Moving Words – Self-Evaluation

Timothy Brady

“You see things; and say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say “Why not?” – George Bernard Shaw

It’s always a suitable time to look at what we’re currently doing and determine if it’s heading us in the correct direction to achieve our goals. Any time is a great time for reflection, evaluation of the past and setting new goals for the future. In business we call this ‘strategic planning.’ And while it’s traditionally done in the 4^th quarter of the business year, we’re suggesting you start now in the middle of the busiest part of the year when movers are facing their most challenging time. When we are under the greatest amount of stress it will possibly paint a different picture from the year-end strategic planning. The purpose of this is to add perspective when you do your annual strategic planning with your department heads.

However, rather than taking the typical course of developing your plan for the next year at this time, I’m going to suggest a self-evaluation of each person within your company – including yourself – that you can review and use when the time comes to make next year’s strategic plan.

One of the best ways to decide the quality of the services a company provides is to start with those who provide the service. We’ve all heard the line “If momma’s happy, then the family is happy.” From that perspective, for the best and highest quality service to your customers, if your employees and contractors enjoy their jobs, then you can be assured that the customer is receiving the highest quality of service from the employee/contractor’s efforts.

Here are 10 questions you should ask your employees/contractors to see how much they feel they’re valued, and to receive feedback and ideas as to what management needs to do to better move forward to reach the goals you’ve set.

1. Describe how you feel about coming to work each day. Are there some days that you’re more encouraged about coming to work than others? Please explain why.
2. Who in the company provides you with the greatest inspiration and desire to succeed? What does he/she do to accomplish this?
3. When you tell others outside of work where you work and what you do, how do you describe it to them?
4. Are you receiving the training necessary to do the tasks you’re assigned? Do you have the correct tools to do those tasks? Where can training be improved? What additional tools would make your job easier and more efficient?
5. Describe how your role contributes to the company achieving its goals.
6. What can management do to make it easier for you to contribute ideas and suggestions to improve the overall performance and profitability of the company?
7. Describe how others in the company show they value your contributions to the overall efforts of the company.
8. What can management do to create a better overall team effort?
9. Are you given the necessary latitude to do your tasks to the greatest level of effectiveness? If yes, how is this accomplished? If No, what can be done to make it so?
10. If you owned this company, what changes would you make to improve its effectiveness and profitability?

Between now and when you gather your department heads for the annual strategic planning session you can assemble these answers, analyze them and be better prepared in planning your goals and strategies for next year.

“Working on problems and self-examination is a sign of strength.” – Dana Reeve