of industries. Development teams that utilize an Agile methodology break their process into smaller chunks known as Sprints. Traditional methods would usually complete the project from start to finish,

Scrum meetings are held frequently during the development process so teams can reflect on their progress and streamline their process for future sprints.

There are 5 types of Scrum meetings and they all promote open communication between the team. Here’s are the different types you can use.

• Sprint planning
• Daily scrum
• Sprint review
• Sprint retrospective
• Backlog refinement

The goal for each of these types of Sprints is to aid the development team with their goals and understand the objectives set out in the Sprint meetings. Below is a detailed look at each type and how they will benefit project development.

Sprint Planning

At the start of each Sprint, there should be a long meeting held to set out the objectives for this particular sprint. This meeting should be two hours for every week in the Sprint.

For example, if you are breaking Sprints down into two-week blocks, this initial meeting should last four hours.

The whole team should be present for this meeting including the development team, product owner, and the Scrum Master. The project owner needs to be present so they can address any ambiguities and cover the backlog of tasks the development team will be working on.

The Scrum Master’s role is to ensure that the agile principles are being followed. They are not the project leader or solely responsible for the output.

Sprint planning meetings should be collaborative in nature with the project owner sharing the backlog tasks and the companies goals for the upcoming Sprint. The development team should then predict how much work can be completed during this Sprint.

During this phase of the meeting, the team can discuss maximum or fixed times for upcoming tasks. A Sprint planning meeting should be consist of these phases:

1. The scope and size of the upcoming sprint.
2. An overall plan for how and when tasks will be delivered

This meeting should be used to make sure the development team knows exactly what is expected of them. The product owner and Scrum Master should support the team with any questions about ambiguities and the expectations that are being set.

Daily scrum

The daily scrum is a very short meeting that happens every day. It’s sometimes referred to as the daily standup because this meeting often happens while standing.

The meeting is hosted by the Scrum Master whose role is to ensure the project is running smoothly and the principles of the Agile Framework are being followed.

The idea of daily meetings might sound extreme but these short 15 minute meetings play a vital role in the project development. It’s usual for this meeting to be the first one of the day but it can be held at any time. It works best, however, when it happens in the same block of time each day.

The goal of this meeting is for each team member to be able to answer the following three questions:

1. What work did they complete yesterday?
2. What work will they be doing today?
3. Have they discovered any hindrances?

The daily scrum is not the place to discuss planning as it should be time-boxed to last 15 minutes and no longer. By keeping the discussion to just these three questions the Scrum Master can help to deal with hindrances and maintain the workflow.

Sprint Review

At the end of the sprint, teams will host the sprint review for the development to present their work. This meeting can include outside stakeholders in attendance who provide feedback on this sprint.

The sprint review is a showcase of new functionality and details the work that has been done. Everyone should engage in an open discussion and provide feedback for the development team. This is key to the Agile methodology as frequent feedback leads to a better product.

At this meeting, the original sprint goals can be compared to the objectives that have been completed. The team will look at any discrepancies and consider how to make the next sprint better.

Meetings will need one hour for every week the sprint lasts. A two-week sprint should end with a two-hour sprint review. Add the feedback shared to the sprint backlog. This work will be included in the next or future sprint.

Sprint Retrospective

The Scrum Master will host the sprint retrospective. The development team and sometimes the product owner will attend this meeting. The Agile Framework involves continuous improvement and the sprint retrospective is when that happens.

The meetings should be held at the end of the sprint and are for the benefit of the scrum team. They last between 45 minutes to one hour per week of the sprint. The focus of the meeting should be on how to improve future sprints by asking these questions:

1. What went right in this sprint?
2. What went wrong in this sprint?
3. How can the next sprint be improved?

Sprint retrospective meetings don’t need a lot of preparation. They are more focused on what lessons were learned during the prior sprint. The goal of this meeting isn’t to assign blame to team members. It’s to encourage peer-to-peer feedback and constructive criticism.

Backlog Refinement

A backlog refinement meeting happens during the interval between sprints. The goal is to clean up the details of tasks in the backlog. Teams can rank tasks, work out the deliverables, and define the details for each task. Define and categorize backlog tasks and the next meeting will reap the benefits.

By hosting a backlog refinement meeting the team can ensure everything is ready for the next sprint planning meeting. Sometimes it’s worth hosting more than one in-between sprints.

Scrum Meetings Best Practices

To ensure your team appreciates scrum meetings there are a few tips to keep everyone happy. The idea of a lot of meetings can seem daunting and unnecessary. Team members don’t want to feel micromanaged. If these meetings aren’t held correctly it can affect team morale.

Let’s take a look at some of the best practices you can put to use during your scrum meetings. This is how to get the most out of each meeting and keep your team members happy and motivated.

• Start and end meetings on time
  Punctuality is important for scrum meetings. You can end up wasting valuable time if you have to wait for people to arrive. When you set a time for these meetings they should start when stated.If you try to schedule around the entire team’s commitments then meetings can end up being unproductive. You’ll have to host multiple ones to make sure everyone is in attendance.Instead, start meetings on time as this will send a message to the team that the meetings won’t wait for anyone.Ending on time is also important because the team will have work they need to get on with. Meetings that overrun can be stressful and create a negative working environment.
• Keep daily scrums to 15 minutes
  Daily scrums are important but they serve a very specific purpose and should wrap up quickly. Stick to a simple agenda of the three questions mentioned earlier. Standing up during this meeting is a great way to keep things progressing. There’s a sense of urgency when standing up and it helps to ensure the meetings finish on time.
• Stick to the ceremony
  As meetings progress it may feel necessary to deal with issues outside the scope of that particular meeting. Resist the urge and stick to the purpose of the meeting. There will be another opportunity scheduled where other issues will be addressed.This helps to keep meetings moving smoothly and avoids team members getting sidetracked.
• Make sure objectives are clear
  Unplanned meetings can be a nightmare. It can make employees feel stressed and nervous which can affect their mood at work. Make sure that any meeting is clearly communicated and what the purpose of the meeting will be.Clear objectives help team members to prepare and be on time for the meeting. Since scrum meetings are going to start on time, every time, an advanced warning is great for team members.
• Use a scrum board
  Scrum board is a visualization tool that can help your team with their tasks. The board is a quick reference guide on what tasks have already been completed, who’s working on what, and the tasks in the backlog.

Ah, the performance review. A classic Human Resources pillar that has some of us roll our eyes and others filled with excitement. Possibly the most confronting part of the performance review is the self-evaluation. It’s a task where an employee answers a series of reflection-provoking questions about their strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments, goals, and inspirations at work. It is a balance of showcasing our achievements and owning our blunders.

While employees and managers alike dread this, often awkward, practice, self-evaluations can significantly contribute to both individual and organization success – if done right.

So, how do we get employee self-evaluations right?

We’ve put together the ultimate guide to employee self-evaluations. We will help you understand the benefits and drawbacks of employee self-evaluations, how to get the most out of them, what to do and what to avoid.

Five benefits of self-evaluations

Self-evaluations can have some fantastic benefits to both an employee and their organization. Allowing employees to get involved in the performance review process supports self-awareness, accountability, and goal setting. Here are five exciting benefits of self-evaluations to help you see the event differently:

1. Develop Self-Awareness

Self-evaluations are an exercise in self-awareness, depicting your ability to recognize your strengths and weaknesses. Self-aware employees positively affect an organization’s bottom line, so it’s pretty essential to possess and develop this skill.

2. Promote honesty and improvement

Self-evaluations empower employees to evaluate their performance and fix problems in a non-judgemental way, giving a sense of control. The New York Times points out that self-evaluations provide an outlet for employees to identify areas of weakness, allowing a manager to give employees the support they need to improve and, ultimately, further the company’s strategic mission.

3. Encourage goal-setting and long-term achievement.

By understanding an employee’s goals and ambitions, the organization can better help put them on the right track to achieve them. It also records an employee’s accomplishments and efforts over a given period, creating a valuable benchmark for setting goals and implementing improvements.

4. Develops two-way communication that encourages accountability.

Self-evaluations give employees a voice during performance reviews and help them stay accountable for their achievements and missteps. It also allows managers to understand how their employees perceive ‘good performance,’ helping to align their definitions better if there are discrepancies. `

5. Self-evaluations can help employees show their managers they care.

Employees can show their organizations that they take their careers seriously by putting effort and thought into self-evaluations. Proudly showing off their successes and milestones, acknowledging and owning where their performances may have fallen short, and creating a realistic plan for overcoming challenges, shows that you are not thoughtless at work and care about who you are in your organization.

The drawbacks of self-evaluations

Self-evaluations have some prevalent shortcomings. It’s important to be aware of these drawbacks to help overcome them and make self-evaluations work for you. Here are the three most prominent disadvantages and what you can do to mitigate their negative effect:

1. Objectivity is difficult for employees.

According to the Harvard Business Review, individuals can be pretty terrible at assessing their performance, with poor performers more likely to give themselves even more inaccurate appraisals. To overcome this, keep a record of your accomplishments over the period, be honest and utilize proof when writing your self-evaluation. Evidence can include metrics, communication, and appraisal.

2. Conflict can arise from varying perceptions.

It can get a bit awkward when there are discrepancies between the ratings you’ve given yourself and what your manager has given you. Keeping track of your accomplishments will save you here again. As long as you are truthful and speak to your proven actions, this situation can be avoided or disproven.

3. It can be a scapegoat for managers to place the performance review onus on employees.

Managers are responsible for monitoring and recording employee performance. Unfortunately, managers can sometimes neglect their employee evaluation and performance monitoring role with self-evaluations, relying on the employee’s self-perception. To overcome this, regularly ask for feedback on your performance and initiate discussions on your successes when they happen.

Ultimately, the benefits of self-evaluations outweigh the disadvantages. Successful employee self-evaluations can help align you with management and your organization, improving your long-term career success.

Let’s get into how to make your self-evaluation reflect your impressive contributions while realistically speaking to your performance.

Here’s how to make your self-evaluation great:

1. Prepare

To prepare for your self-evaluation, here are some helpful steps you can take:

• Look back at your job description and any goals that you set out for yourself. Evaluate how your daily tasks and overall performance align with your job description and the goals that you set.
• If you haven’t yet, begin tracking your accomplishments at work in detail. Gather any proof or records you have that can back up your victories. These can include emails, messages, documents, and insight reports. Consider how your achievements have directly contributed to the organization’s success.
• Reflect on the feedback you’ve received from people at work, including peers, managers, and direct reports. If you aren’t getting much feedback, try and initiate a feedback loop with your peers.

2. Be proud, honest, and critical.

While filling out a self-evaluation feels foreign to most of us, here are some tips to remember to help your evaluation truly reflect your performance:

• It can feel a bit weird to sing our praises. But this is the perfect time to boast about what you have accomplished at work. Highlight your accomplishments and milestones, try to make them specific, contextual into the broader organization, and honest.
• Ask yourself some hard questions that assess your skill-set. Be honest about where you may have come up short this year and how you can be better in the future.
• Culture Amp outlines some models that help describe your performance in a self-evaluation. It states you should structure your feedback around these elements:
  • Situation: Describe the circumstance and be specific.
  • Behavior: Describe the observable behavior.
  • Impact: Explain how the action has affected the team or organization.

3. Ask questions

Be prepared to ask your manager questions about your performance. You can ask which areas in your performance need improvement, their perception of your success and accomplishments, and how you can better contribute to your team. This is also a great time to discuss your career map, where your manager sees you going, and how they help you get there.

4. Consider your goals

While you are reflecting on the time that has passed since your last performance review, it is essential that you also consider the goals that you would like to achieve going forward during the following performance evaluation period.

Research indicates that employees are highly motivated when there is a 50% chance of achieving a goal. Setting goals can help you work towards something, improving your performance at work.

The SMART goals method is a step-by-step process that ensures you set obtainable goals that will motivate you. They can be performance-oriented or in regards to your professional development. Here is how to ensure your goal is SMART:

1. Specific
Your goal should be specific so that they don’t overwhelm you and aren’t too difficult to accomplish.

2. Measurable
Having a measurable goal is evident when you have reached it or are close to achieving it.

3. Attainable
Your goal should have the right level of stretch. It should be realistic and attainable while challenging enough to give you a sense of achievement when you accomplish it.

4. Relevant
The goal should always be relevant to your company’s strategic mission and broader goals. Appropriate goals ensure that the goals are productive and contribute to success. It should also be something that you have complete control over.

5. Time-bound
The goal should have a deadline that is realistic and achievable. In addition to a target date to complete your goal, it’s great to have milestones as well so you can track your progress.

Once you’ve set your SMART goal, it’s a good idea to get feedback on your goals from your manager. Feedback can help ensure that your goals align with theirs and the broader organization’s and give you a different perspective on your ambitions.

5. Give honest feedback

While it can seem quite intimidating to return the feedback to your superiors or your organization, you are qualified to share your thoughts and observations as an employee. And you should! You’re helping to better the organization so go for it. You do want to ensure that any feedback you give is constructive, professional, and realistic.

Here are some things to avoid in your self-evaluation:

Don’t assume

You might assume that your manager is fully aware of all your extraordinary successes – don’t! Be explicit but honest when describing your accomplishments and their significance.

Don’t exaggerate

While this isn’t the time to be modest, you also don’t want to exaggerate your efforts and achievements. Doing so could discredit you, so be realistic and authentic. Use metrics to give proven and trackable measurements of your accomplishments and success where possible.

Don’t leave it until the last minute.

You might think that your self-evaluation is something you can write at the last minute, drawing on whatever comes to mind first. That wouldn’t be wise. Your self-evaluation can help your career development and personal growth, so give it your all.

Don’t blame and shame.

Self-evaluations aren’t the time to bring up concerns or annoyances that you have had with your coworkers. It is about your performance. If something comes up that you feel defensive about, truthfully speak to your experience without throwing others under the bus.

Don’t be afraid to own your shortcomings.

None of us are perfect all the time. It’s okay and beneficial to know and own your weaknesses. Take it a step further and identify how you are going to turn them into strengths. When you get critical feedback, make sure that you acknowledge and embrace it.

Self-evaluations present the opportunity to show our employers that we value our jobs and take our careers seriously. While they can be a bit of a drainer in our already busy schedules, they don’t have to be. They can minimize the stress that accompanies the performance review process by making it a two-way conversation. Ultimately, self-evaluations allow you to take time to appreciate all that you have achieved, how far you have come, and what waits ahead.

How effective is your company’s current system of processes?

How a company creates their business strategy, and how well that strategy performs, can have a range of benefits for the company and its employees. In a survey completed by Deloitte, they found that 57% of employees felt that a workplace with a “clearly defined business strategy” helped to create a positive workplace culture. This can be achieved by successfully implementing and measuring the company’s organizational effectiveness.

What Is Organizational Effectiveness?

Organizational Effectiveness is more than simply being organized at work. Organizational effectiveness is a concept that measures “the efficiency of an organization in meeting its objectives with the help of given resources without putting undue strain on its employees.” It relies heavily on pairing the objectives a company sets to accomplish with the right resources in a way that allows the goal to be met in the most efficient way.

Organizational effectiveness is a system that many companies have begun implementing to build more success for their companies. In the process, they have discovered it’s an essential aspect in specific stages of project development. The team at Salesforce implemented organizational effectiveness and stated “execution, particularly at scale, requires organizational effectiveness” and explained that their structured processes promote it as well.

4 Main Approaches For Organizational Effectiveness

There are a number of approaches and models of organizational effectiveness, allowing for individual companies to implement it in a way that corresponds with their unique structure. The four most common include:

1. The Goal Approach

This approach is one of the most utilized options. It places the main focus of the process on the end result and works by breaking down the essential objectives such as profit, product quality, innovation and societal impact, but can vary depending on the company’s individual goals. Though it’s widely used, it does present a barrier to the company as it only measures the output but fails to include information on the process or inputs.

2. The Resource Approach

This approach focuses on the input more than the output. It considers the effectiveness based on the access to resources the company has in alignment with the needs of the project. It also takes into consideration the amount each resource was used. Larger companies that require an advantage over their competitors often align themselves with this approach, as exploiting rare or hard-to-imitate resources provides them with a strategic advantage to elevate their company above the others.

3. The Internal Functioning Approach

This function measures effectiveness based on the internal workings of the organization. It considers the stress or strain employees are under, the strength of leadership, team dynamics and employee morale. This is an approach often used by companies that are highly focused on creating a healthy work environment, providing efficient systems and minimizing conflict within the workplace, allowing for high rates of employee satisfaction.

4. The Strategic Constituencies Approach

This approach bases measurement on the satisfaction of those interested parties that have control over the survival of the company. This can include workers, stakeholders, consumers, and communities. Companies with a high reliance on demands will often utilize this approach, however, it does take a higher level of attention as the determining aspects can change quickly and can become widely diverse, posing additional barriers for the company to monitor and overcome.

Factors That Influence Organizational Effectiveness

There are a variety of factors that have a direct effect on a company’s success and measuring organizational effectiveness offers insights into areas that require additional attention and prompt potential future training to employees.

1. Leadership

Leadership is the largest influencing factor in any workplace. Leaders have the opportunity to create a culture that thrives, setting employees up to find success within the assigned projects, and the company as a whole. Leaders that create a work environment that allows employees to find balance, continue learning, collaborate with colleagues, and provide a clear sense of direction will find higher rates of success within any project.

Leaders must also bear enough knowledge on any given project as well as the consumer audience to lead the team with confidence, setting expectations and providing a clear outline of the project strategy and goals, while also assigning each individual to work in their strengths.

2. Workplace Culture

By maintaining a healthy workplace culture that aligns with the values of the employees, companies will find the productivity of their employees will increase, and interest in their company will also rise. In a study done by Jobvite, they found 46% of people actively looking for jobs claimed work culture was very important to them.

Workplace organizational culture also has a large effect on employee engagement, with studies showing that companies with a high value on organizational cultures report having 72% higher employee engagement ratings.

3. Talent

Forbes lists talent as an organizational design element that should be included in any system. When creating a team, it is essential that members are assigned to work within their strongest field. When a team takes individual talents into account, it allows for a balanced team that can excel at every aspect of the project.

4. Communication

Communication is essential in any workplace because it allows for employees to have a clear direction for their role, while also creating an environment that values understanding and accountability. In a workplace where communication is utilized in an open and respectful manner, employees are much more likely to learn from experiences, leverage the power of their leadership, and prevent excuses—allowing for issues to be resolved quickly and focus to be returned to the assigned task.

A report by The Wall Street Journal revealed that the average executive in the United States wastes approximately 6 weeks per year searching messy desks to find misplaced information and files! That adds up to a total of $9221 each year for an executive with a salary of $75,000!

Organization is essential to employees and employers alike. It can have wide effects on the company as a whole, especially when it’s implemented unsuccessfully. It can be the difference between weekends spent catching up on work or financial gains in your next quarter!

Why Is Organization At Work Important?

1. Productivity

In an interview with Forbes, productivity consultant Julie Morgenstern said “I always compare organizing time to organizing a closet…a limited amount of space is crammed [with] more things than you can possibly fit in, and you’re shoving items into any available proper space in no particular order.”

Schedules often follow the same pattern, seeming to never be fully completed by the day’s end. When a calendar is properly organized, each minute is accounted for and scheduled, with no wasted space and with ample time to complete everything on the day’s to-do list.

2. Efficiency

In a 400 person survey done by NAPO, 27% felt they were disorganized at work, and 91% of those agreed if their workspace was more organized, they would be more efficient and effective during their workday.

Workspaces often become over-encumbered, lacking any system to manage their contents, creating time-wasting habits and ultimately costing the company money every minute spent searching for misplaced items.

When systems are in place and the environment is formed around them, efficiency becomes effortless. Intentional planning along with a predictable workspace allows for seamless progression through projects. When it’s easy to find the file or item needed, efficiency will naturally increase. No more wasted time trying to find that report sent over last week!

3. Increase In Focus

When a workspace is organized, it removes distractions, allowing for intense focus on the project at hand. Research conducted by Princeton University revealed that individuals were less able to focus when their brains were overwhelmed by competing stimuli found on a cluttered desk. An organized desk removes those distracting factors, allowing space only for those items that are serving the current project.

4. Stress Less

When working in an organized environment, it becomes much easier to find enjoyment in the workplace and confidence in the projects being completed. When there’s no need to work around piles of papers, search emails for that one attachment, or spend countless hours searching folders and drawers for a misplaced file…stress plummets and the workplace becomes much more predictable, creating higher employee morale!

Clean Space vs Organized Space

Organization is often associated with cleanliness, which to some extent is true, however, they aren’t quite the same thing.

Clean refers to something being without dirt or grime. ‘Clean’ focuses on things being neat and tidy, not being visibly dirty or having anything messy in sight. It does not focus on forming an intentional space.

Organization is a systematic approach to a space. It focuses on creating efficiency through a structured environment designed in a way that is specific and personal to the individual putting it in place. It is planned and implemented in an intentional way based on the project needs and the individual’s working style.

Something may look clean, but if there is no system to help someone navigate the space, then it’s not organized.

5 Unbeatable Ways To Stay Organized At Work

1. Create both weekly and daily plans

Before the beginning of a new week, create a plan that breaks down the projects that need to be completed, meetings that are scheduled, appointments, lunch hours, and any other necessary aspects of the week. Then spend a short time each morning planning your day, hour by hour based on that day’s scheduled items.

By creating a schedule for both the day and the week, each hour becomes predictable and allows for more focused work hours, inevitably building efficiency and success.

This will also create a healthier work/life balance. More work will be getting done during office hours due to the pre-planning, leaving weekends and evenings open for family and friends.

2. Go paperless

In our blog “The Ultimate Guide To Creating Meeting Notes That Build Leadership” we discussed how important it is to avoid storing meeting notes in folders, and instead recommended that meeting notes be attached to the event in the online calendar, allowing for easier locating in the future for everyone. This is a perfect example of the benefits of going paperless.

It’s easy to lose a paper somewhere in the office, near impossible (and wasteful) to share a physical copy with everyone necessary, and difficult to find specific details when scanning through them. By going paperless, everything becomes tied to the internet, making it easier to fetch and share documents, and much easier to scan through them by using keywords to locate the exact portion of a document required.

Going paperless is both efficient AND eco-friendly!

3. Have a system

Creating a system for a space is inherently unique to the person designing it, however, there are some important methods that benefit nearly everyone.

Have a space specifically assigned to the most utilized items, whether it be sticky notes, pens, paperclips, or a stapler, and choose a spot easily accessible for them on the desktop. Take inventory of this space regularly and modify it as things become less necessary, or as new projects begin changing the required flow of the workspace.

Keep no more than 3 personal items on your desk. These serve as both motivation and increase happiness during work hours, and by only having a small amount, they won’t become distracting or take up unnecessary space.

Set aside a small amount of time each morning to create a to-do list with the highest priority items at the top. Work your way down, and build in breaks so you can’t forget to take them. Taking time to recharge throughout the day is essential to creating productivity while having a strategic list allows for ease of progression through the day.

4. Setup a work only browser

Having a browser specifically for work, allows your brain to easily transition into work mode. Not only does it prompt your mind that it’s time to work, but it also provides you with a space to easily store and recall information needed throughout your workday.

Distractions are limited, information is easily stored and accessed, and your most-used pages can be pinned to your browser bar for easy access at the beginning of your day. This will decrease your setup time at the beginning of the day, setting you up to maximize your working hours.

5. Use an app to help

In a world of technology, the market is flooded with apps to help with productivity, scheduling, group sharing and note-taking. Find an app that will help you plan your day, provide alarms and reminders when a schedule change is coming up, and offer flexibility with how and where your workday takes you!

6. Take breaks

Staying organized requires energy, so schedule short breaks throughout the day to keep your energy level high. Staying fueled and hydrated enhances your focus and helps you recharge your batteries to tackle difficult tasks.

7. Master your inbox

Your email inbox can quickly become an overwhelming place. Stay organized digitally by creating folders for the different types of messages you receive. Maintain inbox zero by making decisions to either respond, delete, or file the email. Unsubscribe to all the emails that are no longer relevant, then delete those messages.

These 3 Tools Help You Stay Organized At Work

Google

Google is a great option for an all-in-one approach to working through a project. Syncing calendars with teammates, attaching notes to events, sharing documents and leaving collaborative comments on them creates an ease of access for everyone on the team, making efficiency and strategic planning simple.

Onenote

Onenote offers ease of collaboration within the team environment by providing ways to easily store, categorize, file and colour code information while including the option of adding voice memos to projects as well. It also incorporates a creativity aspect many others don’t, allowing diagrams to be created when needed for team organization.

Todoist

Todoist creates a space where adding tasks to the list is effortless, allowing for recurring due dates and subsections to be built in. It also provides the option to highlight the priority tasks of the day and enhances team organization by providing the ability to delegate and assign tasks to certain members. It seamlessly integrates with your email and current calendar, while providing reminders for scheduled tasks when required.