track record

remember in school when someone is appointed  a ketua darjah or ketua tingkatan or pengawas? i was once offered the ketua tingkatan duty but declined :p i couldn’t stand being hated by my classmates – esp. the naughty guys. i gave that responsibility to the garang girl and who had always held the ketua darjah/tingkatan post.

what i really want to say is this: when electing/appointing someone for an important post, one’s track record will be evaluated and taken into consideration. e.g. in school, someone who has a good academic record and/or athletic skills would definitely be considered for the post of ketua darjah/tingkatan or even pengawas over somebody who’s well… mediocre.

this method – evaluating one’s track record/achievements – is also used at work. it is used in job promotions, salary increments, bonus eligibility. it’s not easy trying to keep a good track record. enter KPI (key performance indicator) and it is a sure thing to keep everyone on his/her feet to perform well.

i am guilty of not evaluating my staff after 3 months. just because i am waiting for the ‘finalized’ KPI scorecard. waiting is such a time-waster. i should do whatever i can do make sure none of my staff backslides. maybe i will do something radical by month end. hopefully.

i have trouble evaluating staff who perform inconsistently. after 1 year, you would think all your passed down knowledge is a ‘way of life’ at the workplace. i find myself discovering the same mistakes over and over again. worst, i get called to rectify a mistake that one of my staff makes. and all i ever say is “next time don’t do this”. undeniably, this has made me a stupid manager.

a staff who performs inconsistently would’ve been given the boot by a heartless thoughtless manager. but a stupid manager keeps them and tells them “next time don’t do this”. and that same stupid manager unofficially becomes the pencari kesalahan. such a time-waster this job scope is.

my other problem is this: keeping my staff motivated when i am de-motivated myself. for the past 2 weeks, i have had some surreal challenges at work. ok lah maybe not surreal but they were challenges nonetheless. all these challenges brought me frustration after frustration and came right after my December prayer was answered. those challenges kept me busy for a bit and it made me forget about my woes for a while.

ahhh i digress again.

track record. ok here we go. if i were to judge my own performance since 2005, on the one hand i think that i should be handsomely rewarded, taking into consideration the personal sacrifices i made for the sake of work. on the other hand, try as i might i could only achieve much when more was expected of me (or my branch).

in conjunction with Easter or Resurrection Sunday, i am going to live my life differently in order to achieve the good track record that i envision to possess. God answered my prayers. now what? i could proceed with what i wanted to do but i feel that i am required to do follow-ups with my answered prayer – i.e. pray more, read more!

hopefully – by God’s will and in His time – my dreams post-‘answered prayer’ will materialize before the year ends. that’s 8 months to go. i should make the necessary preparations now.

Happy Easter