Free Sample Letters - Proposals - Reports - Documenting Your Own Accomplishments - Guidelines

Documenting Your Own Accomplishments to Colleagues and Superiors

Guidelines and Alternate Phrases

Give the big-picture message of your overall contribution to the company or division.

Present the specific facts to back up your claims.

Interpret the significance of your accomplishments: Is this the first such achievement? Has this new training prepared you for specific new assignments or promotions? If so, which ones? Will this skill or idea save money? How much? Does this idea, discovery, program, or procedure have other applications that can be investigated further for use in other departments? Never take for granted that your reader will “interpret” the significance of your contribution or training and reward you accordingly.

We’ve had the highest overall growth rate in the last decade.

This is a 22 percent increase in our newest product line.

This marketing effort brought in 68 new clients, the most significant “new-business” effort in the past two years.

This additional program means we now have 85 percent of our work force trained in supervisory skills.

Mention dates, where appropriate, to prevent someone else from claiming credit for your discovery or suggestion at a later time.

Be modest, yet confident in tone. Also, rather than repeatedly using “I” in mentioning your activities, you may use the passive voice for the sake of modesty: “Accounts payable have been reconciled” rather than “I have reconciled accounts payable.”

Thank others for their help in achieving the goal.

To each one of you, my sincerest thanks.

To each one of you: You have gained my utmost respect.

Without the expertise of our engineering staff, this new model would still be “chasing around in my subconscious.”

I thank each of you for your individual contributions to the project.

With your continued support and input, we plan to continue this same pattern of achievement.

If you have several accomplishments to mention, use informative headings and lists for the reader’s easy skimming and recall. You want him or her to be able to get the “big picture” at a glance.