Reviewing your personal work schedule is an important part of the development process. Consider that you may encounter some unexpected changes during the implementation of your work schedule. Such changes may not be foreseeable during planning and preparation, so you have to be prepared to catch on and adjust accordingly.
In order to begin your review, you will need to seek feedback from those in your workgroup. It is important to consider other people’s perspective on your performance. This allows you to observe any aspects of your work performance that you may have missed out. However, you also need to consider the feedback that is given to you. Not all feedback is good feedback, and you will need to be able to evaluate them accordingly.
Data that you have been gathering up to this point needs to be analysed to assess the progression of your assigned work tasks. With proper analysis, you will be able to find necessary adjustments in your work schedule. These action items will allow you to complete your scheduled work tasks at the expected level of performance. By incorporating these adjustments properly, you will still be able to accomplish work tasks that you set out to do within the allocated time.
It was mentioned in the previous section that documenting variations in expected and actual performance can be done using feedback. Feedback provides you with a variety of perspectives on your work performance. This gives you the opportunity to see areas of improvement that you may have missed out on and areas where you stood out.
Information
While the information may become overwhelming at first, note that feedback is typically structured with the following information.
Highlights
These parts of feedback focus on reinforcing actual work performance that is in line with the expectations set by the role and the organisation. Feedback usually begins with highlights to encourage you to be more positive about your work performance. These allow you to take note of the right things that you were doing in order for you to keep in mind during the next time you perform at work.
Lowlights
These are the direct opposite of highlights. They focus on actual work performance that did not meet expectations. Although this part of the feedback looks at the downsides of your performance, it is important that you receive it well. Understand that this is not an attack on your character, but another point of view in observing your performance.
Areas for improvement
These usually come at the end of the feedback as a summary of things you need to look out for. Areas for improvement would be the main talking point in the next feedback that you will receive. These are based on the lowlights of your work performance and would serve as an added expectation or accountability in your work tasks moving forward.
Methods
Seeking feedback in the workplace and among members of your workgroup can be a lot to handle. There are a number of ways to gather feedback, considering that there are many avenues that you can take advantage of to gather this information. Some methods of gathering feedback include:
- Formal/informal performance appraisals
- Customer questionnaires
- Interviewing colleagues
- Personal, reflective behaviour strategies
- Routine organisational methods for monitoring service delivery
Relevant people
Note that, while feedback can be gathered through a range of methods, you must ensure that the person you are receiving feedback from should be relevant to the work task assigned to you. Those who are not involved with what you are doing might have no idea what to tell you when you refer to them for feedback. Some examples of relevant personnel to ask feedback from include:
Yourself
One means of feedback is to provide it to yourself. This generally takes the form of a self-review. A self-review involves you describing the work you have done, measuring it and looking at it against the required work standards. This type of review allows you to get an idea of your entire working life. The previous section provides ways of gathering information for self-review, while the next one will discuss analysing it.
Managers or supervisors
Managers are often charged as a part of their role to provide feedback on performance to their staff. This feedback may be given at many times. You may have formal performance appraisals during which feedback is given, you may have meetings with your manager on a regular basis, or you may actively ask for feedback from your manager. Often, you may find that such feedback is negative. Perhaps your manager feels that there could be room for improvement. It is important to remember that this should not be taken as a personal criticism; it is meant as a learning aid. Focus on what the manager told you, ask the manager to explain how you can improve your performance and spend time discussing the problem. If you feel the feedback is too vague and you are not sure what to do with the feedback, do not be afraid to ask for help.
Co-workers
It is not just your manager who is in a position to provide you with feedback; your team members and co-workers can also provide you with valuable feedback. Think about who sees you at work most often. Your manager is unlikely to spend a lot of time right beside you and see what you are doing and how you are doing it, but your team members and co-workers do. This means that they are likely to have feedback on your performance that is very valuable.
However, it is important to remember that co-workers are unlikely to have been trained in providing feedback, so it is essential that when you ask them to provide it that you ask about specific things to give them some guidance in what you want to know. It is more useful to ask for feedback in a private setting, as this is likely to make everyone feel more comfortable. Finally, never tell the co-worker they are wrong in the feedback that they are providing to you.
Customers or clients
Customers and clients are valuable sources of feedback. They can tell you these things:
- How well your product or service is meeting their needs
- Whether your product or service is competitively priced
- How well you and your staff are meeting their needs when they contact you
However, getting feedback from customers can be a difficult proposition. Therefore, you may find that the use of a questionnaire to ask questions formally works more effectively.
Not all feedback is good feedback. Some will not be of much use to you, while other feedback will be crucial. The critical point is knowing how to tell what feedback is useful and what is not. Feedback is all about attempting to improve performance. You need to spend some time evaluating the feedback that you receive and analysing whether or not it has real value. In order to determine whether the feedback is useful. Feedback should be evaluated according to:
Who has provided you with the feedback? Do you respect their opinions? Are they in a position to be able to judge your performance?
How reliable is the source of the feedback? Do they understand your job? Are they in a position to judge you and your performance?
Will the people providing you with feedback give you honest and reliable feedback?
While evaluating the feedback given to you from a range of sources, you may notice some information tend to repeat, whether they are highlights, lowlights, or areas of improvement. It is wise to take notice of similar feedback because it means there is something about your work performance that many people have felt the need to mention.
After seeking and evaluating the feedback that you have received, it is now time for you to sit back and take a hard look at your work performance. Analysis of variations between expected and actual work performance is a crucial step in improving your personal work schedule. You will be able to draw your insights and identify any additional action items that you might need to take to address these variations. These action items will impact your current personal work schedule, which will be further discussed in the next section.
Forming an analysis on your work performance requires you to make use of the information that you have already gathered at this point. In planning and preparation, you were made aware of what is expected of you when accomplishing the work tasks that you set out to do. During implementation, you had the opportunity to observe and record information about your actual performance on the assigned work tasks. The initial part of review requires you to collect feedback from your peers. The analysis that you will make will be a culmination of this information and is a part of self-assessment.
To proceed with a good analysis of feedback, you should be able to prepare the information you have gathered thus far. This can be done by:
- Categorising the type of feedback received
By categorising the type of feedback, you will be able to use your knowledge in identifying whether the feedback is valuable or of good quality. This also allows you to organise the feedback and group similar feedback together. Multiple instances of the same feedback speak volumes about your overall work performance. - Performing root cause analysis
The root cause of any issues or lapses in performance can be found when the prevailing issue can be tracked down to its “roots.” This is based on the idea that there is a cause for everything and that ‘prevention is better than a cure.’ Root cause analysis allows you to identify which area that initially caused the issue. By knowing the initial cause, you will be able to address it from there and avoid any future issues or lapses in work performance. - Using visuals to identify trends in performance
Feedback and data on performance can be overwhelming since there are many sources of such. Some people tend to be more receptive to information when presented visually. Consider using graphs and charts to analyse the trends in your work performance. - Comparing feedback in similar work areas
Feedback is not the only thing that can be similar when evaluating work performance. Consider that some areas of your work can be similar in nature, such as communicating among your team and reporting to a set of stakeholders. By allowing your feedback to go beyond the specific work task or performance being observed, you will be able to assess other similar areas and improve on those as well.
Preparation is vital before any further analysis and interpretation can be done for self-assessment. This will allow you to be more organised when finding meaning out of the feedback and data that you have received.
Self-assessment generally refers to your perspective on your work performance. This is an important part of evaluation as it gives you the opportunity to interpret the feedback and data you have gathered about your performance and help you realise what improvements you need to make. While there are a number of ways to go about self-assessment, the general process includes these steps:
- Acknowledging expectations
The first step goes back to the planning and preparation stage when you were reviewing your own accountabilities in the roles and work tasks assigned to you. Did you have a clear understanding of what was expected of you? - Tracking actual performance
In subtopic 1.2.2, you were introduced a number of ways to monitor your actual work performance. Being aware and having documentation of your work performance allows you have something to refer to during evaluation. By tracking actual performance, you have other data that can be used to support or discount feedback given to you. - Identifying key differences in expected and actual performance
Compare the information that you have on your expected and actual work performance. Were you able to meet expectations? Were there areas in your work that exceeded expectations? Were there areas that you fell short with meeting expectations? The differences that you may encounter can vary across the different work tasks assigned to you. It is important to be aware of these differences to prepare for any necessary action items in order to meet the expected output. You must be able to identify specific areas of improvement and how your work performance impacts the achievement of overall workgroup objectives. - Setting goals for future improvement
Now that you have a breakdown of what you need to improve on, you can begin setting goals to address any gaps in performance and to make up for expectations that were not met. By setting goals, you will be able to provide a response to the feedback provided and trends observed.
After making an analysis of your work performance, you should have a clear idea of what needs to be worked on to ensure the efficient and successful completion of the work tasks assigned to you. The goals that you set for yourself should be SMART. The characteristics of your goals should be:
- Specific
Making your goals clear makes you more likely to address the gaps that were outlined during your self-assessment. Narrowing down your goals will allow you to clearly plan out the things that you have to do in order to improve your performance. - Measurable
Having measurable goals ensures that your progress can be monitored, like how your actual work performance was monitored during implementation of your work schedule. - Achievable
Make sure that your goals are reasonable enough to be completed. Consider any possible steps that you need to do before attempting to reach the main goal. - Relevant
Your goals should be relevant to the gaps that were identified during analysis. They should cater to the lapses in actual performance in relation to the expectations of work tasks assigned to you. - Time-bound
Setting a timeframe for these additional goals will allow you to plan related action items within the scope of the timeframes of related work tasks. Having time-bound goals also ensures that you have a reference for any changes or updates in your personal work schedule. More on this will be discussed in the next section.
Once you have established goals that will allow you to adjust your work performance accordingly, you need to begin the process of determining what actions items should be taken to address the identified gaps during analysis and self-assessment. Plan action items accordingly to be able to incorporate these in your current work schedule. Some action items that you may consider are:
- On-the-Job Training
On-the-job training involves training in the workplace based on specific skills. In on-the-job training, someone is assigned to be with the trainee as they are taught the skill. This person will show the trainee how to perform their work task, and then allow them to do it. Thus, it is purely practical training in a skill. Consider this when you find that there is technical information expected of you, but you are not able to address during planning and preparation. - Getting the Help of a Coach
This action item should be considered when you find that you have lapses in how to accomplish the work task. You may encounter that, even with proper planning and preparation, there are some aspects of how the work task is performed. This will impact any accountabilities that you considered at the start. A coach will be helpful with closing gaps in actual work performance by providing you with the necessary information to go through your assigned work tasks. - Getting the Help of a Mentor
This is particularly useful if you find your work task to be something that you have previously encountered but is approached differently in the new work environment. Getting the help of a mentor, one who is an experienced person in your workgroup, will allow you to address performance variations that are related to the expectations of the organisation or workgroup as a whole.
Once you have analysed variations between your expected and actual work performance, and then conducted a self-assessment, you should have a list of action items to address these variations. These action items need to be incorporated into your personal work schedule to address any identified variations, gaps, or lapses to still ensure successful completion of your assigned work tasks.
Identifying action items
The action items that you have identified may be due to the following reasons:
Internal feedback
Action items that result from internal feedback come from the self-assessment that you performed in the previous section. You may have encountered the need to provide yourself with additional training, coaching, or mentoring during the progression of your work tasks. Adjusting your work schedule would allow yourself to make time for these additional activities.
External feedback
Members of your workgroup may recommend some action items to you, in case the variation of your work performance would interfere with their own personal work schedules. They may suggest moving some projected due dates in order to compensate for these variations.
Changes in circumstances
No matter how much planning and preparation has been done, there may be times that things do not go the same way as you expected them to be. A change in circumstance may refer to changes in workgroup targets, which may be caused by changes in organisational policies and procedures. There may also be changes in the projected due dates due to reassignment of work tasks. During implementation, you may also encounter changes in your plans due to new ideas, methods, or stakeholders involved. These should all be accommodated through an update of your personal work schedule.
Finalising action items
Any action items that you plan on implementing should be taken into careful consideration. There should be enough basis from the documentation of work performance to warrant the application of any planned action items. Consider the following details before finalising actions items to be incorporated into your personal work schedule:
Operational Implications
How will the changes that you make influence the organisation’s procedures and policies? Will any additional training need to be made? How will this impact on the information flow of the organisation? Think carefully about how the action items you plan on implementing. How will they affect other parts of your workgroup and the current methods on how things are done?
Risk
Whenever a new form of work is introduced into an organisation or when changes are made, there is always an element of risk. You should consider risk when you are thinking of your action items. What is the risk that the action item will cause further problems? Think through the risk and determine whether the reward (in terms of actual improvements) outweighs the risk of its implementation within the existing work schedule.
Feasibility
How feasible are the action items, given the budget and resources that were allocated during planning and preparation? Do you have the means or expertise to appropriately implement the action item? Can the improvement actually be made to work given the current state of the organisation?
Incorporating action items into your current schedule
After you have decided on what action items should be implemented to address the variation between your expected and actual work performance, you will need to incorporate this to your current personal work schedule. Similar to when you first developed your personal work scheduling, some planning and preparation should be done when updating your work schedule.
Here are some of the things you have to keep in mind:
Now that you have additional action items, you have to re-organise most (if not all) of your personal work schedule to accommodate these changes. Remember to prioritise action items that impact your work performance in order to address the variations that have been previously identified.
Different resources that were planned for during the first phase of work schedule development may need to be reassigned to accommodate the new action items. In the course of reassigning resources, changes in expectations and accountabilities may be made.
Based on the work tasks that remain on your personal work schedule, assess if any of them need to have more or less time allocated to them. You can base your assessment from your new priorities and how long it actually takes you to do those tasks. It is important for you to establish reasonable timelines to still ensure the successful completion of your assigned work tasks.
In line with changes in timeframes, the projected due dates for your assigned work tasks may change. At times it may be necessary to push back these due dates to still maintain quality work performance. Consider speaking with the stakeholders involved with regard to any major changes.
Case Study
Assume that you are still the general manager of human resources at Bounce Fitness and that you were unable to accomplish your scheduled task of allocating work roles among your team members.
Because you were able to identify early on that you were not able to accomplish allocating roles, you have documentation to base your next actions items. Since then, you have decided to move the due date of the task and allocate roles after the completion of other, higher priority work tasks assigned to you.
Adjusting the projected due date of your work task is considered an action item that would need to be communicated to relevant personnel, specifically the team members who will be allocated new roles. It is possible that they have prepared schedules relating to how they will prepare for the new allocated roles, but since they will not be assigned roles yet, they may need to work on another task for the meantime.
After making necessary changes and updating your personal work schedule to accommodate these new action items, you need to carefully document these changes. Ensure that all stakeholders involved in your work tasks should be aware of these changes and have a means of accessing this information for their reference.
These changes might impact their own personal work schedules as well, so it is best to take quick action and inform them as soon as possible.
- Reviewing a personal work schedule involves seeking and evaluating feedback on actual work performance, analysing variations between expected and actual work performance, and updating personal work schedule to accommodate any changes.
- Feedback provides a variety of perspectives on actual work performance. It is usually composed of a person's highlights, lowlights, and areas of improvement when performing a work task.
- Evaluating feedback is necessary to determine its overall effect on work performance. Feedback should be evaluated according to influence, validity, and reliability.
- Analysing variations between expected and actual work performance involves self-assessment using all the data that has been gathered during planning and implementation.
- Self-assessment should end with a set of goals and corresponding action items that aim to address the variations that have been documented.
- Changes in your personal work schedule will occur to accommodate the action items. These changes, when properly implemented, will ensure that assigned work tasks will be completed successfully in a timely manner.
Activity 1
Activity 2
The world rewards those who take responsibility for their own successCurt Gerrish
Being able to develop a personal work schedule will greatly help in your abilities to manage your workload and your time effectively. A personal work schedule gives structure to your work tasks and allows you to focus on what is required to perform at a level that is expected of you. By being able to appropriately plan and prepare for your work schedule, your work tasks become more organised and less overwhelming to tackle.
The development of a personal work schedule does not stop at implementation. Continuous improvement is something that should be regularly strived for at the workplace. It is important that you are able to apply this to yourself as part of a workgroup. By monitoring and documenting your own work performance, you will be able to practise self-assessment and realise any improvement that you can make.
Improvement is not something done individually. Your peers, especially those who are closely involved with your work tasks, will be able to give their insights to your performance. These insights may prove valuable as others are able to look out for things you may have missed. Be sure to incorporate these improvements to your personal work schedule accordingly.
