Weekly Wrap-Up for the First Week of November

by Nikki Jeske • November 4, 2011 • Affiniscape, Leadership, Weekly Wrap-up • 0 Comments

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap-Up! Every Friday, I will take the time to compile a list of events, articles, and fun tips and tricks for associations that I have found in my journeys around the web. I’ll also be recapping my key takeaways from the daily Twitter chat, #assnchat. I hope to make this weekly post a resource for associations, just in case they missed something that would and could be beneficial now or down the road.

It was a week of meetings and strategizing and dealing with a hurt back, so I will let you get right to the good stuff. But first, I shall pose a question for you to think about. Because I’ve been feeling philosophical lately.

“What is it you plan to do with your one wild & precious life?” – Mary Oliver.

Favorite Articles

10 Things Prospective Volunteers Worry About Before They Join by Tobi Johnson.

Volunteer recruitment involves more than just posting information about your job openings and waiting for responses. It also involves some complex psychological processes, believe it or not.

Mission: Volunteer Leader Training Part 1 by Lowell Aplebaum.

Where would associations be without volunteer leaders? I have yet to find an association that is so well staffed that volunteers are not needed, and even if this association exists I would still question eliminating these positions as they help foster engagement, community and general leadership skills useful to a volunteer in all aspects of their professional life. Volunteers are essential to a successful association.

It’s Not You, It’s Me – Is Narcissism Good for Leadership? by Tanveer Naseer.

When it comes to the portrayal of leadership in films and other fictional outlets, there’s a common tendency to present the leader as someone who is unmistakably confident and self-assured; who gives off an air of authority and a willingness to direct others towards the best path to take to get them out their current predicament.

12 Ways to Spot Ineffective Leadership by Mike Myatt.

If I only had a nickel for every time I’ve been asked, “is there a simple test that can quickly determine an executive’s leadership ability?” The short answer is yes, but keep in mind, simple and fast aren’t always the same thing as effective. There are a plethora of diagnostic tests, profiles, evaluations, and assessments that offer insights into leadership ability, or a lack thereof.

#assnchat Takeaways

So this past Tuesday I had work to do during the #assnchat so I wasn’t able to actively take part, but Kiki L’Italien did an awesome job of compiling a list of highlights at the end of the hour. The topic? The Dreaded Performance Review! Lots of good comments. You can check out Kiki’s highlights here and here are a few tweets that I favorite’d afterward.

The Topic: The Dreaded Performance Review.

Q: Have you ever had a performance review where you learned something useful about yourself?
- Personally, yes. I have worked with some phenomenal folks who believe in growth and opportunity as much as I do, and performance reviews have been a great way to learn more about myself and where I have the most opportunity to move forward. Most of the time, this comes with new knowledge of who I am as a person.
- “Is it shameless to say I learn something new every year? Being able to examine and be examined is so rare an opportunity.” – Ashley Sullivan
- “Always! I have used my performance reviews to learn more about how others perceive me.” – Adrienne Bryant.
Q: What metrics should be measured or discussed at performance reviews?
- Goals, visions for the future and where you want to see yourself in a few years. Are you on the right path to reach those goals? What’s getting in your way of achieving them on time?
- “what metrics should be included – the ongoing review process should be summarized – don’t wait for 1 time a year to review.” – Linda Chreno.
- “Performance review should focus on being better – how did you grow as a professional, hows the org better 4 your work.” Lowell Aplebaum.
- “I think performance reviews should be done quarterly and that you should earn your job every day.” – Cecliia Sepp.
Q: Design your own performance review! What would the best performance review process be like?
- “Best performance review would be one that compiles regular formal and informal “checkups” as a big summary review” – John Chen.
- “Action plans become metrics that are used for next performance review.” – Garry Polmateer.
- “Ideal review should include a self-evaluation of what I have done well & where I need to improve.” – Linda Chreno.
Q: Have you come across any performance review processes that seemed outlandish? Share the craziness with us!
- “a review that took the reviewer 4 days to complete & it took me 2 hours to read” – Linda Chreno.
- “Outlandish in that an appropriate goal by which I was evaluated was # of families I had dinner with in a quarter.” – Joy Lin.
- “also an org where perf scale went from 1-10, but 10′s were not allowed, ‘allowed no room for growth’. Why have it, then?” – Thad Lurie.
Q: What do you believe performance reviews are supposed to do? Do you think they usually accomplish those goals?
- “Effective performance mgt should be an ongoing discussion, not once a year event. Help me improve and I’ll help the org improve… I think performance reviews are supposed to help the individual and org succeed, but get bogged dwn & become an onerous mess.” – Dave Sobal.
- “I see performance reviews as strategic planning for my job/career. We create goals strategics on how I will meet them.” – Ashley Sullivan.
- “Performance reviews aim to force feedback so employees know what bosses think. But I agree that is best done day in, day out.” – Kim Kishbaugh.
Q: What are some other ways orgs could accomplish the same goals as performance reviews?
- “does the org know why its doing the review? If the goal is feedback and job improvement – make it open, honest and ongoing.” – Lowell Aplebaum.
- “Make an ongoing commitment to support staff professional development; then commit to building a culture of collaboration.” – Cecilia Sepp.
- “Being a good manager is all about helping people grow and using their strengths to move the org forward. Call it whatever.” – Terry Coatta.
Q. Finish this sentence: If I reviewed my performance today, I would rate it _____________.
- “awesome. I don’t tell ppl my weaknesses just like the Empire didn’t tell ppl there was an exposed exhaust port. figure it out.” – Craig Sorrell. My favorite answer.
Q. Please share your best tip about handling (giving/receiving) performance reviews.
- “Keep it an ongoing conversation. Don’t build them up, or allow things to escalate beforehand either.” – Gary Polmateer.
- “make it regular, be honest – not brutal, speak from the heart and do so in the spirit of helping others grow and improve.” – Dave Sabol.
- “Its not about performance evaluation. Its about performance optimization and its a continuous process.” – Terry Coatta.

Join the Next #Assnchat!

Don’t forget – the chat is every Tuesday and any and everyone is welcome. You can check out past #assnchat conversation by searching for #assnchat on Twitter. Joining the conversation is as easy as adding #assnchat to the tweet you’d like to share. Come take part in the conversation! I’ll be there. Will you?

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