Last week Doug and I went skiing at Keystone Ski Resort in Colorado. It was my first time out on the slopes this season and I was unsure of myself, so I took it slow coming down the long, winding trail. Part way down I saw a sign that said, “Only 1.5 miles to go!” Oh, good grief! Could I make it that far?
Well, there was nothing I could do but keep on going. Having a definite distance I had yet to travel made it easier to gauge my progress and get down the hill. And once I got to the bottom, my little heart swelled up with pride (and relief) – I had made it down the trail without crashing. It was a small thing, but it felt like quite an accomplishment, given I hadn’t skied much in the past few years.
It’s good to take credit for your accomplishments.
But now, surprisingly, many in the Federal Government are all up in arms after being asked to submit five accomplishments they did the previous week.
“Whoa! Laura, you’re not getting all political on us are you?”
Nope. Not today.
But it raises a question – why would you NOT want to take credit for the good things you’ve done?
7 Reasons Why It’s Good to Claim Your Accomplishments
Whether you’re working full time, part time, self-employed or waiting for the next best thing to come along, we can benefit from recognizing what we’ve done. Here are a few reasons why:
1. You’ll be a better negotiator. You’re in a much better position to ask for a raise, a promotion, the ability to take a vacation or that plum project you’ve had your eye on, if you list the good things you’ve done in the recent past. Too often, people ask for benefits because someone else on the team recently got a promotion, because they’ve been on the job for X number of years or after they’ve completed a hefty task, etc. You’ll strengthen your position by coming prepared with a list of achievements. It puts you on solid footing. You’re able to show proof you deserve it. You’re holding a better hand of cards, so to speak.
2. You’ll be a better example to others. People watch what you do and they learn from it. To develop your employees (or your children, nephews, nieces), encourage them to track their achievements and pay attention to what contributes most to success. This kind of coaching not only contributes to self-confidence, but it leads them to higher levels of performance.
3. You’ll increase self-confidence. When I coached those who had gone through a layoff, many had suffered a big blow to their self-image. There’s nothing worse than losing a job to take you down a notch or two. When we’d work on writing their resume, they’d comment on why it was difficult to list accomplishments. They’d say, “Gee, I just did my job. It’s too hard to list all the things I got done.” But, being the big meanie that I am, we’d persevere and eventually they’d say, “Wow! I didn’t realize how much great stuff I’d done while I was working there.” Their self-esteem would skyrocket, which comes in handy when you’re trying to sell yourself.
4. You’ll train better. Those I know who are golfers, runners, skiers and swimmers know that monitoring their time and progress improves their ability to perform in the future. They know when to push themselves and when to ease up. But they wouldn’t know that if they didn’t keep track of their numbers.
5. You’ll get a better performance review. Take pity on the poor person you work for. They may have tons of performance reports to complete and unless you tell them, they most likely don’t know what to write about how wonderful you are. And if you’re in a culture which requires you write your own review, then you’ll appreciate what a benefit it is to have a record of your achievements.
6. For the self-employed, you may attract a new client or customer. People want to know you can do the things you say you do. They want to see proof-of-performance. Maybe they want to talk to others you’ve done work for. They want to see the numbers or perhaps a story that details how you succeeded with others. If you can provide that proof, you might beat out the competition. And if you provide references, coach those people ahead of time by asking if they’d just tell a story about how you worked together. A story is more memorable than generic statements.
7. You can quantify accomplishments. You can add backbone to any achievement by putting numbers behind it. Prove what difference it made that you held that job (or completed that task) versus someone else. Otherwise, without quantifying your achievements, your list is not much more than a job description. Some people will say, “But I wasn’t in sales, so how can I put numbers to what I’ve done?” I can confidently say it’s possible to quantify achievements no matter what kind of project you’ve managed.
Here are a few ways:
- What got done faster?
- With how many fewer errors?
- How much did employee or customer turnover drop?
- Did “X” more employees get promoted?
- How many surveys did customers complete? Did scores improve? Over what time period?
- Did you solve a chronic problem? How? What were the benefits?
- Were there fewer complaints?
Finally, people who claim their accomplishments feel like winners. They know what they’re worth. And they’re in a much better position to ask for what they deserve!