It’s eval season, and whether you’re writing your own or one of your sailor’s, sometimes it’s hard to come up with enough accomplishments to fill the block. The things we do every day just don’t seem out of the ordinary or worthy of a performance report, but they are! The things that all of us do every day are essential to the continued success of our Navy. If you haven’t been keeping track weekly on your brag sheet you may be stuck staring at a blank 18 lines not knowing where to start. The way to overcome this natural writer’s block is to brainstorm first. List all the accomplishments on a separate sheet of paper. Write down everything that was done, anything that might qualify as a bullet. Nothing is too small or mundane. Make sure off-duty education, duty qualification, community involvement, and training is addressed too. Here are 4 hacks that will help;
1. Don’t be reluctant to claim credit for any achievements that you weren’t 100% responsible for. Most workcenter accomplishments require the efforts of many people and are the product of teamwork. If you had any part in an accomplishment, you are allowed to claim it and list it as an accomplishment. A supervisor will often reuse the same accomplishments, over and over, to beef up several people’s evals so it’s not unexpected or unprecedented. As a rule of thumb, if you had any part in an achievement, from documenting it in a log to turning a wrench, you can claim it. So claim everything and let your supervisor sort it out. And don’t worry that your supervisor will scrutinize your inputs and dispute your claims. It doesn’t happen. A supervisor is much more concerned with getting decent material for your Eval than with analyzing which person contributed the most to this or that project.
2. Start your weekly Brag Sheet updates today! Its never too late and you’ll thank yourself later. Throughout the year, as you do things of significance, write it in your brag sheet. Include the date and description of what you did. Name the file “spunky monkey 2014” or “brag sheet 2015”. It doesn’t really matter. Save it on your desktop and when it’s time to write your evals, you will have had everything written throughout the year. That’s when its time to really use Navfit98 and make yourself shine. Its amazing how many “small” things you forgot only to see it on paper and say “Oh yeah, I did that!”
3. Write your own eval. As much as I hate to admit this, it really helps. Even if you’re not asked to, turning in a printed brag sheet or Navfit rough draft full of details will impress your supervisor or Chief. This will show that you care about your career and professional development. Watch that grammar though! Turning in a carefully drafted sheet will show your writing skills as proof of your writing communication skills.
4. Use the tools on Navy Tribe. If your writing skills aren’t up to snuff then check out…….Eval Bullets (Performance) (Enders) and Eval Plugs. And be sure to sign up for our posts and follow us on Facebook!