3 possible responses to performance evaluations

How should I respond to performance Evaluations?

What is your initial response when you hear the words performance evaluation? Do you tense up? Pass out? Immediately begin your defensive action plan? Do you think pay cut? Pay raise? Do you consider quitting before it happens? Take a sick day? Do you get excited about feedback?

Here are three possible responses to performance evaluations--The first you should AVOID the other two you should embrace:

1) Spend considerable time working on my revealed weaknesses--This will be your knee jerk response or tendency but unless we are talking about a character issue DON'T DO IT! Andy Stanley says it this way "Become so good at what you do well that you become indispensable to the organization." You must focus on your strengths BUT in that process you can't ignore your weaknesses (SEE 2 & 3)

2) Spend time investing in people who are strong where you are weak-- Keith McFarland said it this way in his book "The Breakthrough Company" "People are our most valuable resources yet we often invest the least amount of resources in them." Believe it or not there are people who are not only good at the things you are weak in but they also love doing the things you are weak in. Find those people and give them your time and give them permission to leverage their strengths in your areas of weakness.

3) Spend time developing systems that compensate for your weaknesses-- Systems determine behavior and systems also help compensate for areas where we are naturally weak. For example: If organization is your weakness spending hours trying to become an organized person is an unwise investment of your time. Developing a system that externally implements organization is a great idea. A simple example of a system is using entourage or outlook reminders: Schedule automatic reminders about weekly things that you need to do...even simple stuff like "send an encouragement note to a team member or client"--that pops up on your screen every Tuesday at 10am!

Just a few thoughts I've been reminding my incredible staff team at Ridge Church as we go through performance evaluations from the last year. I'm so blessed to have a talented and teachable team!