Performance Management - For An Appraisee

In any performance review discussion with my sub-ordinates, I ask these two questions     
   1. What do you think how you are doing? The answer is definite and mostly it is good/excellent.
   2. What do you think, what your manager thinks of how you are doing? In most cases I get a blank look.

It is of then no surprise that many of us feel disappointed after the review. We discover(or rather construct) a set of reasons (inept manager, politics, favoritism, unable to show-off etc.)  for our dismal ranking. While I don't deny the existence of any or all of these reasons, their contribution for a dismal ranking is arguable.

During our transition from education to professional life, we often don't realize two important changes
    #1. In student life, you study more, you score better..simple! In professional life, in addition to what you have done, it is also important how your performance is perceived by your superiors, peers, organization.
    #2. In professional life, how good/bad you are is less important. More important is where you stand against your peers. Therefore your self judgement should always take into consideration these wider aspects as well.

Someone once told me, that the best performance appraisal is the one where there is mutual agreement both ways & the discussion is short & crisp. The reason being, if both the appraisee & appraiser were always in sync, frequently discussed the positives, the improvement needs, the discussion becomes just a mere formality. There is hardly any surprise. And that's exactly it should be. Performance review is not a 30-60 minutes discussion, it is a continuous process throughout the year & therefore requires thoughtful planning, execution & follow-up.

At the beginning of the year, we should plan how much effort we are ready to put in that year & what we want to achieve. Depending on personal life, health or because of any alternate priorities(planning for higher studies, preparing for a job in a better organization) we might not want to stretch every year. That is perfectly fine, only it should be communicated & mutually agreed to your supervisor & you should also be ready to accept a proper rating according to your contribution. The comes the follow-up, which most of us miss. Nothing stops us to touch base with your supervisor once in 2/3 months, or just casually asking how you are doing. This gives you chance to introspect & improve (if required) in stead of hearing the same feedback at the year end, when you can't do anything. And then the continuous evolution, act on the feedback.

I should also admit that in spite of you doing everything right, you could still get a bad rating. There could be reasons beyond your control & that I am intentionally keeping outside the scope here. But if a systematic approach is followed, there are more probability of being rightly recognized.

Please note that, due to self imposed limit on the article length, I am only discussing an appraiser's point of view. The appraiser's aspect will be discussed in the next post.

Dos & Don'ts while job change (Part 2)

If you have happened to come here directly, please read the previous post here before continuing further.
Whenever we think of any job change, it is more often than not for a better career as well as for a better life rather than getting out of a messy work environment i.e. your present job. So, you should always look for the positives what your next job is offering, but at the same time, you should also take sufficient precaution to safeguard yourself from landing into another worse environment.You should leave no stone unturned to scratch every truth beneath the carpet whatever you can.So, here are those that one shouldn't do while going for a job change.Needless to mention, the below points are in no particular order.
Do NOTs #1: Do not mix business with relation. You might have heard it before, but here the context is little different.If you are planning to join an organization through reference of your friends, ex-colleagues or any other acquaintance, listen to them but finally take your own decision with enough self conviction.Just because he/she is saying everything is good at the new place, it need not necessarily be true.Do not forget that your acquaintance also has responsibilities toward his/her own org, so practically there is no point to believe that he/she is baring all the facts in front of you & also to remember, if something does not work out as planned in the new place, it is mostly you who has to take care of yourself.Listen to everyone, but believe your instincts and take your own decision.
Do NOTs #2: Do not be a hanging fruit,have your own roots.During your job interviews, try to get clarification about your job responsibility as much as possible. You should have your own identity and you should not be identified as which big tree you are working under. You might get some advantage being in the shadow of some big boss, but you also run into danger of loosing your job when the tree top itself is chopped off.Also do not buy statements in response to any of your concerns like "oh..don't worry, you will be working with/under me and everything will be fine". What is the guarantee that the person who is promising you today will be tomorrow in that organization? Try to get the answers you are looking for, then question yourself and if you find yourself convinced, go ahead.
Do NOTs #3: Do not compromise with yourself.After seeing the big pay cheque being offered, we think we would be able to adjust, compromise.But unless you are into the situation, you do not know the limit you can stretch.Think yourself & compare the excitement you had after seeing the first pay slip of your present job and the excitement that you get now after receiving your month's salary. It is the day to day proceedings that keeps you going and if that starts to piss you off, I doubt even your dream salary could hold you back in that org.There is a core among all of us and there is a wrapper, where we try to do all the adjustment keeping the core intact.Do not compromise with that core of yours, exceptions apart, most people are not comfortable compromising that in lieu of anything!!
Do NOTs #4: Do not let your decision be wrongly influenced by others. The young people face a dilemma when what they want is different than what their parent wants.Do not take a decision telling your parents that they don't know a thing and also do not take a decision only to make your parents happy sacrificing your interest.It is very true that if you are not happy, you can't make others happy. There are better ways to show respect to your parents, to make them happy. But if you feel they are wrong, don't accept it, have a decent discussion, let both the parties put forth their perspective, and then reach a conclusion.
Do NOTs #5: Do not blind yourself just after seeing the offer letter, but unfortunately this is what most of us do.If career to you is to only make money,then you should not read any further :P.Otherwise,make a career, reach the desired destination, everything else will automatically fall into place.Do not look for a job change to bail you out from an unplanned bank loan. do not look for a job change to have an extended foreign trip at the expense of others.It is very important for all of us to realize that the Indian industries(specially the software industries) are changing and gone are the days where you are as big as the no. of reportee you have in your excel sheet in spite of you might not have any substantial knowledge.You have to really put lot of effort just to plan your career, focus on your learning, make yourself indispensable and to quote someone I have indirectly worked with "Be buyable, don't be sellable".
Again, thanks to all those great people I am privileged to have work with and when people are appreciating the posts on this subject, the credit actually goes to them.I am just conveying what they have taught me & I am absolutely not political here, sincerely.

Dos & Don'ts while job change

One of the most disturbing element of your otherwise peaceful work life is the news that some colleague of yours is leaving the present organization with a hike of X%.Suddenly a whole list of dissatisfaction from nowhere starts floating in front of your eyes and you loose your mental peace. The more is that percentage hike figure, the more you loose your good night sleep. Changing a job becomes your prestige issue. There is nothing wrong in changing a job, but if there is not enough reason to leave your present job & if you have not thought well about your future job, you will be in further mess & if you continue this for 2-3 times, you will soon find yourself in no man's land where every road in front of you seems to be blocked. So this is what I feel every one specially the young ones MUST do & MUST NOT do before changing your present job.

Dos #1: Ask yourself what would be the exit criteria for your next job that you are considering taking upon.I was simply stunned when I was asked the same!! We become so obsessed with the excitement of leaving our present job and going to a new place, we hardly try to see a little further. If the exit criteria for my present job is as same as that of my next job, it is of equal probability that it would be the same for my next to next job,too.And if we keep on this job hopping, the reason could be either we are escapist, or we don't know what we want or we just want to have short cut always.But irrespective of the reason, there is only one outcome and you will simply find yourself lost.

Dos #2: List down what all is causing pain in your present job, what you did to rectify them and what you are looking from your next job.Believe me, there is a difference between thoughts roaming around our minds and penning them down.Only when you write them, you will find many of the obvious issues you thought is actually no longer an issue, it was just one of your random thoughts. When you are completely sure that there was nothing more you could have tried to solve the existing issues, then only you should look for a new job, otherwise mostly the problem is with you.

Dos #3: Always have a plan for your career and if it is not for your entire career, it should at least be for the next 3/5 years. And you will change your job only if it is aligned with your master plan.Some time people change jobs with the intention of changing again within 1-2 years, nothing wrong if it helps you reaching closer to your target, otherwise just changing the job for whatever reason without any plan will not lead you anywhere.

Dos #4: Remember the golder rule "You will not get everything".So, be prepared for surprises in your next job. Other than your pay cheque, there are lot of other aspects in your present job, which has intangible value but we just don't realize them because they don't reflect in our pay slip. Don't get yourself disheartened if you miss any of them in your next job. You get some, you loose some, that's the way it is.

Dos #5: Think of this.To take a big leap forward, it helps if you first take few steps backward and then jump in stead of jumping from the same place.This is so true in life as well. If you need to sacrifice here and there while changing your job, it is fine as long as it helps you reaching the target as per your plan. Don't try to get everything.Every individual is different, give weightage to what is important to you and if you get them, go for the change.

This post is already long enough, so I would talk about the DONTs in my next post.

P.S. The above Dos are in no particular order. My sincere thanks to all those people from whom I have learned whatever I am talking here otherwise neither I have enough professional experience to be seasoned nor I am formally educated on this subject.

P.P.S. This is my first post after almost 6 months.When you have a jam packed work schedule and a new born baby at home, I guess you hardly have time to even breathe:)

The day I became a Motorolan

It was one of those busy college days (it was 14th Aug'2001) when the campus placement was in full swing. The result for ST Microelectronics' written test was just out and as I could not make it, I was just thinking of what next. One of my friend (it was Kusumita for whoever knows her)suddenly came running to inform me that Motorola would be coming to our campus day after tommorrow(16th Aug'2001) and she seemed to be very excited. But my reaction was expectedly indifferent as I used to consider Motorola to fall under that elite category, where I can't belong!!
Before that, I had failed in 6 consecutive interviews, had tried every possible combination to perfect my attire, with tie, without tie, full sleeve, half sleeve and all sort of technical preparation,too, but nothing seemed to be working. Today I took the approach of nothing more to loose,nothing worse could happen.So, on the morning of 16th August,2001, I went to the college hoping that it is better to be rejected as early as possible so that I can come back home and prepare for the next MNC coming. I was wearing a half sleeve shirt, a trouser which I had alredy worn before, unlike a new one taken from the almirah which I used to do for my previous interviews, there was no tie, I even did not shave on that morning!! And as if this was not enough, I appeared for the CS written test where I am from ETCE background and I had applied for ETCE tests in all my previous attemtps. The test was over and I was eagerly waiting to know who among my friends got through as I had no hope about myself.

After couple of hours or so, the results for the test was out. Kusumita came all smiling as she cracked it. I went towards the notice board and I must admit there was a little hope (without any reason)at the furthest corner in my heart.After all, miracles do happen!!

And miracle did happen. I found my name at the end of the list, I thought may be I was better in CS than in ETCE and was cursing myself for wasting my 4 years studying ETCE. Then I was just browsing towards the top of the list to find out who all made it and suddenly, to my utter shock(I will surely not call that a surprise) I discovered that I was being listed in the ETCE list, where as I appeared for CS test. All my smiles evaporated immidiately, as I was more than sure this was a mistake. I came out from there, sat alone under a tree and was going through numerous thouhts as what I should do now, should I tell them that they have done a mistake or should I just keep silent and let them find out.

After a lot of brain storming within myself, I convinced myself to let the truth prevail. I went to them, informed everything and expressed my opinion that there might be a mistake somewhere. Here came another surprise, a bigger one when they told me that it was not a mistake. Thanks to my hard work during my school and college days, because of the excellent academic record I have, they thought of giving me a second chance to see whether I can prove my potential to be a Motorolan. The rest is history. After several round of interviews ( one round extra for me as I had to start from scratch to prove myself in ETCE) the final results were out around 11pm and I had made it. What was impossible for me just 2 days back, is now a reality. If ever I had any doubt about the existance of GOD, it was gone for ever that day. I dont know and I will never know why almighty chose me, but according to the religious belief, I might have done some good work in the past and this is the prize I got.

From that day onwards till the very last day of my tenure in Motorola, whenever I was down, whenever the thought came to my mind of leaving Motorola, whenever something was not working for me in Motorola, I used to remind myself of 16th August,2001 and tell myself that may be, may be GOD chose Motorola for me and if it is not working for me, it is my fault and no one's else. That gave me motivation to go forward, to work harder and made me feel I belong to this place, I work with those elite group of people, which I had thought I could never belong to.