How to Grade Personal Performance
January, 2020
Identifying your strengths is a powerful ability. Few mangers can teach you how to do this. One of my mentors showed me a powerful method for identifying strengths and I'd like to teach you. Let's discuss the benefits of learning your strengths.
First, you can concentrate on working on assignments that play to your strengths. Focusing your energy where you can provide top rate performance will provide the most benefit to your team and your career.
Second, avoid or mitigate problems with assignments that pull on your weaknesses. Build time into the schedule and seek additional reviews if you know the task you're completing is something you've struggled with in the past.
Third, build on your strengths. Are you highly analytic? Will learning one additional program or technique make you a better engineer? Are you executive oriented? Will
Toastmasters or Dale Carnegie Courses provide you with better skills for dealing with people and selling?
One way to discover your strengths is by keeping a Personal Track Record (covered in a previous letter).
The second way is by trying to predict the future outcome of your decisions. Here's a format for recording your expected results:
| Feedback Analysis Template | |
|---|---|
| Date: | |
| Problem: | |
| Positive Possible Outcomes: | |
| Negative Possible Outcomes: | |
| Expected Outcome: | |
Anytime you make an important decision (working towards a raise, taking on a challenging assignment), write down the date you made the decision, and explain the problem and your solution. Describe the possible outcomes. Place your answers in a calendar reminder for follow-up within 1 to 3 months, depending on how long it will take the decision to play out. The more detailed you can be in answering the questions the better your analysis will be. Treat your problems like an experiment. Write out the solution you developed also helps ensure you act on it.
Discovery of this kind takes work. You must put the effort in to keep the records. It also takes time. You will be waiting for the results of your decisions and actions to unfold.
Action Item: Identify your strengths through recording your results. Both in real-time and the ones you've predicted.