Writing Your NSPS Self-Assessment

Writing Your NSPS Self-Assessment, 2nd Ed.

Dennis V. Damp, Author of The Book of U.S. Government Jobs – 10th edition, and Retired FAA Manager writes about this book: “This indispensible guide helps Department of Defense (DOD) employees understand their new performance management system and write functional NSPS Self-Assessments. Many have difficulty showcasing their accomplishments and writing succinct and targeted self-assessments. Authors Kathryn Troutman and Nancy Segal present clear and concise guidance for this often complex process and help workers achieve higher ratings and increased pay … I wish this book was available when I was a federal manager. It is required reading for any employee that is under a pay for performance system. If employees followed this book’s guidance they would surely earn higher ratings and HIGHER PAY. To make this task easier on all parties, I suggest that workers set up their personal performance file on their desktop in Word and annotate accomplishments as they occur. Use this file in conjunction with this book to earn higher ratings and pay each and every year.” See the rest of the review at the end of this page …

Course Outline

• Understand how to use SMART to create good job objectives
• Learn how to pick an appropriate Contributing Factor
• See how job objectives are used in rating performance
• Understand Benchmark Descriptors and Performance Indicators
• Learn to monitor and track performance for self-assessments
• See how self-assessments are used by the Pay Pool

“Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and to both confront and solve problems that would baffle mere mortal men. Or women. Oh, also, be prepared to document all of the above. In the modern corporate-government world, letting the right people know what you did is as career-critical as the actual accomplishments … Kathryn Troutman makes a living telling feds how to put their best foot forward, whether in job applications, requests for transfer or promotion or the current hot ticket, which is individual performance reviews. Miss Troutman’s book, “Writing Your NSPS Self-Assessment” from the Resume Place Inc., also has an online version (www.resume-place.com) for overseas feds who can’t wait for delivery of a book. ” Mike Causey, Toot Your Own Horn for a Raise, Feds learn the buzzwords of self-assessments

Washington Times, 8/26/08

Active Curriculum – 5 Writing Exercises

• Quick review of NSPS performance management process
• Exercise: Developing a SMART objectives
• Exercise: Rating a job objective using performance indicators and benchmark descriptors
• Exercise: Selecting the Contributing Factors
• Exercise: Selecting Performance Indicator keywords using The Resume Place’s NSPS Keyword Tree
• Exercise: Writing one self-assessment accomplishment in the CCAR format
• Also, how to monitor individual performance and set up tools that employees can use to monitor their performance

See Booking Information »

Book Review
This indispensible guide helps Department of Defense (DOD) employees understand their new performance management system and write functional NSPS Self-Assessments. Many have difficulty showcasing their accomplishments and writing succinct and targeted self-assessments. Authors Kathryn Troutman and Nancy Segal present clear and concise guidance for this often complex process and help workers achieve higher ratings and increased pay.

The DOD is the largest federal agency employing 25 percent of the federal civilian workforce, that’s over 670,000 workers. The DOD and many other excepted service agencies implemented pay for performance systems that require employees to write self assessments of how their accomplishments helped achieve agency goals. This can be a daunting task for those unfamiliar with the process or unwilling to devote the time that is required to write a professional assessment.

Federal supervisors and managers were at a disadvantage when these systems were first implemented. They were required to justify each employee’s ratings and the degree to which each contributed to mission accomplishments. With today’s decentralized operations, shift work, technical complexities, and diversions in general, only the employee fully knows the extent to which they contributed throughout the year. I was a manager for the Federal Aviation Administration when the FAA’s pay for performance system was implemented in 1995 and until they changed the process, requiring each employee to provide this information, the annual rating process was unmanageable.

The employee’s perception, when pay for performance plans were first implemented, was that supervisors should know what their employees accomplished and many refused to participate and good managers struggled to bridge the gap and provide as much justification as possible. Even though today’s system appears daunting and complex employees benefit now that they have the ability to actively participate in the annual rating system and let supervision know the true extent of their accomplishments.

I wish this book was available when I was a federal manager. It is required reading for any employee that is under a pay for performance system. If employees followed this book’s guidance they would surely earn higher ratings and HIGHER PAY. To make this task easier on all parties, I suggest that workers set up their personal performance file on their desktop in Word and annotate accomplishments as they occur. Use this file in conjunction with this book to earn higher ratings and pay each and every year. I also suggest that employees develop an Individual Development Plan (IDP) for short and long term career goals. Visit http://fedcareer.info for more information on this subject.

Dennis V. Damp, Author of The Book of U.S. Government Jobs – 10th edition, and Retired FAA Manager