Evaluation time

Writing evaluations. About 14 of them. That's what is on the menu these weeks. Obviously not all of them are to be written from scratch. Four evaluations are already prepared by the program manager when he transferred his team to my department last September.

I started the exercise with a real writer's block. Fortunately I kept track of the high's & low's of each team member over the year, and their self-input usually provides a good recap of their activities over the past year. Especially in a BAU organisation, it can be a challenge to track their achievements. On the other hand, I also have a generic document for each function type in the team which outlines the overall responsabilities in terms of operations, communication, skills and self-management. I use this document as a checklist to map each one's achievements. That seems to work OK.

For 2010 however, I need to make a roles and goals document for each team member. Again 14 documents. And also cherry picking each one's goals and key performance factors based on the generic template. That will make evaluation time next year hopefully a bit easier.

The hardest part is preparing the conversation itself - how will he/she react, on which points will he disagree, what motivates him/her, because - honestly - even for the top performers the salary increase is modest. So, a lot of motivation will come from the words out of my mouth and the perspective they convey.

Being forced to look back and reflect on each individual team member, makes me realize once more the complexity and the dilemma's: Give feedback on the spot or contemplate and bundle it later ? As a manager in a consulting firm this was easy - see the illutrative explanation here:

Shit rolls downhill

I realize that for some team members, I should have taken a firmer and more formal position on (my opinion of) their performance. More mini-evaluations all year long instead of being too soft on them or postponing/omitting feedback.

Finally, I also got to reflect on my performance: what did I realize this year, how does my boss see me ? Frankly, I couldn't tell. Last year I ran around like a chicken, tried to fit into the company structures and habits, the content, and tried to get a grip on the team (with much trial and error). I cut out two people due to a cost-reduction program (and managed the sh*t that comes with it), facilitated some things here and there - and that's it. 2010 will no doubt be a year in which my manager/leadership skills need to be further developed.

Toyota achieved excellence through process and organizational excellence. But stagnation and overconfidence in methods instead of people now lead to a series of defects that will hurt (and smell) for a while . So, yeah, let's focus on getting my organisational mgmt & leadership skills...