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How to Write Performance Appraisals
Tweet Share on Facebook September 18, 2008 Comment (7)I hate performance appraisals with a burning passion. I hate giving them—I hate receiving them. I just hate them. When they involve me, that is. For everyone else, I think they are fabulous and should be done more often.
I think I'm not alone in my feelings. Many people face performance appraisal season with dread and fear. This is largely because managers haven't been preparing for this all year. They just go along hoping that they'll find new jobs before performance appraisal time. But, alas, year end is creeping up, and you haven't gotten yourself fired, so you have to write and give the darn things. If you've been a slacker throughout the year in tracking your direct reports' actions, here are some tips for writing your appraisals:
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The Enormous Upside of Risk
Tweet Share on Facebook September 18, 2008 Comment (1)If there's one way to make sure the energy in your life seeps away in ever-downward spiral, it's to always play it safe.
When you play it safe, you stick with what's known. You don't venture outside your current comfort bubble, because "out there" lurks uncertainty and doubt. You don't want to risk trying something and stumbling, or worse yet, failing completely. And so you coast along on autopilot.
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How to Destroy a Job Interview
Tweet Share on Facebook September 17, 2008 Comment (9)You arrive on time, dressed to fit in, thoroughly informed about the company and armed with answers to questions such as, "What are your greatest weaknesses?"
However, there is still one big thing you can do to destroy your job interview.
You can talk too much.
It's a real interview killer. Babbling turns off hiring managers! It gives them less time to get through their lists of questions. It makes them wonder what it would be like to work with you all day. It dilutes your message. Worse, you risk boring your interviewer.
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Letter to Employees on What Lehman Means for Us
Tweet Share on Facebook September 16, 2008 Comment (3)Dear Employee,
If you are like me, last night you watched the bad news from Wall Street. It was sad seeing all those people lose their jobs.
After the news shows ended, and after we heard how the Lehman-Merrill Lynch-AIG problem would no doubt lead to all sorts of future financial problems for the U.S.A.—and indeed the whole world, don'tcha know?—you probably started to think about how this mess would affect our company.
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How to Play the Post-Interview Waiting Game
Tweet Share on Facebook September 15, 2008 Comment (7)So you had the job interview, things seemed to go well, and you left expecting that you would hear back soon. But now...silence. And you're left waiting around with no idea of when or if you'll hear from them.
It's not at all unusual for the hiring process to take longer than a candidate would like, for all sorts of reasons: Decision makers are out of town, scheduling conflicts are delaying a final interview, the bureaucracy necessary to finalize an offer takes weeks to work through (not necessarily a great sign about the work environment, but that's a different topic), and so forth.
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They Will Talk About You When You're Gone
Tweet Share on Facebook September 15, 2008 CommentHis name echoes throughout the hallway at work, spoken as if he were a celebrity, royalty, infamous. Even though he put his two weeks' notice in two years ago, he is spoken about as if he were still part of the team. Yes, it's fair to say that Ant, a former programmer at my current gig, sewed himself into the fabric of my corporation.
Since Ant had the unique opportunity to code an entire website on his own—and not explain to anyone what he did—he certainly left his mark.
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The Leader
Tweet Share on Facebook September 12, 2008 CommentHe always joked that if you glanced into a room where he was meeting with his associates and were asked to guess which one was the department director, he'd be the last person you'd pick.
That was true. Although he didn't look the part, he was an extraordinary leader who operated with the rule that the followers should be consulted, developed, and praised. When the media came to cover accomplishments of his department—and there were many—he was seldom out in front. Others were permitted to take credit and stand before the cameras. Many of his top assistants later went on to head other departments. Each carried at least part of his philosophy.
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Why Your Hourly Employees Can Make or Break You
Tweet Share on Facebook September 11, 2008 Comment (7)How important is your hourly workforce? Not very, right? Turnover is high and morale is low—and why shouldn't it be? It's a thankless, unimportant job. Right?
I hate this attitude. Your front line can make or break your business. Sure, your highly paid senior people deal with strategy and design and complex financial issues. But, if you don't have any customers, those things won't matter. And who does the customer deal with? Let me tell you, it's not the VP of Marketing. It's the person with the thankless job. Do you want your business to increase? Value your front line.
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Do Women Make Good Leaders?
Tweet Share on Facebook September 10, 2008 Comment (22)So, Sarah Palin is on the GOP ticket for vice president. A heartbeat away.
Which brings up the question: Do women make good leaders?
In a recent Pew Research study, respondents identified eight essential traits for leadership: honesty, intelligence, hard work, ambition, decisiveness, compassion, extroversion, and creativity. Then they rated men and women in each of these categories. Women came out better than men in all except for decisiveness.
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75 Percent of My Office Is Under 28
Tweet Share on Facebook September 9, 2008 Comment (9)(Other possible titles for this blog entry could have been: Observations of a Young Workforce From an Unlikely Source. Or, I Am Tired of the Negative Observations of the Younger Workforce—I just don't see it.)
We have nearly 100 people at JobDig, and I just realized that 75 percent of them are under 28. Amazing and LOL.
With so much being written about the younger generations, here are some random observations from the front line:
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