The holiday season is already upon us, which means focus on ensuring the stores are all primped for the shoppers and immediately addressing all the spur-of-the-moment field emergencies. Before you know it, another holiday season will be behind us and we will be welcoming a brand new year.
The holiday season is already upon us, which means focus on ensuring the stores are all primped for the shoppers and immediately addressing all the spur-of-the-moment field emergencies. Before you know it, another holiday season will be behind us and we will be welcoming a brand new year.As you reflect on the past year, I hope you find all your goals have been reached and you still don’t give up on the ones you may not have reached yet. With the New Year comes new initiatives, new budgets and…the new performance reviews.
Now ideally, performance reviews should not be a big surprise for the associate. In other words, managers should not wait for the one time a year to let team members know how they’re doing. Throughout daily or weekly interaction, there should be positive reinforcement or constructive suggestions. Another dynamic of review time is the self review. This is when an associate is supposed to assess his or her own progress throughout the past year, noting specific projects and successes. The funny thing is, this is also a way managers can get out of the task of documenting the work for each associate. If you have a large team reporting to you, this actually is not a bad idea.
This year, on your own, I’d like you all to try a different approach. Think about what you’ve accomplished personally. Have you spent enough time with your family and friends? Have you made time to pursue your hobbies or passions? Have you expanded your professional network, adding colleagues from a diversity of fields? Have you learned more, perhaps a particular skill or trade? Have you continued to work toward a professional certification or accredited program? Have you educated your business partners, stuck up for your team and played fair with your contractors? Have you fought for your beliefs and spoken up at times when you felt you should have? Have you expressed appreciation to your team members and service providers?
As you do your performance reviews based on your organization, don’t forget to do one on the progress of your life. Because in the end, after all the sales have been rung, all the repairs have been made, all the programs have been rolled out, all the budgets have been managed and you get your increase and/or bonus — no one really remembers any of that. Yes, companies do because they’re supposed to as an organization — but people remember differently. People remember moments. People remember the way they were spoken to, the way they were treated, and the gratitude that was expressed. So for this particular review, even if you felt you did not score particularly high in any area — keep that in mind for the New Year to come. RFB
Grace Daly is an industry leader in retail design, construction and facilities, as well as an avid career coach. She is currently the Executive Director of Retail Facility Conferences for InterFace Conference Group.