HOW AM I DOING?

Don't we all want to know how we are doing?  Of course we have an idea of how we are doing but how are we REALLY doing as seen through the eyes of someone else.  Say the word evaluation and people will become nervous.  But it is a necessary tool for life.  Self evaluations are very important as well as work evaluations.  The way these evaluations are approached can make all the difference in the outcome.

No one likes to hear they are not performing properly in their job.  Some may be fully aware they are not performing well but choose to ignore the fact and others may be thinking they are doing a wonderful job and may be performing poorly.  When given properly an evaluation will help to clear up this confusion and hopefully lead the employee to perform at full capacity and in turn the company will become more efficient.

Even though I have a Level III library I am working without a full staff.  The whole staff includes myself as the director, a staff member that works one day a week and a substitute.  As far as evaluations go I, as the director, am evaluated yearly by the county library board.  There are two evaluations I go through.  One is for my personal job performance and the other is a building evaluation.  

When I took the job three years ago I inherited a very troublesome staff member and I immediately created a staff evaluation and had it approved by my board to try and help this staff member.  So I do have a staff evaluation form.  Upon hearing today's lecture I have a few things I may change but I am more convinced than ever of the importance of having evaluations.  I will change the annual evaluation and now make it more of a set of mini evaluations to be spread throughout the year.  

I have always thought it very important to focus on the positives as well as negatives so I will keep that in practice. Hopefully my employees know they can come to me with any concerns at any time but I will take steps to reinforce this as that is an important key to a smoothly run operation.  

So today's presentation on the evaluation process by Ms. Maggie Bahou from the state was very helpful and informative.  

Pam's Point:  We must not be afraid to hear how we are doing and we as managers must not be afraid to tell our employees how they are doing.  It's important to discuss the good along with the bad and the approach taken can make all the difference.