Journals in the Workplace

I am of Filipino heritage -- an Asian who has lived and worked amongst North Americans for more than 2 decades now.  It is a common perception in the Western world that Asians are meek and mild and I am aware that some people think I am that way, but those who know me well are very much aware that I am not like that.  I speak my mind, I am proud of my achievements and I revel in my successes.

At my workplace a new academic year starts again this week. A new year, a new start.  I have been reading-up on performance evaluations (in conjunction with a project I currently have) and by coincidence, my performance appraisal is also in process.  Due to all of these happening at the same time, I am writing this post to talk to you about how making journaling a major part of the performance management process is important.

For the Employee: Having a well-maintained journal not just of your accomplishments and successes but also of your challenges as they occur, will ensure that you can provide real examples on your self-evaluation.  It will also make you ready during the evaluation meeting with your supervisor. You and your supervisor can compare notes and have a more effective evaluation meeting where you get to see each others' perspectives.  These journal notes can range from thank you emails from clients and colleagues, project completions, career aspirations, training goals, etc. A very good project turn-out will not be fresh in your mind six months from now, so journalize, journalize, journalize. 

For the Supervisor:  It would be perfect if as a supervisor you maintain a journal on each of your reports. These could be take-off points for coaching and mentoring. As a supervisor, you could also use these notes to identify and address a performance issue at an early stage and help the employee before it becomes a success-blocker. 

A good performance evaluation meeting is a meeting of "planning ahead", not a meeting of 'looking back", and these journal notes will be excellent tools for that.

Start journaling.