Doc,
Thank you for the thoughtful and encouraging response. I have followed
the "resilient children" research with a lot of interest because I am --
or was -- a resilient child myself. Of course my past follows and colors
my today and my future. I worry about the blind alleys I may follow as a
consequence. Perhaps others are right that current performance appraisal
systems are all faulty. Fortunately I follow no single system, but simply
borrow bits and pieces as they seem to fit into an overall scheme.
Performance appraisal is also not the goal, but simply a by-product. The
goal is to learn and grow.
What is important is not the APPRAISAL system, but the REFLECTION process.
This must not be a 'rose-colored glasses' process as so often it becomes
unless we use all the tools at our disposal to expose the flaws in our
thinking, and to examine the potential flaws in our actions.
You know, in working on many public boards (education, culture, social
work, town planning) most people, when doing an assessment of strengths
and weaknesses of the board can identify 3-4 pages of "good" for every
page of "bad". As a result they experience a certain amount of
complacence that is really not justified by their circumstances or their
performance. People who work for me, by comparison, can identify 3-4
pages of weaknesses for every page of strengths. They are brutal on
themselves. They know their weaknesses better than anyone. I cannot tell
them their weaknesses. They tell me. Furthermore, they are not weighed
down by them, made guilty by them, made failures by them. They are
challenged by them. Identifying the weaknesses and correcting them is how
they succeed. Not by ignoring them, and patting themselves on the back,
but by attacking, attacking, attacking.
Now, maybe at some time in the past, I helped them get to this point of
acknowledging their weaknesses or opportunities. But now, they do it on
their own. They tell me. They are proud of themselves if they have
identified a new one. They are really pleased if it is one I never
thought of. They are proud when they also have a plan to attack it.
Identifying a new weakness is a sign they have grown and expanded their
view of the world. These are not the responses of people who are weighed
down by our performance appraisal process.
Do they actually like the process? some of the time, yes, but often no.
However, would they prefer to be more complacent about their world? I
don't think so. I think they have a wonderfully powerful sense of their
own competence that comes from seeing the worst of what the competitive
world may offer, and feeling -- knowing -- they can handle it. Does
everyone share this sense? No, unfortunately not. On the other hand, do
people generally approve of their management? Overwhelmingly yes based on
corporate surveys. The surveys show Bean to have enormous reserves of
goodwill and commitment from employees, and our department outscores any
other department at Bean. Therefore, in the overall scheme of things,
they may not like the PA process, but they actually do like the results.
It may be a case of the whole more than paying for the weaknesses of the
part.
By the way, a lot of this is relevant to child-rearing as well, just as
the 'resilient child' research would claim.
--Rol Fessenden
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>