Available each year from March 15 through March 31, the self-assessment kicks off the annual appraisal season, with an opportunity for performance-eligible employees to weigh in on their achievements to close out the previous performance year.

All EHRA Non-Faculty and SHRA employees (part-time and full-time, time-limited and permanent) who have worked at the University for at least six months (before Oct. 1) prior to the end of the performance appraisal cycle (March 31).

The assessment asks the following four questions:

• Describe your accomplishments for the review period. As you do so, think about the people who are impacted by your work and note the outcomes you achieved for your customers, clients, communities or the University at large.
• Describe your performance on this review period’s individual and institutional goals. Include challenges you faced, what you learned and what you might do differently in the future.
• Complete any unit-specific self-assessment questions assigned by your manager or department (if applicable).
• Add any additional information that you would like considered for this review period.

Please note that on the self-assessment you can upload awards and certifications and other files and documentation as relevant.

Employees complete the self-assessment through the My Appraisal Task in Carolina Talent. See the Self-Assessment in Carolina Talent section below for more information.

The self-assessment allows you to pause and reflect on your work throughout the performance cycle, giving you an opportunity to evaluate your performance, progress and achievements. You can consider the goals you set at the beginning of the cycle, assess how well you have met them and identify any challenges you encountered along the way.

Self-reflection helps you gain a better understanding of your strengths, areas for improvement and areas where you have made a significant impact.

The self-assessment empowers you to take ownership of your performance and contribute to the evaluation process, creating a space for you to provide insights into your work, highlight accomplishments and share your perspective on your performance journey.

By actively participating in the self-assessment, you demonstrate your commitment to your personal and professional growth as well as your accountability for your own success.

During the self-assessment, you have the opportunity to identify and articulate your strengths and skills that have been instrumental in your performance. Recognizing your strengths enables you to leverage them further for personal and team success.

Similarly, you can reflect on areas where you may need improvement or further development. This self-awareness enables you to partner with your manager on identifying opportunities to enhance your skills and contribute even more effectively in the future.

Your self-assessment facilitates a more productive and positive conversation with your manager and provides a platform to share your insights, perspectives and aspirations.

By expressing your thoughts on your own performance and development, you contribute to a collaborative dialogue, ensuring that your manager has a comprehensive understanding of your work and providing a way for you to deliver valuable feedback.

Your self-assessment also reminds your manager of key milestones, along with the accomplishments and challenges, that occurred throughout the past year. It can also focus a manager’s attention on important details about what you enjoy about your work, including your interests and career goals.

The self-assessment informs the goal-setting process for the upcoming performance cycle.

By evaluating your performance and identifying areas for growth, you can propose meaningful goals that align with your aspirations and contribute to organizational objectives.

It also helps your manager better understand your developmental needs, enabling them to support your professional growth by providing relevant resources, project work, stretch assignments, networking opportunities, coaching, mentorship and training.

Begin by revisiting the goals set during the last review period:

• Assess whether these goals were met, partially met or perhaps not met, and consider the reasons behind each outcome.
• Identify the projects and initiatives you’ve been part of.
• Pinpoint your specific contributions within these projects.
• Quantify, where possible, the impact of your contributions using relevant metrics.

You can view your goals in Carolina Talent Performance > Goals.

Strategies to help you craft a thoughtful self-assessment:

• Focus on results. Emphasize the outcomes of your actions. For instance, instead of merely stating your involvement in a project, highlight the tangible results it achieved for your stakeholders, such as increased efficiency or customer satisfaction.
• Prioritize. Choose the accomplishments that best showcase your contributions and are most relevant to your role and to the review discussion.
• Aim for a balanced perspective. Identify your strengths and acknowledge areas where you can improve. Be honest but not overly self-critical.
• Go beyond listings. Rather than merely listing accomplishments, illustrate your achievements with specific instances that highlight your contributions and the skills you employed.
• Support your self-assessment with concrete examples and evidence. This approach not only validates your achievements but also provides a clear roadmap for your future development goals. Include challenges you faced, what you learned and what you would do differently.
• Maintain professionalism. Keep a professional tone throughout your self-assessment, avoiding any exaggeration or negative commentary about others.

While there is no prescribed format for your self-assessment responses, you may find it helpful to structure your responses using the STAR framework:

• Situation: Set the scene by briefly describing the context.
• Task: Clarify your role or responsibility.
• Action: Detail the specific actions you took.
• Result: Showcase the positive outcomes and their broader impact.

Regularly update progress toward your goals and feedback in Carolina Talent. This ongoing documentation will serve as a valuable resource when reflecting on your accomplishments and areas for growth.

The self-assessment is the first step in the My Appraisal task in Carolina Talent:

• Responses on the employee’s self-assessment will be saved and recorded as part of the annual appraisal document for the previous performance cycle.
• Managers will be able to view the employee’s self-assessment responses in Carolina Talent during the Manager Review step of the appraisal task.

The optional self-assessment is open in Carolina Talent Performance from March 15 to 31. During these two weeks, you can make changes to your answers even if you have already submitted them — just be sure to click the Submit button again or the system will keep your previous submission.

Be aware that after March 31, if the self-assessment was not previously submitted, any answers saved as a draft will automatically be submitted, even if you did not click the Submit button.

After March 31, employees will not be able to access the self-assessment task in Carolina Talent. Employees who missed the opportunity to complete the self-assessment may download and complete the template below to document their reflections on their performance for the past year. Email the completed file to your manager and request that they attach it to your annual performance appraisal in Carolina Talent.

• Employee Self-Assessment template (MS Word)

During the March 15-31 timeframe, you will receive the following automatic email notifications from Carolina Talent:

• Notification of that the task was assigned on March 15
• Due date notifications
• Every Friday for the period of March 15-31 (as part of the Carolina Talent weekly digest)
• 2 days before due date
• 1 day before due date
• The day of due date

Please encourage your team members to complete a self-assessment. Manager encouragement for this component in the performance process is important in creating a space for employees to openly share their challenges and development needs and to allocate time in the workday to complete this task.

Completing a well-balanced, constructive self-assessment takes an investment of time, and crafting a thoughtful self-assessment also requires being transparent about challenges, mistakes and shortcomings, a vulnerability that some employees may not feel comfortable with for a variety of reasons. Additionally, some employees may not have regular access to or use technology as part of their role.