How to Show the Results of Your Work

Elliott met with his boss in January to set annual goals for his role. He knows it’s important to follow up to show tangible progress, but he isn’t sure of the best way to report his quantitative and qualitative results.

Proving that you hit your marks can lead to more money. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), incentive-pay plans can account for anywhere from 5% to 40% of your salary, depending on your position. (Hourly workers’ pay is the least tied to incentives, with CEOs at the top of the spectrum.) That’s why it’s so important to track and be able to prove what you’ve accomplished.

Career experts warn against assuming that your boss already knows about your wins. Even the most engaged managers divide their attention between other employees and responsibilities. The onus is on you to clue your boss in.

Here are our tips for reporting your results.

Plan for the follow-up.

Many people leave goal-setting conversations without booking a later time to report their progress. Each time you talk about goals with your boss, schedule the next meeting — any time in  the following one to three months is a good interval. In those follow-ups, review the goals and show quantitative and qualitative progress on each of them. This is also a good time to bring up anything significant you’ve accomplished that wasn’t on the list of goals and to discuss whether the original goals are still relevant or need to be tweaked.

"Don’t leave the conversation for the last minute,” says Carlos Cuadrado Ortiz, a career coach at Korn Ferry Advance. “Your boss should already know what you’ve accomplished once you’re discussing raises and promotions.”

Focus on measurable results.

Quantitative results are the best way to show your impact in a way that will translate all the way up the organizational ladder. Career experts recommend showing a mix of large- and small-scale wins. “Smaller-scale wins can set you up to explain some qualitative results that aren’t as visible at first glance,” Ortiz says.

Make a special effort to highlight occasions when you saved the company time or money — or when you took initiative and did more than what was required.

Back up measurable results with the ‘why.’

Qualitative results show why the numbers matter. Let your manager know which skills you used to accomplish your quantitative goals — soft skills included. If your boss isn’t already aware of the skills you consider to be your greatest strengths or natural abilities, bring that up in the conversation. You can also discuss which skills you want to build and set up an upskilling plan.

Use your results to set ongoing goals.

Goals don’t always work on a calendar-year timeline, starting in January and wrapping up in December. Every time you meet to share your progress, discuss the projects that were most important for your manager and for the company, as well as the projects that energized you most. Then set a few new goals that fall at the intersection of their needs and your enjoyment. “Goals will be easier to accomplish if the challenge energizes you,” Ortiz says.