The end of the year is often associated with the rush of tasks at work, a dense atmosphere, which is supported by often hectic preparations for the holidays. Finding a little time in this hustle and bustle to calmly reflect on what has befallen us throughout the year can be difficult. However, it is worth making for yourself, albeit briefly, a summary of what we have learned in a given year, both in the personal and professional field. We can do it in the form of a simple reflection made in the home comfort of an armchair or write down some questions to ourselves, which we will also answer in writing. Another version is to talk with loved ones and exchange experiences. For example, they may be from the same professional background. The main thing is not to put crazy pressure on yourself - thoughts are supposed to serve as a guide for next year and be a moment to stop in the rush. If we take it as another ambitious task, we can quickly get discouraged by this type of action, especially since at the end of the year we like to give ourselves a little respite.
Own plan of summaries: ideas
Individual and external perspective: Thinking about the past year, it is worth focusing not only on the individual factors that influenced your life and career. It is also worth taking into account external, global factors, such as economic crises or politics - they influence how the labor market and the professional area are shaped. Some things are directly influenced and others are the result of actions where our agency is limited. Therefore, it is worth separating these two perspectives; imagining the field of influence is embedding oneself in reality and favors the planning of changes.
Questions: Asking yourself questions often forces answers that are stuck inside. Sometimes these are less convenient questions, perhaps those that for some reason we avoid throughout the year, but they are often the ones that lead us to the right path of reflection. Business psychologist Andrzej Tucholski recently shared such examples of questions on his Instagram account. Here are some of them that do not strictly relate to the professional situation, but will help us to understand our situation in general and our level of well-being in life:
- How successful have I been? What did I get, what did I work out?
- What would I have been able to do if I had been doing this for a year, and then a year ago I wanted to take care of it in my head?
- What did I spend too little time on, and could I do more?
- What do I spend too much time on, and could I spend less time on?
- Did I care (more or less equally) about my development: material, emotional, physical, spiritual and mental?
Other questions worth asking yourself are:
- Where am I now?
- What has changed since last year?
- What have I achieved despite the challenges?
- How do I feel about my career now?
- How can I feel better next year?
Changes: Looking at your habits and routines is a very important thing in the context of change. Sometimes something becomes a habit without our awareness. This can be, for example, postponing more difficult tasks at work to the last minute, avoiding risky conversations or not being regular in taking breaks at work. It also happens that we have developed healthy routines, such as taking care of our work environment and body, for example by organizing breaks from the screens of devices or following a previously created work schedule.
Self-assessment: When we look at the above activities and analyze our year-long condition in relation to them, the full picture of events becomes clear to us. We can then refer to them one by one, interpreting our habits and looking at our emotional attitude towards them. Sometimes, although not every habit is perfect, changing it is not significant enough to take such an action by force. At the same time, it is worth prioritizing what we are doing, establishing a hierarchy of importance of changes.
Gratitude: Practicing gratitude is a healthy and uplifting activity that sets us up for the next year. It teaches us to notice positive changes and to notice small gestures, such as those from the team we work with. Thanks to it, we can feel that the place where we work is really for us. However, if gratitude is not enough, it can be a signal that the professional situation in which we find ourselves requires a life revolution.
Psychological traps
Can carrying out individual summaries be harmful to us? According to psychological research, engaging in self-reflection is a mental process in which we focus extremely strongly on ourselves. We become self-centered, we focus on the first-person narrative, we don't separate emotions from facts, which can make it harder for us to realistically assess our experiences. This makes us anxious about ruminations, we take many things personally “too much”, we feel overwhelmed by impressions. Psychology proposes the study of distance, which helps us to get closer from the available, the experiential and the here and now and from a healthy distance to evaluate what has already passed. Such an interpretation, also in the professional field, will help us avoid cognitive errors, false beliefs and excessively negative evaluation of ourselves and will help in a real, sober assessment of our situation.
Distancing develops our self-control and self-regulation skills, as evidenced by numerous psychological studies. Recent research shows that an abstract approach to the problem favors the prioritization of long-term goals at the expense of short-term ones. A similar mechanism is illustrated by Ury's metaphor of “going out on the balcony” in negotiations, where adopting an observer attitude allows for a better understanding of the needs of both parties and finding more satisfying solutions (Kross, Ong, & Ayduk, 2023).
Annual evaluation of employees
Annual performance appraisals are structured assessments used by employers to analyze the performance of their employees throughout the year. Through them, a formal path of constructive criticism and dialogue is formed, in which topics such as results, achievements, potential, areas for improvement, career path and efficiency and effectiveness can be addressed.
What's most important about employees' annual work summaries is their structural nature; it's not just a 1:1 conversation about performance, but a complete picture of the work for the entire year. Such an analysis allows you to trace changes, progress at work, difficult moments, strategies for dealing with problems or actions that have failed.
An essential part of such a summary meeting is its interchangeable nature. When the employer presents his assessment, the key is the attitude of the employee to it - that is, how he sees his experience collected throughout the year, what he agrees with, what raises his doubts and what he would like to change in his work system. Thanks to mutual involvement, such a dialogue has a chance to become a great basis for New Year's plans and resolutions in the company, especially if the employer takes into account all the concluded summary conversations with employees.
In the culture of the organization, however, it is essential that managers build a healthy practice of learning as a process, including mini-summaries carried out throughout the year.
Here are some tips for employers:
- Transmit knowledge of self-reflection and assessment techniques. Provide resources to illustrate unit and team analysis.
- Foster a learning culture that shows clear leadership support in engaging in self-assessment practices.
- Introduce the practice of self-reflection on work into your year-round plan.
What makes us end the year at work in a good atmosphere can be called The power of thanks. It is useful to include them in communication with the team, for example by means of text messages. Mutual gratitude shows that we remember each other, respect each other and appreciate the results achieved together.
It is enough to weave a thank you in the New Year's wishes to end the year elegantly and amicably. For example: With the New Year approaching, I would like to take a moment to reflect on all that our team has achieved. Thank you for all your hard work and send you the best wishes in the New Year.
summary
When analyzing the past year, it is worth focusing on the full picture of your achievements - only in this way will we capture the context and not let negative thoughts overwhelm us, and at the same time give ourselves space for real assessment.
As Jobs Door, we also wish you, our readers, our best wishes for the coming year. We thank you for your presence and insights and wish that every moment of self-reflection — personal and professional — will bring fruitful and positive changes in the New Year!
Sources
- https://www.omnihr.co/blog/end-of-year-employee-review-examples
- https://hbr.org/2023/12/how-to-create-your-own-year-in-review
- https://f.hubspotusercontent40.net/hubfs/9253440/Asset%20PDFs/Promotions_Assets_Whitepapers/BetterUp_Reflection.pdf
- https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031921-024406
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/careers-and-beyond/202406/add-new-event-repeat-every-year-career-reflection-day
- https://www.instagram.com/p/DEChebIot95/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA ==
