Track your accomplishments

Being recognised at work is an on-going task and can be difficult unless you’re proactive.

It isn’t as simple as doing great work, being noticed, and having your work recognised. Your manager knows how hard you work, of course. They likely remember, roughly, your contribution to that big project you helped push over the finish line. However, they don’t remember all of the important things you have done since your last review.

You might not be able to remember either. Perhaps prior to review time you sit and think about what you’ve done; you go through email and finished documents to see what you have actually being doing over the last few months - this is a sign you need a process.

Track contributions

Maintaining a record of your accomplishments, a.k.a. “brag document”, will help you keep track of the important contributions you’ve made.

Whether it’s a process you’ve created, tested and rolled out, mentoring, or so on. I found the concept distasteful, to openly call a document a “brag document”, however, it solves a real problem. You and your manager will thank you for keeping track of accomplishments and contributions come review time.

I came across the concept from Will Larson, author of An Elegant Puzzle (highly recommended reading).

I had previously kept a rough list of contributions as I had observed the difficulty in recalling each accomplishment during reviews. Larson’s writing encouraged me to create a living document rather than something I filled in around review time - a habit which still suffered from the initial problem of omitting important contributions through faulty memory.

Come review time, you can share the document with your manager or refer to it as a private document. However you share it with your manager, they will appreciate the diligence as it will help them consider your progress.

Format

The format of the document is simple, as you complete contributions add a new line with one or two sentences describing brief detail, for example, its value and impact. Make adding new lines a weekly or bi-weekly habit so your accomplishments are fresh in your mind. Consider blocking a small amount of time in your calendar to ensure you form the habit.