Are you documenting?

How are you doing on your documentation?  Most managers know they should be continually documenting the positive, constructive, and neutral events that illustrate an employee's performance. This documentation becomes the basis for the end-of-year performance evaluation.In the rush of our busy lives, it's easy to put the task of documenting at the bottom of the to-do list.  Here are a few ideas related to performance documentation that should make this task a little easier:

·         Keep a hard copy file for each employee so that you have a place to keep those "free" items of documentation such as written reports, letters of commendation, and notes from others.

·         Keep an electronic file to hold emails, work samples, or other pieces of documentation that come to you in electronic form.  Write "notes to yourself" via email and file them in electronic folders.

·         Start recording performance observations directly on your appointment calendar (electronic or hard copy) on the dates the events occur.

·         Schedule an appointment with yourself each week (Friday afternoons work well) to remind yourself to document a few thoughts about each employee's most recent performance. 

·         Ask employees to help you keep good records by having them forward regular work updates or a weekly or monthly summary of accomplishments.

·         Encourage the employee to keep a “me” file where they can keep their own performance records throughout the rating period.

It's not too late to start keeping better documentation!  Making one note per employee per week will yield over 50 notes per year.  Start now and you'll be happy you did come performance evaluation time.