Its that time of the year again. When you take stock of the performance of your subordinates, grade them A-E, and decide whether you wanna reccommend them for promotion or shrink their bonus. To praise or not to praise, that is the question.
Yes the staff appraisal circus has arrived and I have a whopping 180 reports to go thru'. I'm soooo screwed. I'll never be able to finish by the X'mas deadline, NEVER!
So for the first time in like 3 years, I brought work home to do. And as I wuz ploughing thru' some of the reports, it dawned upon me that perhaps next year, I should get to know some of my officers better. It was pretty embarassing to realise that there were a few whom I have not spoken to in a year. A couple of faces I could not even remember meeting!
Anyway, I have different stacks of reports for each type of subordinate and I promised myself to give every category more unique attention next year. A New Year resolution of sorts.
Stack 1 - The Rising Stars
Such a joy to manage. Enthusiastic, Pro-active and Impatient for success, they are out to impress. The difficulties lie in managing their lofty expectations and getting them to calibrate their energies so they don't trip over their own 2 feet in their push upwards.
Stack 2 - The Old Farts
They just need to know that they are still useful and that the winds of change have not blown them too much off course. Respect from this group is blardy hard fought but once gotten, they provide an angle of experience that really complements your new and young ideas.
Stack 3 - The Neither-Here-Nor-There's
Characterised by the 30-somethings who have spent more than 10 years in the organization but are getting nowhere in their careers. In my opinion, the most challenging group to manage. They have lost their youthful enthusiasm but don't have enough elderly wisdom to be considered 'old birds'. A frustrated and disgruntled lot, most are resigned to their obvious career-plateaus and are just waiting for their next paycheck. I probably have to pray for divine intervention to help in motivating the NHNTs.
Stack 4 - The Younglings
Freshly minted from the Academy and barely a couple of months into the job. Experience tells me it takes about 5-6 months for their true colors to emerge for assessment. Well the right organisational values and work ethics have to be ingrained into their young minds before they are corrupted by the older naughty ones. Close supervision and a little micro-management required.
Stack 5 - The Chronically Ill
Some suffer from what I call the WUSS, Weekend Urgent Sickness Syndrome. Others have enough ailments to rival my 84 year old grandmother. I think we need an in-house doctor on stand-by.
Ok I better get back to those reports...:))