Take Charge of Your Career: A Simple Guide to Tracking Your Own Performance

Many companies do not have a clear performance system for their employees.

This means you might not know how well you are doing or what steps you need to take next.

This guide shows you how to create your own performance tracker.

It is designed to be simple, fun, and useful for starting better conversations with your manager.

Set Your SMART Goals

Having clear, SMART goals helps you see what you want to achieve. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

This system makes your goals clear and easy to track (Doran, 1981; Locke & Latham, 2002).

Here’s how to do it:

Specific: Clearly define what you want to accomplish.
Measurable: Set a number or criteria that helps you see progress.
Achievable: Choose a goal that is realistic given your resources.
Relevant: Make sure the goal fits with your role and the company’s mission.
Time-bound: Set a deadline to keep you motivated.

How to Do It

Write Down Your Goals: List both short-term and long-term goals.
Match Your Goals with Your Company: Make sure your goals support the company’s mission.
Pick the Most Important Goals: Focus on goals that can make the biggest difference in your work.

Example

If you work in marketing, your goal could be to increase the click-through rate on a campaign by 20% this quarter. Such goal helps you grow and also supports your company’s growth (Locke & Latham, 2002).

Pick Simple Measures (KPIs)

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are numbers that show how well you are doing. They help you track your progress (Aguinis, 2013).

How to Choose Your KPIs

Select a Few Key Numbers: Pick measures that show progress (e.g., new leads, client feedback scores).
Set Targets: Decide what numbers you want to reach.
Decide When to Check: Choose if you will review your numbers weekly, monthly, or quarterly.

Example

A sales worker might track how many new leads they get each month. Setting a target of a 10% increase in new leads over six months gives you a clear goal (Pulakos, 2009).

Build Your Easy Tracker Template

Your tracker is a tool to help you see your progress. Here’s a simple way to set one up.

What to Include

Date: When did you record the data?
Goal/Objective: What are you trying to achieve?
KPI/Metric: The number you want to track.
Planned Action: What you planned to do.
Actual Outcome: What really happened.
Comments/Insights: What you learned.
Difference (Variance): A simple calculation (Actual Outcome minus KPI).

Talk to Your Manager About Your Tracker

Your tracker is a tool that can help you have better meetings with your boss. Here’s how to bring it up:

Steps to Pitch Your Tracker

Ask for a Meeting: Request a one-on-one with your manager.
Show Your Data: Use simple charts or tables to show your progress.
Celebrate Your Wins: Point out where you did well.
Discuss Challenges: Mention any areas that need improvement.
Ask for Ideas: Invite your manager to suggest ways to improve further.

Example Pitch

“I tracked my performance over the last quarter and saw a 50% improvement in client engagement after changing our strategy. I’d like to discuss how we can build on this success.”

By setting SMART goals, choosing a few simple measures, and building an easy-to-use tracker, you can take control of your successes.

This simple guide shows you how to measure your success and use it to have better talks with your manager.

Your career growth is in your hands!

Sources

Aguinis, H. (2013). Performance management (3rd ed.). Pearson Education.
Doran, G. T. (1981). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review, 70(11), 35–36.
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2001). The strategy-focused organization: How balanced scorecard companies thrive in the new business environment. Harvard Business School Press.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705–717.
Pulakos, E. D. (2009). Performance management: A new approach for driving business results. Wiley-Blackwell.

Take Charge of Your Career: A Simple Guide to Tracking Your Own Performance