On Judging Ourselves

For 10 years I was responsible for the CEO’s results message. Every quarter, every year-end, every annual conference. 

Funny thing is, they were always good. Not the messages, I mean, the results. 

Whatever the results, the message would explain that, taking into account all circumstances, employees should be proud.

And people believed it! 

Rightly so, I hasten to add. The messages were indeed believable. They recognised, fairly, that results are linked only very imperfectly to performance.

I notice, though, we’re rarely quick to apply the same logic to ourselves.

Typically, when things go wrong we feel bad and tend to absorb responsibility. The boss looks at us funny, say, or we make a mistake, and we start to lose confidence. As our circumstances go, so go our feelings.

It's good to remind ourselves that our results - however good or bad - are hardly the final word. 

A person can have an outstanding performance and lose out. Or they can have a so-so performance and get gold.

It's fine and useful to keep one eye on results. That way always lies learning. So long as we don't read them too much as a commentary on ourselves.

Results are shaped by many factors, few of which are within our control. Better to focus on what we can influence more directly, ie the processes that make up our performance. 

So long as we do that honestly and well, we can't help but improve over time. And if we get that right, we deserve our own positive quarterly message every time.