Learn To Write Accomplishment Statements as Success Stories By Joel Garfinkle I’m a big believer in documenting your achievements, but I realize that it can be hard to talk about yourself and your successes in a positive but professional light. Just the idea of sitting down to write about and take credit for work makes many people uncomfortable. In my presentation, “Career Advancement: Release Untapped Potential in Your Underutilized Leaders,” I outline the various ways you can coach hidden talent to truly shine and put their best foot forward when discussing their achievements. I often suggest you think about your successes as miniature stories, with a setup, a plotline, and an outcome. It can be a lot easier to talk about yourself with a bit of structure to your outline. If you need a place to start in breaking down your own accomplishments, read on for some of my tips.
Step No. 1: The overview
Write a brief overview of the problem you faced or project you managed. Think about it from a company perspective: what 16 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
was the issue at the outset? What was the negative situation or state, or the undesirable outcome, that you were looking to improve? Whenever possible, explain the financial or time implications of the problem you were tackling. Mention when a certain aspect of the operation was unreasonably expensive, time-consuming, or a source of frequent errors in the organization. It’s best to outline the problem in measurable terms. Set the stage for the actions you took by describing the issues in a way that will resonate with the audience—in this case, people invested in the smooth operation of the organization. When they see the problem for themselves through your description, their minds will begin turning with the various ways they would have tackled it, and they’ll be interested to hear how you came to approach the issue.
Step No. 2: The approach
List the key actions you took to address the problem or
