Annual Performance Review

This Is Your time to Share Your Transformation, Growth and Value

Succulents have the ability to thrive with relatively minimal care, survive unfavorable periods , and retain sustenance (water) to enable growth under tough conditions. Annual Performance Review processes provide the opportunity to demonstrate growth, tenacity and transformation.

Who wouldn’t embrace the chance to shine a light on their contributions each year and craft their personal story into the permanent record? It seems like a no‑brainer—an opportunity that people should jump at.

Sadly, not everyone has been mentored to realize the value (not just monetarily) of formulating a personal story of performance. The numbers don’t lie, but many times there are key factors that help paint a permanent record of the successes, challenges or unforeseen events faced during the year (such as staff or leadership vacancies, power outages, weather events, etc.) This is not a time for boasts or excuses, but for understanding long‑range events that presented substantial impediments and the solutions implemented. Challenges and failures should represent times of growth.

Drafting annual stories of development and transformation should be a major priority. What would you like others to appreciate about your commitment to guests, colleagues, and peers and your ability to meet financial goals? The people who report to you, also deserve your energy and focus to help mentor the skills necessary to tell their stories.

Keep in mind, when applying for a position with the same company at a different location, the hiring managers will have access to and will review annual performance comments and results. What story will they read about your thoroughness, care, and ability to meet objectives?

Why This Is Important

Annual performance reviews are often treated as a formality, but they are one of the few places where your story becomes part of the permanent record. Without your voice, that story can shrink to a single number and a quick comment.

When you write a thoughtful narrative:

• You show how you navigated real‑world challenges, not just ideal conditions.

• You connect the dots between your daily work and long‑term results.

• You give future hiring managers and leaders a clear picture of who you are becoming, not just who you were this year.

In the Succulent series, this is where all your careful “water‑saving” pays off. Your Month in Review and Your Book have been quietly storing evidence of your growth. The annual review is where you weave those coils into a visible shape. Like Succulent, your story is not static; even after hard seasons, you are still capable of unfolding into a more resilient form.

Let's Review a Sample Goal

Goal:

Meet or exceed budgeted Total Housekeeping Labor Productivity of .73

What not to do: “0.64”

I have observed leaders simply fill in a number and move on, typing in the actual productivity number (or other goal result) with no story or explanation.

What to do:

Mid‑Year Comments – On‑Target: 0.64 Productivity

As of June 30th, we in the housekeeping department have used 134,030 hours of labor on a budget of 152,924 versus last year of 160,743 hours of overall hourly labor, which comes out to be a Housekeeping Productivity of 0.64. Our year‑to‑date OT has been reduced by 43.1% YOY in housekeeping with an overall rooms savings of 53.1%, which is a savings of $51,880 in housekeeping. In the first six months, we have changed our onboarding / ABC’s to be more hands‑on with the inspectors, so the inspectors can turn the rooms at a faster rate with limited efforts of fixing cleanliness issues. Our training manager has also adjusted our onboarding to be more hands‑on during the first two weeks of the training in overall ABC’s and even Deep Cleaning training.

Comparing the two responses—note that they both exceed the goal— but ask yourself:

• If you were a hiring manager, which applicant would you prefer to screen first?

• If you were the direct supervisor of this person, which performance review text would you prefer to use to evaluate the leader’s skill and growth?

• What do the two responses communicate?

It’s a Simple Concept

You are the best person to tell your story. Know your metric goals and work your results each day. Track daily, weekly, monthly, and year‑to‑date results. If you are able, “save up your water" like a succulent for dry, arid times, make plans to do so. Make notes, articulate results. Track histories and measure successes and failures. Document Month in Reviews and event plans. Examine and analyze data points to gain insights. Use insights to make the next plan better. Then be ready to articulate your story, your growth, and your results in your performance review cycles.

A Story of Results

I have encouraged my direct reporting leaders to live this philosophy with not only their annual performance reviews—but also pass this down to their leaders. This is an annual opportunity that should be embraced.

As the General Manager of the Senior Community, one of my outstanding leaders produced the most thorough annual review I had ever encountered. It was detailed and well‑written. I could not suggest any edits to improve the content. She understood the assignment and the point of my mentorship. She was rated superior in her performance.

Two months later, I was asked to nominate a leader for recognition as a top senior living industry business leader by a senior living industry avocate organization. My thoughts automatically went to this leader. On the nomination form, I edited her own words from her annual performance review to describe why she deserved this recognition above all others in the state of Michigan. She won the award.

Call to Action: Tell the Story of Your Year

If you are a leader, consider this your invitation:

• Start with your Month in Review documents. Look back over the year’s monthly snapshots. What patterns, challenges, and wins stand out?

• Open Your Book. Pull out a few projects, data points, and compliments that best show your growth and impact.

• For each key goal, go beyond the number. Write a short paragraph like the housekeeping example: the context, the actions you took, the results, and what you learned.

You don’t need pages and pages. You just need enough detail to make your story real.

In demanding, “arid” work environments, this practice doesn’t have to be perfect or elaborate. Even a modest, honest annual story—rooted in your Month in Review and Your Book—is enough “water” to help your value, your growth, and your resilience stay visible.

Like Succulent, your career is built layer by layer and changing through transformation and growth. Each Month in Review, each page in Your Book, and each thoughtful annual review comment is another coil. Together, they reveal that even in tough seasons, you were still growing, still valid, and still beautiful in your reimagining.