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Great leaders learn lessons every year by completing an annual assessment — All the Way Leadership Blog
Wow — it is already the end of December. 2024 is over. The clock has expired on both your professional and personal yearly goals. The last week of the year is usually slow for many leaders. That means you have time to reflect on the past year. It is time for you to complete an annual assessment. I am not talking about the one that your boss completes and gets submitted to HR. No — this is when you reflect and codify the important leadership lessons you learned in 2024. The best leaders I know are learning leaders.
How was 2024 for you?
It is hard to believe that 2024 is already over. You may be scratching your head, wondering where the time went. The main question worth pondering is how did 2024 go for you. If you are like me, you have made solid progress on some of your goals for the year. Unfortunately, it is not all good news. I made little to no progress on several goals. Well, it is time to do something about that. It's time to get ready for 2025.
How do you complete an annual assessment?
There are many ways to complete an annual assessment. Choose whatever method works best for you. The process I am recommending has five primary steps, as described below. It should take only an hour or two. I also recommend you record your results.
- Write down your top wins. Start your annual review positively by listing your wins from 2024. What is a win? Anything that went well.
- Measure your progress against your goals. Review your annual goals and honestly assess your progress. I recommend being a hard grader.
- Evaluate how your year went. Think about the various things that happened during the last year. Ponder questions like what worked? What didn’t and why?
- Make adjustments for the next year. You want to…
