Well, it’s that time of year again.

No, I don’t mean the holidays. I’m talking about performance review season!

I know, I know, just try to contain your excitement.

While sitting down to write a self-evaluation may not be the highlight of your end of year celebrations, this is your opportunity to advocate for yourself and the work that you have done this year. And here's how you can give it the thought it deserves.

A good self evaluation and your resume actually have a lot in common. They’re both intended to help you sell your skills and accomplishments.

And to help you do that, I recommend using the ARK method. ARK stands for Action, Result, Knowledge, and together, these pillars are the building blocks of a strong success statement.

When it comes time to craft your success statements for your self-evaluation, here’s what you’ll want to keep in mind.

ACTION

The action answers the question, “what did you do?”

Here’s an example of how you’d refer to the action in your success statement:

“I managed our office reopening by leading a cross functional team to successfully reopen our offices to employees.”

Now, the action is important, it’s the anchor that holds the rest of the statement together. But the  most common mistake people make is that they stop at the action. The action is only part of the story.

RESULT

Next, you’re going to include the result by answering the question, “what happened as a result of the action you completed?”

You’ll want to be as specific as possible when it comes to sharing your results. Ideally, you’ll have a numerical metric you can point to here, but if not, describe anything that was achieved as a direct result of your work.

Here’s an example of the statement I shared above, but this time, with the result included:

“I managed our office reopening by leading a cross functional team to successfully reopen our offices ahead of our five week schedule and with positive feedback from employees. On average, employees rated their satisfaction with the service they received as a 4.7/5.”

KNOWLEDGE

Now, to really take this success statement to the next level, you’re going to answer the question, “What knowledge did you acquire. because of that action and/or result?”

This is your opportunity to not only show your accomplishments, but to also point out how you’ve grown in your role, or the new skills you have gained. This piece is particularly essential if you are seeking out a promotion. To achieve a promotion, you’re going to have to prove the contributions you’ve made and highlight how you’ve grown to achieve them.

Here’s an example of a success statement that uses all three of our ARK pillars:

“I evolved from an individual contributor into a project manager by managing our office reopening and leading a cross functional team to successfully reopen our offices ahead of our five week schedule and with positive feedback from employees. On average, employees rated their satisfaction with the service they received as a 4.7/5.”

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you treat your self-evaluation like a box you need to check, that is all it will ever be. But if you use it as your opportunity to advocate for yourself and tell the story behind what you’ve accomplished this year, it can be your ticket to that next level you’ve been reaching for.

Happy Performance Season!