The Monk on Performance Appraisal

 

The Monk on Performance Appraisal

A young man meets a monk to clarify his doubts, which have arisen after his annual appraisal. The young man started the conversation with the Monk by stating, "I don't know why these appraisals are nightmares, and after appraisals, we sometimes doubt our competencies."

The Monk, smiling, said, "It is not the appraisals that give you a nightmare and make you feel worthless; it is your attitude towards appraisals that make you feel so." The young man sarcastically smiled and said, "One more behavioural training program on Attitude." The Monk said, "That's your attitude towards attitude."

The Monk said, "My dear young man, tell me what happened?" The young man said, "It was a bad day." The Monk said, "Probably a good day for your boss to corner you." The young man said, "Humor at the wrong time." The Monk smiled and said, "Go ahead and tell me what happened."

The young man said, "My manager said I am not good at knowledge sharing." The Monk asked, "Did you ask him the reason behind his comment?" The young man said, "He feels I don't volunteer for knowledge-sharing sessions; I don't volunteer to help new joiners when they are stuck, and above all, he feels I don't do knowledge transfer." The Monk asked, "Is your boss right in saying so?" The young man said, "Yes, but when my hands are full, how can I do what he said?"

The Monk said, "Did you evaluate your time usage?" The young man said, "We have a timesheet to fill out, and I always have to stick to my KRAs to complete my work.

The Monk asked, "What is your rating?" The young man said, "Manager's favourite answer is met expectations." The Monk said, "Is it a bad rating?" The young man said, "Less increment."

The Monk asked, "How can I help you with this?" The young man asked, "How can I overcome such disappointments?"

The Monk said, "The toughest thing in life is to come to terms with life, but the most important thing to be done is to come to terms with life to ensure peace and joy are restored so that you can perform better in the future."

The young man said, "How can I come to terms with such a situation?" The Monk said, "Accept your shortcomings. If you want extra, you need to go the extra mile. If you desire an outstanding rating, work for more than just the KRAs; work more than you can.

Your manager's feedback about sharing knowledge should be seen from different perspectives. It is not about giving something to others or the organization. It is about strengthening, retaining, and refining your knowledge. A giver of knowledge is much richer than the wealthiest man in the world because a rich man's wealth can diminish once given away, but knowledge is the only thing that can be shared in abundance. The more you give, the more it is with you. Think about how you can find time to share your knowledge with new joiners because one day, you can delegate the same and focus on much more challenging tasks in the future. Document your repository of knowledge. It might be a ready reckoner once you have people reporting to you. Knowledge is powerful, but shared knowledge is much more powerful than knowledge which stays with one person.

After listening to the Monk's words, the young man asked, "How do you monks come up with such profound thoughts?" The Monk said, "Since we keep sharing our knowledge, but we don't know how much we don't know."

With a smile, the young man said, "My boss made my day bad, but you have given me a torch and made me the torchbearer of knowledge. Thank you." With a smile, the Monk said, "Go ahead and remove the darkness of ignorance among other colleagues disturbed after their appraisal."

 

M.L. Narendra Kumar