Have you ever wondered the secrets to the performance evaluations of the organization’s top performers? What are they doing to get the top pay increases and promotions? Chances are they do more then just show up to work on time, or meet deadlines. High performance review scores required not only recognizing their strengths, but also areas of developmental opportunities. Here are just a few of the skills you can work on to improve your performance review scores.

Learn to take the initiative. Performing assigned tasks is an expectation. Correctly completing tasks by the due date is considered to be “fully achieving” your job. In order to improve your performance evaluation score, it’s necessary to take it to the next level – take initiative.

What does taking initiative look like? Taking the initiative means looking for creative and innovative ways to increase productivity. It could mean taking courses to increase your job knowledge. Taking initiative could also be challenging current policies and procedures and devising a way to do the work faster and at a lower cost to the company. Taking initiative does not mean necessarily mean taking blind risks, but rather well thought out and calculated risks designed to improve performance.

Learn to identify internal and external customer needs. It’s not enough to simply meet customer expectations, it’s about exceeding them. This includes not only professionally handling critical situations; it also means anticipating potential problems. Learning customer’s likes, dislikes and patterns helps to identify their needs.

Learn to communicate effectively with all levels of the organization. If you freeze or launch into babble mode when addressed by a member of senior management, you need to work on your comfort level and communication skills. Having the ability to express your thoughts, respond to upper management, opens many doors.

Understand your role within the organization and act accordingly. Do you see the organization’s big picture? Do you understand your role within that picture? For example, statistical reports are due to the CEO by Friday. Prior to submission, they need to be reviewed by your manager. Don’t wait until the close of business on Thursday to turn them in. Give your manager enough review time. Understand the impact your performance has on the success of others.

Do not only "maintain" quality, but improve it. It’s all about continuous quality improvement to retain and gain new customers. A report that only contains “a few errors” because you’re “only human” is not acceptable. Strive for perfection. You may not get 100% but the attitude adjustment will definitely help performance and output.

Why are these skills important to improve your performance evaluation scores? Getting to work on time, turning in reports on the due date won’t cut it. Simply put, improving your score involves looking above and beyond. Understand your role within the organization and strive to be the foundation which helps others and the organization be successful. Improving your performance evaluation score is not about maintaining status quo it’s about anticipating needs and thinking forward.