hough your annual employee review may be months away, now’s a great time for you to put yourself inyour manager’s seat and take a hard look at your performance. And not just because it’s the season for setting resolutions—if you care about and want to own your career, you simply cannot let the employer’s performance review cycle dictate when you come up with goals or review your progress. Instead, you should treat the corporate performance management process as a supplement to your own ongoing self-assessment.

So, how can you get started? For one, it will be helpful to have an Individual Development Plan (IDP) to map out your vision for yourself. An IDP is a strategic plan that encourages you to identify in writing your goals, the steps you must take to reach them, your strengths and your weaknesses. It requires you to think about what makes you happy and how you would like to see yourself grow, as well as what’s necessary to move on to the next level. What’s more, it’s an opportunity to give yourself credit for how far you’ve come; recognizing success is just as important as identifying what you must work on.

I’ve included a blank template of an IDP here. The document can be as fluid and as real-time as you need it to be. There are no review cycles that you must adhere to, though you should periodically check in to ensure that you are progressing as planned, and to see if the goals you’ve set for yourself still hold true given your current environment and opportunities. Keep in mind that every goal you set should be purposeful and result in a tangible benefit. This IDP can also be applied to your personal life.
Words from the wise: “Life is short. Time is finite. Don’t waste it.”

Happy goal setting!

Pei-Cen Lin, CPA, SPHR, is a strategic talent management and organizational development professional in the human resources field. She can be reached at pei-cen.lin@nysscpa.org.