Month: February 2021

Your performance review affects your promotions, your pay raises, and your job security. Go for a gold medal review. www.jaywren.com

Management Changes

As managers come and go or as you move to different responsibilities in your company, the things in your performance review are the documentation that you need to keep your career on track for the long-term. Therefore, it is important that you take an active role in your performance evaluation.

Performance Review Preparation

Your performance review is not a place to get career advice. However, it is a good place for you to show what you have accomplished.

There are things that you can do to prepare for the meeting for your performance review.  In doing these things, you will not only ace the review, you will do a better job for your company.

Here are six tips.

1. Some managers set up written goals for each employee. If your manager does not set up written goals, write them down yourself. Ask your manager to review the goals with you to make sure that you both understand the goals for your job performance.
2. Keep a log of your performance based on your responsibilities and goals. Post your results as you make progress.
3. Regularly give your supervisor updates on your progress in the assignments you have with your company. Send these updates to your manager in memos or emails when these updates are helpful for your manager. Ask your manager for feedback on your performance so that you can know that you are meeting or exceeding expectations.
4. Make a list of training, education, skills, and certifications that you get between performance reviews. Notify your supervisor and other people of these extra things that have you accomplished that make you a more valuable employee.
5. Before you go into your performance evaluation, prepare for the meeting the way you prepare for a job interview. Make a list of the things that you expect your supervisor to discuss and questions that your supervisor will ask. Write down your answers to these questions before the performance review.
6. Make two copies of the things you want to discuss in the performance review. Give a copy to your supervisor.

Improved Relationship with Your Supervisor

In setting up goals and having ongoing discussions about your progress, you will build a stronger relationship with your supervisor. When your supervisor gives you feedback, adjust immediately to any feedback on changes. You will both be more satisfied when you are doing what your supervisor wants you to do. When you work with this type of relationship with your supervisor, you will do a better job and the performance review will become more than just another meeting that is consistent with the meetings you have had with your supervisor since the last performance review.

The Best Direction Tells People What to Do

A guest lecturer at one of my undergraduate classes put a note on the chalkboard and quickly erased the note and posted a different note. Then she apologized. She said that she had just broken a basic principle of teaching. That is, only show people the information you want them to remember.

Of course, what this instructor said applies not only to teaching, but also to leadership. Great instructions focus on telling people only what you want them to do.

But what about warning signs? Yes, there are times when alerting people is critical. How about calling out mistakes? Yes, there are times when calling out mistakes is critical. But the most effective managers take the next step. They redirect their people to take the correct action.

To be on time, arrive early.
Only paint this wall.
Take each step in this order.

Here is a Personal Experience

I served for three years as a Navy officer. Among other duties, I wrote the USS Midway’s press releases and sent them to a central location for clearance and release to the media. I was on the bridge when the message came in that “Midway’s press releases consistently missed the deadline for release to the media.”

The ship’s executive officer was the ship’s number two in command and was four ranks above me. He saw the message first and brought it up to the bridge to discuss it with me in front of the Captain.

To me, this situation was serious.  The executive officer does not does not routinely climb seven or eight flights of ship’s ladders so that he can hand deliver a message to a junior officer in the presence of the commanding officer. I was in a mental meltdown.

The Captain read the message in a glance.  He said, “I see what they want us to do. They need the press releases by noon every day.” His mind moved right past the inflammatory pieces and on to the issue of what I needed to do.

He asked if I could get the press releases to U.S. Central Command by noon.  I said, “Yes, Captain” and made sure that I did.

Positive Reinforcement

A few weeks later, the U.S. Midway received another message from U.S. Central Command about the ship’s press releases. “The USS Midway’s press releases have been consistently outstanding. The wire services have asked Central Command to use them as a model for other command press releases.”

The captain called me to the bridge to show me the message personally.

When people are doing things correctly, it is smart to use positive reinforcement to let them know to continue what they are doing. Central command sent positive reinforcement. The captain made certain that I saw it.

Lifetime Career Success: Building a successful career is a continual process of expanding your skills and your network. Don’t fear change. Embrace it.

Move beyond your comfort zone. Self-doubt is a sign that I am growing. With growth, I gain greater confidence and marketability.

The Texas Ice Houses

At one time, ice houses sold one thing: ice. People who could afford them, had cabinet ice boxes that held large blocks of ice.  With the invention of the refrigerator, the need to buy ice for the ice box disappeared. In most cases, these ice houses disappeared. However, in Texas, some ice houses survived the changed. They became open air public gathering places where people could sit and have cold drinks and salty snacks. Many offered sandwiches and burgers.

In my career as a recruiter, I saw rapid changes in my industry. Through mergers and acquisitions, an industry that once had thousands of companies evolved into an industry that had fewer and yet larger companies.

However, advances in technology created new potential clients with companies in marketing services and market research. I responded with an increase in my focus to these new companies.

Starting and Evolving

The first day that I sat down to start my career as a recruiter, I had no contacts. I had a telephone, an empty legal pad, and a box of blank 5 x 8 index cards.

On the other hand, my client base continued to broaden to include companies that you might consider for your career. Here are segments of industry where I recruited.

Marketing Services and Market Research Companies, Adult Beverage Companies, Soft Drink Companies, Food Products companies, Confection Companies, Household Products Companies, Cosmetics Companies, Food Brokerage Companies, Personal Care Products Companies, Natural Foods Products, Personal Products Companies, Apparel Companies, Photographic Products Companies, Battery Companies, Power and Hand Tools Companies, Yard and Garden Companies, Over the Counter Pharmaceutical Companies, Snack Foods Companies, Cosmetic Companies, Snack Foods Companies

Lifetime Career Success

To stay in business, I had to continue to grow with new clients and new candidates who had skills to fit a changing industry.

Yes, companies still come and go. People come and go, often into other industries and, sometimes, smaller jobs. Processes change. However, people who build new skills and expand their relationships will build security.

If we say things that offend people at work or in our businesses, we hurt our co-workers, our employees, our employers, and ourselves. The things you say are things that show commitment, loyalty, and enthusiasm. They create esprit de corps.

The purpose of the workplace is to work. When team members talk about the job and how to do that job, they become efficient. Their minds clear. They create solutions. They innovate. They become successful. They treat obstacles as team opportunities.

Polarizing Topics

Some subjects create an awareness of differences. These things weaken the bonds in the workplace. They are combustible. They spark fires based on personal beliefs. These issues can destroy the teams.

Politics, Religion, Sex, Personal Problems

Politics have the potential to spark fires. Have you ever noticed how some people ignite when you mention a political subject? Often these people will say the same thing they said the last time the discussion turned to politics. Their mind goes to the same point where it went before. There is no discussion. These people play an audio recording stored in their brain. Even people who hold the same political belief can misunderstand the point of view of similarly minded people. They have different memories of the same subject, and these different recordings create separation among people.

Religion often has the same effect on people as politics. For many people, religious discussions immediately create hard feelings. When mixed with discussions of politics, religion can melt teams completely.

Race, ethnicity, and culture are incredibly complicated, divisive topics. Team members need to have confidence in their value as a member of the team. Discussing race, ethnicity, or culture creates an awareness of differences. These topics connect to our brain in the areas of self-esteem and feelings of self-worth. In a workplace, where everyone needs to come together to focus on the common good of the team, discussions of race, ethnicity, or culture can create a threatening sense of hierarchy and a false sense of entitlement.

Discussions of gender in the workplace are psychologically complex, especially when the discussion is between a man and woman. Leave the gender discussions with the human resources department.

Personal problems make doing a job more difficult. Discussing your personal problems in the workplace creates risks to you as an employee. Some companies have the resources to help employees deal with family, financial, mental, substance abuse, and emotional issues. However, these matters are private. If a company is going to get involved in these issues, the best companies refer their employees to professionals in those fields. If you need help with these issues, you might seek professional help before you discuss personal issues at work.

Conclusion

Work can be fun. Work can bring meaning to our lives. In the workplace, we create bonds of loyalty, enthusiasm, and commitment. We can experience esprit de corps. We have this experience through focusing on the job and avoiding discussions that separate us from our co-workers. We can bring power to the workplace through focusing on the job and our similarities and not our differences.

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