by Michael Shaw
This past fortnight, the Thought Distillery team met and discussed the ideas surrounding Counseling and Evaluations. To very little surprise, this topic drew ideas, observations, experiences and perspectives from almost every angle of leadership thought. Dialogue spanned the ideas that counseling is important but the way in which one goes through the motions varies and the impact they have upon their team is even more randomized. Discussion touched upon the Armed Services well drafted and exceptionally under executed counseling regulations. Experiences were shared describing a complete lack of counseling, a perceived lack of counseling and times where the counseling that was delivered lacked any sort of value.
Like many aspects of a profession, skills require practice and practice requires time, time that everyone seems to lack in their current routines. If time is the one value that seems to be required for each formula to work and yet the application or inclusion of that variable seems to be lacking. Perhaps it is not time that evades us, rather the importance or urgency to spend the commodity of time on such an endeavor.
Because the topic of counseling dominated much of the distilleries attention this session there was not much engagement into evaluations. What was touched upon was a lack of connection between expressed expectations and codified goals and the resulting paperwork that cemented ones annual performance. Perhaps if counseling was completing in a more regular manor then there might be greater clarity and expectation management for all parties involved?