Effective Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal is one of the best motivation techniques for creating a positive attitude in the workplace - when it is handled properly.
Here are three tips:

1. Have a genuine interest in the person you are appraising. Get to know what makes them tick. What is their life like outside the workplace? What do they enjoy most? what is important to them?
2. Really listen to what they have to say. It is so easy to make assumptions. Do you take the time to ask your employees for their opinion? Would they come to you if something was bothering them?
3. Stay in a constructive, positive mindset even if they are expressing a lot of negativity and treat them with respect at all times.

Always critique the performance as and when necessary, but do not critique the person.. Remember, it is easy to 'Catch people Wrong"; however, try to 'Catch people right'. Let the workplace be filled with joy and stimulate urge for achievement without hurting anyone unduly.

Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Seven Steps to Personal Mastery

By: Gary Ryan Blair
Source: Trans4mind

• Identify Your Three Greatest Accomplishments In 2009: Even if 2009 was a challenging year for you, odds are if you look close enough there's something somewhere to be proud of.
• Analyze What You Learned from Each Accomplishment: Now that you have identified your three greatest accomplishments, go back to each one. This time though identify exactly what you learned or were reminded of by each of them.
• Identify Your Biggest Disappointments Of 2009: Practically every company and individual resists analyzing their mistakes. That's a shame because this is where the best learning comes from.
• Analyze What You Learned from Each Failure or Disappointment: No matter how great everything in life is going - we all make mistakes. The trick here is to really analyze them, what preceded them, what could you have done differently, and how can you prevent them in the future.
• Identify How You Limited Yourself and How Can You Stop It: Were there certain actions you took or didn't take that came back to haunt you? In order to make sure you don't limit yourself again - you need to bring these self-defeating actions to the surface, confront them, and most importantly determine what you must do differently to make sure you don't make the same mistakes all over again.
• Pragmatically Review the Information You Have Gathered: The goal of this exercise is not simply to know yourself and your business better but to actually use the information to make certain 2010 far surpasses 2009. What are the big takeaways from answering each question? What do you know about yourself or your business that you didn't realize or weren't thinking about?
  Obviously, having this list isn't going to do it all, you still need to take this new knowledge and USE IT! Fortunately, that's what the last step is centered around. And here it is...
• Use This Information to Astonish Yourself in 2010: The purpose here is to build in to your schedule, your interactions, your management style or whatever else you've surfaced in the previous questions and build yourself a new better approach.

WHAT TEACHERS MAKE

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.
One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, 'What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?'He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers: 'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.'To stress his point he said to another guest; 'You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?'
Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, 'You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began...)
'Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.
You want to know what I make?' (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.)
''I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions. I teach them to write and then I make them write. Keyboarding isn't everything. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in math. They use their GOD given brain, not the man-made calculator. I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity. I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe. I make my students stand, placing their hand over their heart to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, One Nation Under GOD, because we live in the United States of America.
Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.'(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.) 'Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant... You want to know what I make? I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?'

Contributed By:

Ms. Soma Dey

(Senior Manager-HR)
Acclaris Limited.