Evaluating Performance Evaluations

Today's class really got me thinking about how my organization uses performance reviews. What I like about our environment is that feedback is constantly expected. Instead of making it one formal sit down, we constantly give it throughout each shift. I think this creates a really unique environment because its much less awkward to ask someone to sit down and talk about how they are doing. It also is important that there is meaning to the physical performance review sheets. We use them in deciding who will work playoffs especially when it comes down to the important games. That's one of the traits I noticed today that I think is important in a performance review. I don't necessarily agree with firing a certain number or percentage of your lowest ranking employees but I think that if you're going to take the time to do a performance review, it should have meaning for both the employer and employee. Something I may look to add would be to justify scores that are not 3's because I know I tend to give out more 4's and 5's than I probably should. We had these on our peer reviews and I thought this was really effective in stopping people from inflating scores. I am curious if there are any alternatives out there as opposed to the traditional methods. I know there are many people that argue that performance evaluations overall are extremely ineffective and may not really be benefiting us at all. Maybe they are, but what is the alternative? Doing nothing at all?

Performance Evaluations

Tomorrow Carly, Regan, and Caroline will be presenting about performance evaluations. I am actually really excited for this because this is actually one of the key components of my job at UNH. I would consider evaluation and risk management the two major things that I do on a day to day basis. Being so young in my career I do think it is unique that I am in a position where I am constantly evaluating and providing feedback to employees. My job is to evaluate referees as they officiate games in broomball, ice hockey, and floor hockey. While I am allowed to do it in regards to any sport, these are the sports I usually run and feel the most competent in and therefore can give the best feedback. I am excited to learn more about what makes an evaluation effective because I have also received a promotion at my job. I will now be at the highest position that a student can reach in my organization. It will almost be an administrative position where I will deal with scheduling employees, event scheduling, some data entry, ordering all of our supply needs, etc. In my interview, I was asked what one thing I most wanted to change if I was given the position. This is something I have been thinking about since then. What can I do to leave the program in a better place than it was when I came in? I think there is always room for improvement and I wonder if the evaluations we have now are the best that they could be. Our assigned pre-work for the class is as follows:
1. What characteristics do you think would make a good performance evaluation?
2. What characteristics do you think would make a poor performance evaluation?
3. What type of categories do you think would be found on a performance evaluation? 
4. If you have any experience with performance evaluations, come prepared to share in class. 
When researching performance reviews, I found this cartoon that I thought was funny:

I understand why some people might find performance evaluations awkward. I think because I have been exposed to it for a while in a somewhat low risk environment, they do not bother me at all whether I am on the receiving end or giving one. Evaluation is a key component for growth. I think that a good performance evaluation is fair. It must be well thought out and detailed enough to encompass what is expected of a position but not too nit-picky to create an environment where employees are set up to fail. They also should contain a portion that is dedicated to comments so managers can leave ideas in their own words. I think poor evaluations are very vague. I also think if the person giving the evaluation is uncomfortable, as shown in this cartoon, it will not be effective. The categories found in our performance evaluation are mostly focus professionalism, productivity, and competency. I think that this would be similar to what you may find in a professional setting. Ours rank various categories on a scale of 1-5. I don't have any specific situations about performance evaluations that come to mind. All experiences that I have had with it have been extremely positive. I have never received a bad evaluation. Any time I have ever had to deliver one, I feel that I did it in an effective way while still considering the employees feelings. One thing we often talk about at work, in the context of officiating, is first asking "What did you see there?" and giving the employee an open ended question to explain what they saw in their own words, and why they made the call that they did. I have found this to be extremely effective because a lot of the time they even realize what they missed before I even have to bring it up. Instead of just telling someone they are wrong, we should understand why they were and how to improve that. We are also extremely encouraging and do not shower employees with criticism. Creating an environment where employees expect feedback and know that even if they are critiqued, they are still supported has been really effective for our program. Our organization is much different though. We are much more lenient than a professional career will be.

Reflection

It's hard to believe we have already concluded the "One" section of this course. This class has been extremely valuable to me so far. Beyond the academic portion of having to write a contribution to a primer, teach a class, and write these blog posts I feel that I have learned so much about myself in the past few weeks. Especially through blogging. This class has sparked a lot of self-reflection for me. I find myself often thinking about what we have discussed outside of the classroom. I also feel like I really am absorbing the material instead of just learning it for a test and then forgetting it as soon as I don't need it anymore. The way we have been running the class is really engaging. Being in such a small group also creates a really unique classroom environment. In an interview with an HMP alumni, she asked me what classes I had done well in and enjoyed. I immediately gushed about how much I really am enjoying this course. And I feel that it is going to really help us all professionally especially this summer. Creating multiple pieces of work that we will be able to show after the class is also really fulfilling. I am really excited to see where "Two" will take us.

The Trouble Maker Becomes the Rule Enforcer

Yesterday I had one of the most stressful shifts at my job that I have had all year. It was the night of quarterfinals for intramural hockey. One of the teams playing was comprised of some of my closest friends. The other was one of the fraternities on campus. I had supervised a shift with this team the night before and knew they would bring a group of fans but I did not anticipate it would be as bad as it was. During warm ups, one of the referees came up to me and started with "I know this has already been a horrible shift and I don't want to make this worse but I have to tell you something" he proceeded to tell me that one of the players told him most of their fraternity would be attending and that they were coming straight from the bar. They ended up with probably at least 50 fans showing up and I can reasonably infer that they did indeed come from the bar. Before the game even started, I decided I was going to take action before the situation could get out of hand. I called over that team's captain and explained to him that having fans was fine but if they got out of line or created issues that their team would receive a penalty and I was not afraid to remove people from the venue. It was actually very effective. The captain spoke to his brothers and while throughout the game they were loud and admittedly didn't always use the most appropriate language, it never escalated to anything unsafe. Within the first few minutes I heard one of the fans using an air horn, which is never allowed in any of our sports. Since the crowd was so large I couldn't tell exactly who had it but I had a general idea. I immediately left the bench area and went up into the stands and confiscated it. My position always puts me in an extremely unique position because the people that I am disciplining or evaluating are my age. This type of relationship is an added challenge for me because it takes away the authority that adults can easily command from younger employees. There is also only one of me at any given time during a shift. So taking control of a situation that involves around 100 other kids between fans and two teams is pretty difficult. But what I have learned and tried to continually do is take control of a situation early. By talking to the captain and immediately going into the stands I showed them that I wasn't going to sit back and let the situation escalate. They were still difficult but the shift ended smooth enough. My father had sent my family group chat a picture of him reffing from the night. I told him, my mother, and my sister that I got to take a fancy new air horn. My sister immediately said "I'm laughing at the idea of you ruining someone else's fun" I replied that the trouble maker had now become the rule enforcer and my father said he was thinking exactly what my sister said. That brought me back to our idea of change. That class made me do a lot of self reflection. Yesterday I had a real breakthrough in realizing just how much I have changed over the years. My family has always seen me as a really easy going person and someone that isn't always the easiest to control or a stickler for the rules. Now I have really grown into my leadership position. I have gained a lot of experience in tough situations while also doing something I am extremely passionate about.

The Student Becomes the Teacher

As mentioned, today was my first lecture in Management II. It was an extremely eye opening experience for me. Public speaking is not my thing. I do not know what exactly about it stresses me out whether its being the center of attention or the fear of making a mistake. Colleen talked about a theory that someone may be more afraid of public speaking not because of the actual act, but because of a sense of pride. I had never heard this before and immediately this clicked for me. I find our class to be a pretty low threat environment as we are first off a small group and also have pretty much all of our classes together. I try to speak often in class and offer my ideas whenever someone is lecturing but for some reason being in front of the room just doesn't settle with me. No one in our class is malicious and I am not particularly worried about what others think of me, but even being up there brings out a physiological response in my body.
We sat down briefly after I went through most of my slides and I felt my pulse. I thought my carotid was going to explode. For some reason though, after this brief break I felt much more calm. Most of my slides were over but even then when I did have to speak and when we had our open discussion at the end I felt much more relaxed. I saw a friend who was not in the class and when I told her I had been nervous she said "what? but you're so outspoken?" I really have no answer for why I am the way I am but just getting this exposure has made me feel much better about my ability to speak in front of others. Just another step in improving my self-efficacy.

Personality Pre-Work

Today I will teach my first Management II class. We will be speaking about personality which really excites me. I think it is a really fascinating topic and I am also excited to hear my classmates thoughts. Here are my responses to the pre-work that we sent out.

1.     Have someone who knew you during your childhood (preferably a parent or relative) and someone who knows you now (college friend, significant other, etc) take the MBTI test and answer the questions as if they were you. Reflect on these. Are they the same or different? Were you surprised by the results? Rank the personalities from most to least accurate. 

For this, I had both my Dad and my best friend take the test for me. My dad got ENFP "The Campaigner" and my best friend got ESTP. I thought it was really cool that my dad got the same result as I did when I took it myself. When I mentioned this to him he laughed and said he knew me well. Which was obviously true. When researching the ESTP personality, I was somewhat surprised when reading the description of this and how I did relate to it."They live in the moment and dive into the action – they are the eye of the storm" "But if they minimize the trouble-making, harness their energy, and focus through the boring stuff, Entrepreneurs are a force to be reckoned with." these two statements stuck out to me. I don't think I am as severe about rule breaking as this personality suggests but it talked about how formal education is a struggle. I definitely do not like structure and really really hate busy work. Homework was really hard for me in high school because I felt a lot of it was just busy work. I also thought the weaknesses of this personality were pretty accurate for me. Insensitive, impatient, unstructured. I am extremely impatient and I know that. It doesn't really hurt me but it can distract me. As soon as I hand in an assignment especially a big one like a paper or a test, I want to know my grade. Or as soon as I reply to an important email, I check my inbox every five minutes hoping for a quick response. Overall there were certain aspects of this that were definitely true, but if I had to rank them I would say that the ENFP is most accurate. However I see why my friend got this and don't think she was completely wrong.

2.     Look up your horoscope. Are the traits of your sign similar to the traits of the personality you were given when you took the MBTI? Do you have a similar horoscope with the people in your group? 

My birthday is August 21st making me a Leo. I have looked up my traits before and find it to be pretty much almost spot on. "Warm, action-oriented and driven by the desire to be loved and admired, the Leo have an air royalty about them. They love to be in the limelight, which is why many of them make a career in the performing arts." Positive Traits: Kind and big hearted, energetic, optimistic, straightforward, loyal. Negative Traits: Egoistic, possessive, dominating, impatient, arrogant. I think the only thing I don't agree with is the extreme egotistical traits of Leo's. I really do see the loyalty trait in myself. For the people in my life that I am extremely close to, there is next to nothing that I would not do for them.

3.     Which statement do you relate to the most?

I feel that I can control my own destiny and what happens to me is my own doing.

I feel that things happen to me because of fate, luck, or a powerful being.

I absolutely agree with the first statement. I think that there are certain circumstances or outside factors, such as the impact of the actions of those around us, that we cannot always control, but I fully feel that the actions that I make have an impact on my life and that I am in control of my own destiny.

4.     What Big Five Trait do you think is most desired by recruiters and why? 

Through my research I know the answer to this so I am going to skip over this one. 

5.     Who do you relate to the most from this list: Flanders from the Simpsons, Stewie from Family Guy, House, or Darth Sidious from Star Wars? 

This question probably stumped a lot of people because these are four very different characters that truthfully I am not sure I even relate with. I would say I am somewhere in between Flanders and House. We will be showing a video that will explain why we chose to ask this question and how it relates to personality. 

Interviewing with Peers vs Strangers

Tomorrow afternoon I have an interview for a promotion at my job at UNH. This will be very different than the interviews I have been preparing for with HMP. Mostly because almost if not all of my interviewers will be my colleagues. One will be my direct boss, another someone who has the same position I hold, and two that hold the position that I am interviewing for. One of the two holding the position I am interviewing for coordinates the sports I mainly work and therefore we work together very closely. All of this makes me consider if I am at an advantage or a disadvantage as opposed to interviewing with a stranger. On one hand, my colleagues really have a sense of how strong of a work ethic I have and how dedicated I am to my organization. On the other hand, I don't have as much control over what they know about me. Interviews are an opportunity to put your best self forward. With a stranger, they only really know what you share with them and what they can find out about you from your colleagues or what you have put out into the world on the internet. Strangers may be intimidating to sit down with though, especially the executives we may be interviewed by. I will be extremely comfortable with my interviewers because I do know them personally. As an extrovert though, being with a stranger does not tend to negatively effect me. Three of these people are also my age and know me outside of a professional setting. While going in and giving a great interview will certainly help my chances, the people making the decision will already have almost all of the information they need to decide if I am right for this promotion. In recent years, there has been one person who is a neutral party who comes in for the interview to help make the decision. This is the person I feel I will have to win over the most.
Overall, I think there are certain aspects that are advantages and disadvantages to this situation. With a stranger, it is an advantage to be able to control what you do and do not share with them. But because I have worked really hard and shown my capabilities, I think I am at an advantage by having my colleagues making the decision. Either way I am going to prepare as best as I can and give my best interview regardless of who is interviewing me.

Mentorship and the 24x3 rule

Today I read an article in the Harvard Business Review titled "What the Best Mentors Do?" This interested me because of the structure of our class (having a formal mentor) as well as discussing character. One of the traits I think of when thinking of leaders I admire is stewardship. Its something that I have seen my Dad do with many younger hockey officials. It also interests me since I will have a preceptor this summer. The author, Anthony Tjan, actually wrote this two days ago. He interviewed 100 of top business executives, and found they all worked to "imprint their 'goodness'" on others. Tjan states, "Put another way, the best leaders practice a form of leadership that is less about creating followers and more about creating other leaders." I loved this quote because I think often times people confuse the path to leadership as a cut throat and trying to get to the top no matter what the cost. Instead it shows that building up others is essential to also building up ourselves. Here are the four things he says the best mentors do:

Put the relationship before the mentorship. All too often, mentorship can evolve into a “check the box” procedure instead of something authentic and relationship-based. For real mentorship to succeed, there needs to be a baseline chemistry between a mentor and a mentee. Studies show that even the best-designed mentoring programs are no substitute for a genuine, intercollegial relationship between mentor and mentee. One piece of research, conducted by Belle Rose Ragins, a mentoring expert and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, demonstrated that unless mentees have a basic relationship with their mentors, there is no discernable difference between mentees and those not mentored. All this is to say that mentoring requires rapport. At best, it propels people to break from their formal roles and titles (boss versus employee) and find common ground as people.
Focus on character rather than competency. Too many mentors see mentoring as a training program focused around the acquisition of job skills. Obviously, one element of mentorship involves mastering the necessary competencies for a given position. But the best leaders go beyond competency, focusing on helping to shape other people’s character, values, self-awareness, empathy, and capacity for respect. They know in the long run that there is a hard truth about soft matters and that these values-based qualities matter a lot more than skill enhancement. There are many ways to mentor people around these values and to build greater self-awareness.
Shout loudly with your optimism, and keep quiet with your cynicism. Your mentee might come to you with some off-the-wall ideas or seemingly unrealistic ambitious. You might be tempted to help them think more realistically, but mentors need to be givers of energy, not takers of it. Consider why an idea might work, before you consider why it might not. The best method I know for thinking this way is the 24×3 rule for optimism. I’ve written about this approach and tried to practice it for years, but it’s very difficult to master. Each time you hear a new idea, see if it is possible for you to spend 24 seconds, 24 minutes, or a day thinking about all the reasons that the idea is good before you criticize any aspect of it. It’s been said that the world prefers conventional failure over unconventional success; good mentors should encourage exploration of the latter. 
Be more loyal to your mentee than you are to your company. Of course, we all want to retain our best and brightest. We also want our people to be effective in our organizations. That said, the best mentors recognize that in its most noble and powerful form, leadership is a duty and service toward others, and that the best way to inspire commitment is to be fully and selflessly committed to the best interests of colleagues and employees. Don’t seek only to uncover your mentees’ strengths; look for their underlying passions, too. Help them find their calling. Most of us have experienced people, such as friends, religious leaders, and family members, who serve as our anchors and guides outside our workplaces. Why can’t we bring this same high level of trust and support inside the workplace? In a lot of cases, we owe it to mentees to serve as something more than just career mentors.

 I think that the most important of these four is the second, "Focus on character rather than competency." Especially in the health management field there are many paths we may take and different roles we may grow into. Going into a career that will likely lead to a leadership role, it is more important to have a solid foundation than simply mastering technical skills. This gets back to the argument that we have been discussing for a few weeks, EQ vs IQ. Development of EQ and character is just as important as training and development of technical skills. A really important point he makes is that mentorship is about "helping others become fuller versions of who they are." It is not about creating another version of yourself or molding someone in your image. It is about using your experiences and expertise to further the development of another person and allow them to become the best version of themselves that they can be.
I also found his 24x3 rule for optimism to be intriguing. It is important he creates the rule about thinking about why something CAN work instead of why it WON'T work. Criticism is important for learning and development but mentors can learn just as much from mentees. Everyone has a different way of thinking and new unconventional ideas can lead to successful outcomes for both parties. Mentorship is a relationship that should have give and take from both sides.  
There is much more beyond these four rules that make mentorship work. It is not a one-size-fits-all relationship. But I really enjoyed the article and thought Tjan made a lot of really valid points. Mentorship is really what makes our course so unique. No matter where my career takes me, I hope to be a mentor later in life. I find giving back is extremely important and very fulfilling.