Self evaluation examples and the Self-Review game

Writing to HR’s rules

Each round deals you 16 lines to build a self-assessment from. Some you could file for real, and some you’d regret. HR adds its rules one at a time, such as at least 20 words, a number in 2 lines, or no “I” anywhere. A rule your lines already pass is waved through. The earlier rules keep counting, so the line that settles rule 6 can break rule 2.

Under each line, in pen, are the tags HR counts this round: number, team, hedge, bold claim. Word rules read the words themselves, so a line with “we” in it passes the rule that wants a “we” whatever its tags say.

Scoring a filed review

A rule that still passes when the round ends earns 100 points. A standard round has 9 rules and a speed bonus that starts at 300 and drops a point every second. File the review with all 9 passing and you keep what’s left of the bonus, for up to 1,200. Walk away and you keep 100 for each rule passing so far, with no bonus.

Before you start, the panel shows which recipe the round plays. A calibration week bonus drops 2 points a second, and a mid-year check-in deals fewer rules. A solo round can also be an unlabeled form, with no tags on the lines at all.

Everyone gets the same rules and lines each day. A solo round deals a new set whenever you like, skipping rules you’ve met lately.

How to adapt these examples

The examples below are written to be used, so none of them is a joke. Every number is a placeholder, so put your own result in its place. Name specific results, put a number on them, and tie them to a team or company goal. Then name an area to improve and the step you’ll take.

Success can be measured by impact, quantity, quality, accuracy, timeliness, budget or customer satisfaction. Pick the two or three your job is judged on. The review can be short and still work, as long as each line is specific.

Examples that show impact

• Cut average ticket response time from 2 days to 4 hours.
• Closed 14 new accounts in Q3, 3 above target.
• Delivered the office move 8% under budget and on time.
• Raised customer satisfaction scores from 4.1 to 4.6.
• Rewrote our help articles in plain language, and tickets dropped 10%.
• Brought standard contract review down from 10 days to 3.
• Kept the Q4 forecast within 3% of actuals.
• Cut team travel costs by 20% by moving check-ins online.

Examples that show ownership

• Took over a late project and delivered it within 6 weeks.
• Owned the billing migration end to end, from plan to launch.
• Took on the support backlog when the team was short-staffed.
• Took responsibility for the June outage and led the review.
• Made an invoicing error, told the client first, and fixed it.
• Proactively flagged budget risks 2 months before quarter end.
• Owned renewals for 20 accounts and kept 19.

Examples that show teamwork

• Mentored 3 new hires through their first 90 days.
• Wrote the onboarding guide every new hire now starts with.
• Covered a colleague’s accounts during their leave without dropping any.
• Coordinated a cross-functional launch with product, sales and legal.
• Built a dashboard the whole team now checks every Monday.
• Helped the design and sales teams settle a long dispute over priorities.

Examples that show growth

• Asked 5 peers for feedback and changed how I run handoffs.
• Learned SQL to answer my own data questions.
• Acted on last year’s feedback and now share drafts earlier.
• Learned to check assumptions early after a costly misread.
• Area to improve: catching small errors before I hit send.
• Goal for next year: finish the project management certification.
• Next year I want to lead a project from start to finish.

Rules that fight each other

The game’s rules contradict each other on purpose. One rule wants humility, another wants a bold claim, and a third caps the whole thing at 75 words. The review ends up written for a calibration meeting that hasn’t read it yet.

Two rules that can’t both pass never come in the same round, so nobody asks you to hedge and to never hedge. It will still ask for ownership in 2 lines and leave some for your manager.

Words that score

Some rules only check for words. Say “impact”, write “proactively” and never write “busy”. Most are corporate buzzwords that come back every review cycle, and one of the 200 lines lets you move the needle, then move it back to be safe. A review can pass every word rule and still say nothing about the year.

Two weeks for one page

One university’s self-assessment form tells supervisors to give staff at least two weeks to write it. The game gives you a speed bonus that runs out in 5 minutes. For a form whose rules move while you fill it in, try The Application.