Tips for Administrative Professionals to Prepare for Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are high-stakes opportunities for administrative professionals to advocate for their own career growth, and thorough preparation makes the difference between a passive evaluation and a meaningful professional conversation. Effective preparation starts weeks before the meeting by documenting specific accomplishments, projects, and contributions from the review period—concrete examples rather than general impressions. Identifying challenges you navigated and what you learned from them demonstrates growth and self-awareness. Preparing thoughtful questions about expectations, career opportunities, and feedback shows engagement and initiative. Reviewing your job description and any previously set goals ensures the conversation is grounded in agreed-upon expectations. Having a draft of your own SMART goals for the next period turns the review into a forward-looking development conversation. Stacy Leitner, a nationally and internationally recognized executive assistant and City Clerk, provides a complete preparation framework in Aurora Training Advantage's Tips for Administrative Professionals to Prepare for Performance Reviews webinar, including how to use daily check-ins as preparation tools throughout the year.

Daily or weekly one-on-one check-ins with a manager or executive are one of the most underutilized performance review preparation tools available to administrative professionals. These informal conversations create an ongoing record of priorities, feedback, and accomplishments that provides rich material for the formal review conversation. When check-ins are used intentionally, administrative professionals can surface challenges in real time—before they become performance issues—and demonstrate proactive communication. They also create natural opportunities to share progress on key projects, flag capacity concerns, and ask clarifying questions about evolving priorities. Over time, well-managed one-on-ones build the manager relationship and mutual understanding that makes performance review conversations more candid, specific, and developmental. Documenting key themes and action items from these check-ins in a running log creates a year-long record you can draw on when preparing for your review. Stacy Leitner addresses how to use check-ins as a performance management tool in Aurora Training Advantage's performance review preparation webinar for administrative professionals.

A focused performance review conversation for administrative professionals covers three interconnected areas that together provide a complete picture of past performance and future direction. The first is accomplishments and impact—what you have achieved during the review period, with specific examples that demonstrate the value you created for the executive, team, and organization. This is where the documentation you have maintained throughout the year pays off. The second is challenges and growth—honest reflection on difficulties you encountered, how you addressed them, and what you learned—which demonstrates self-awareness and a development mindset. The third is goals and career aspirations—where you want to grow, what skills you want to develop, and what opportunities you are seeking, grounded in a career plan that connects daily work to longer-term professional ambitions. Framing the review as a two-way conversation across these three areas transforms it from an evaluation event into a genuine development dialogue. Stacy Leitner covers all three areas in depth in Aurora Training Advantage's Tips for Administrative Professionals to Prepare for Performance Reviews webinar.

SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—provide the structure that transforms vague development intentions into concrete commitments that can be tracked, evaluated, and celebrated. For administrative professionals, SMART goals serve two purposes in the performance review context. During the review itself, referencing the SMART goals set in the prior review allows you to demonstrate concrete progress against specific, agreed-upon targets rather than relying on subjective impressions. Looking forward, bringing draft SMART goals for the coming period to the review shows initiative, gives the conversation a constructive forward orientation, and creates mutual clarity about what success looks like. SMART goals are also the foundation of effective career planning—connecting the skills you want to develop to the opportunities you want to pursue in a structured, time-bounded way. Stacy Leitner, who has built a distinguished administrative career with nationally recognized achievement, addresses goal setting as a career development tool in Aurora Training Advantage's performance review preparation webinar.

A career plan is the strategic document that gives administrative professionals a map for where they are going and a framework for evaluating daily decisions in light of longer-term ambitions. Without a career plan, professional development tends to be reactive—responding to opportunities as they arise without a coherent direction. With one, every skill investment, volunteer project, and professional relationship can be evaluated against a conscious vision for where you want to be. An effective administrative career plan identifies the roles or levels you aspire to, the skills and experiences required to get there, the gaps between your current state and target state, and a timeline for closing those gaps through specific learning, mentoring, and stretch assignment activities. It also provides the narrative for your performance review conversations—when you can articulate where you want to go and why, managers are better equipped to advocate for opportunities on your behalf. Stacy Leitner, whose own career has taken her from EA to City Clerk and college educator, demonstrates how career planning transforms professional trajectory in Aurora Training Advantage's performance review tips webinar.