Evaluation Situation

Think about a recent major decision you made at work.

Did it produce the outcome you desired? 🎯

Your natural inclination may be to answer with an emphatic “YES!”

(I dig that about you!)

It’s understandable—who among us doesn’t want to make the right call every time?

Unfortunately, our self-esteem can work against us when we evaluate our decisions:

1. We may overemphasize positive aspects of a decision while downplaying negative consequences.
2. We may attribute positive outcomes as being the results of our own actions while chalking up negative outcomes to external or uncontrollable factors.

Here’s how you can improve your solo or team-based evaluation process:

🦺 SAFETY
Make it clear up front that it’s okay to be imperfect since learning and improvement are the prime objectives.

🧠 AWARENESS
Remind yourself and others about the potential for bias as described above.

⚖️ OBJECTIVITY
Lean most heavily on facts and data as well as external perspectives when hard results are lacking.

Being a leader means playing the long game. 🏆

If we’re willing to make ourselves uncomfortable in the short term by seeking the unvarnished truth, we’ll be rewarded in the long run with improved evaluation, decision-making, execution, and ultimately—better outcomes.