Recapping the year – that is what the majority of us are doing right now at our jobs. What did we accomplish? How did we spend the budget? Did we overspend – what was not delivered that was on our 2011 Objectives?
I would dread these next few weeks when I worked for enterprise organizations. To have not used up all your budget money was a “SIN” – I can remember the year that we bought $60,000 worth of projector light bulbs in $1,000 increments so that we had no extra money in the budget. Why couldn’t it be viewed as we successfully managed that year’s budget and the excess would go into next year’s pot?
And what if we had gone over the budget? There we sat writing explanations as to why we had exceeded it that year. Did it have to do with acquiring a new company and offering the same services to them that we had? Did it mean that we had to implement new infrastructure in order to communicate to every colleague throughout the world? That does not come cheap.
But, WAIT, what about those year end performance reviews? They would be done in December although raises were not effective until April 1st (yes, a Fool’s Joke); but, more importantly nothing was done with the review except to have it filed away by Human Resources to say that it was accomplished. I cannot tell you the hours that I have spent writing performance reviews that had some meaning and relevance to the individual so that they could grow from the experience. All to have someone say to you, “Okay, I agree – how much of a raise am I getting?”
Next would be documenting the department’s accomplishments. I would spend days doing a power point presentation listing all the accomplishments of the department per services offered – categorizing them as to savings, vendor management, customer service, new initiatives, etc. and giving success rates on all of our services. I sometimes wonder if any of that information went anywhere or did it get lost with the next incoming request?
I would much rather look at life in a period of time that is less than a year or view it through the life of a project. Why can’t we review the failures immediately and learn from them; and celebrate the successes as we finish and accomplish them? Think of this as an opportunity to train and coach; just like we do with our children – when they are small and do something wrong we speak and point it out to them immediately; likewise, when they do something good we acknowledge it right away. Feedback should be all the time and not just once or twice a year. How else would people know how they are doing?
Also, each project is different and there is a need to understand what individuals excel in and what they are a bit challenged with. I am not saying that people should not be given challenging tasks; what I am saying is put in place all the support mechanisms they need to be successful.
I bring this all up because on Monday my boss asked me what we accomplished this year in the video, collaboration and Unified Communication space. He was not looking for a major power point presentation or a long word document on every project, service, etc. He wanted just four (4) major bullet points that he was putting into an email message to our Management. How civilized – it was an email message and it was bullet pointed – much easier to read than power point presentations with graphs, numbers, etc.; and, more importantly only the most meaningful items were highlighted.
I have not been through a formal performance review process although I am sure that is coming up soon; but, I can tell you that I receive feedback constantly and not just from my Manager; but, also from his boss’. How wondrous to be told by my Senior Vice President that I did a good job or that the playbook was outstanding. It makes this not a job; but, as my CEO stated this is our responsibility and obligation. We would all be amazed at what great lengths people will work or perform with just some small praise and acknowledgment of what they do.
Next time someone does a good job – tell them so IMMEDIATELY!!!
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