So, if you know me, you know that annual evaluations stress me out. I've had some bad ones over the years, and I've reacted badly even to good news. I crave feedback, but I hate the formal process of storing it all up and shitting it out once a year.
And then, I go into our network to start these assessments - they're not about performance - they're values based. Does this person demonstrate leadership, welcome diversity, create connection, etc.?
It was a whole thing for a hot minute.
That might give you a little insight into what I'm about to share. We have to request three colleagues to offer anonymous feedback about our performance, and that gets kind of hairy - because you have to decide not only who knows you at your best, but won't tank you or try to use that tiny bit of power to go mad and try to burn it to the ground.
Now, I chose my three people, but while that's happening, the rest of the company is looking for their three people. And I've had a handful of people I trained reach out and request my feedback. Which I'm happy to give, but understand, I've trained about 300 people this year and all I can do is look at my notes and go from there. And in at least one case, that week's notes are gone with the wind because I overwrote them with a different week, because I'm a big dummy.
Look, I got a week with them sometime between May and October. The few that have asked are/were not especially memorable, and there weren't a lot of leadership/integrity opportunities. So, that's fun. I might have also asked different people to fill mine out if I'd better understood the objective. That's on me, and on the Fearless Leaders.
Meanwhile I am recovering from getting my IUD swapped out. That went down (and out, then in) yesterday. I also had my labs done to compare to 2024. Apparently, my hormone levels have me still in pre-menopause. So, that's something to look forward. Since that whole process leaves you feel like you've been punched in the ovaries, I took the day off. I bought the stuff to make my pepper jelly. I bought coffee and plastic bins at Costco. I ate 2 Krispy Kreme hot glazed. I went to Old Navy to buy leggings. They had an entire wall of leggings for little girls, but nothing for big old girls like me. Ah well. I got a chair massage. I may do that again soon - he made some headway on some knots that have been problematic. I went to Dozen and bought a massive loaf of sourdough. It's already gone. It was a good day to get things done, but in a no-bones kind of way.
Do you remember the bones/no bones guy? He had this ancient pug Noodle, and he'd record every morning, waking him up. If Noodle stood up, it was a bones day, and you should do things requiring extra strength, courage, etc. If he just flopped back down, it was a no-bones day - and you should take it easier on yourself.
Anyway, yesterday was totally no bones. Because I made a big pot of soup for dinner - then we watched elections returns.
Tennessee didn't turn blue, but we did turn blue-er. Every county leaned left, and Marsha won by 2% points.
So, that's where we are.
And it's November.
ae
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