When you are at the end of your rope,

tie a knot and hold on. -Theodore Roosevelt

So, the new year still has 361 gift cards remaining to be redeemed, based on last week's Weblog. Here's what I've done with three of my gift cards so far:

1. Started running again. Only three miles, but...here I go again. (Feels good).
2. Purged my home office file cabinets and dropped four banker's boxes worth of stuff I no longer need into the recycle bin. (Feels better, but still have to shred a box or two).
3. Switched to an adjustable desk that can be used standing or sitting. (Wrote half this Weblog standing up).

Hope I can keep it going.

In case you needed a reason to be optimistic this week, there are ONLY:

• 75 days until the first day of Spring
• 102 Days until the Boston Marathon
• 131 days until the first 8 pm sunset
• 147 Days until the NBA Finals
• 167 Days until Summer.

There is an unwritten or unspoken mindset about evaluating performance that almost everyone follows, but very few ever articulate. I think it is an unwritten rule because people are usually not even aware that they are evaluating performance using the "Effort. Progress. Results." method.

And if those judging aren't aware of this model, it is likely that those being judged are equally unaware.

The mindset occurs in the business world, in family life, in politics, and in other aspects of life where evaluation is important.

The phrase 'leaders and evaluators' is used because much of the time judgement doesn't come from a leader but from a peer, a significant other, a child, a neighbor, a client, a customer or a government official or agency.

Always Looking at Two Things

Leaders and evaluators judge performance on two things, but those two things regularly change for the same task or activity.

• The two things at the start of an assignment, project, or position, and most of the time and in most situations, judgements are primarily, if unofficially, Effort and Progress.
• But after a while, the two things change because Effort is less important to the leader or evaluator, and judgement morphs to analyzing Progress and Results.
• The two things change again after another while, when Progress matters less than Results so the judging takes place on Results and Results.

Effort and Progress. Progress and Results. Results and Results. That is almost the natural continuum in which evaluation of performance takes place.

The Effort and Progress Stage

This concept is fairly easy to understand and generally done with good awareness. Someone just starting out, whether that is as student teacher, an airline pilot, a bus driver or a new team member is evaluated based on how much Effort is put into the job or the learning, and if Progress towards the ultimate goal of competence or excellence is happening. Lots of patience is usually a characteristic of this judgement phase.

When I ran restaurants, at certain times new service team members would wear a button that said "I'm Training and I'm Trying" which is asking the guest to have patience and recognize the Effort and the things being done right (the Progress).

Remember, I am not claiming this is the correct model 100% of the time, only that it happens more often than not, and in many cases is a good way to look at someone learning or doing a task for the first time or in a new situation.

Next Up: Progress and Results

After an indeterminate amount of time that varies with the task and the individual, leaders or evaluators drop from their judgement the Effort part of the equation but are still focused on evaluating two things: Progress and Results.

Results replace Effort. There are only so many fumbles or interceptions that a coach can tolerate from a quarterback, or strikeouts from a slugger or errors in a report. The natural next stage is Progress and Results. Moving in the right direction and hitting the target replace trying hard as the intuitive evaluation criteria.

Trying, especially if getting paid for performance, counts less, and progress is still important, but getting some results is an increasingly important part of the judgement.

Results and Results

Yes, these are two things, not one. There inevitably comes a point where leaders are not only not concerned with Effort, but their reliance on Progress as a determinant of performance declines as well and they are still interested in two things, and they are Results and Results.

Results and Results covers not only WHAT was accomplished, but HOW it was achieved. We all know there are ways to get results that are not considered good ways.

Leaders and evaluators feel that you've had time to learn, you've made progress, now it is time to deliver the Results, the way they should be delivered.

Leaders and evaluators do this, in my experience, subconsciously. You may have experienced a leader or an evaluator who had a very short 'Effort-Progress' stage or a very long 'Progress-Results' phase. Subconscious judgement, like implicit bias, is hidden beneath the surface and not really predictable.

As a Leader (or Evaluator)

It may sound strange, but there can be value in understanding that this may be how you think and actually recognizing when you flip from Effort & Progress to Progress & Results and/or from Progress & Results to Results and Results.

In my experience you become less frustrated by your team when you are aware of this natural trend, or less frustrated with your local restaurant or Dunkin Donuts.

From time to time, based on the situation, I have shared with team members that this is how I evaluate their performance. It puts people on notice that there is a learning period, where progress matters, and then there is a period where effort doesn't matter because results are needed, and that is followed by a performance period where the effort and progress aren't in the picture because results are needed.

I don't think I am 'inventing' a messaging system, I believe I am simply sharing what really goes on in many if not most situations.

As a Follower

The key concepts for a follower to recognize are:

1. That the patience shown to you at the beginning doesn't last forever
2. That expectations of making some sort of noticeable Progress are immediate
3. That expectations of Results and Results are just around the corner.

As Yourself

Not sure if you remember that we also judge ourselves? I think we follow the same continuum. When we start something, for example, running long distances, we judge ourselves based on our Effort (did I do the training miles?) and the Progress (is my distance improving?)

We then switch our self-evaluation to Progress (am I getting better?) and Results (am I getting to the finish line in a reasonable amount of time?)

Finally, we judge ourselves based on Results (what was my time or distance?) and Results (how did I accomplish it?)

There is a common 'self-evaluation' modification for most people, illustrated by an old expression that we judge others on their actions, but ourselves on our intentions.

Translated to this discussion, we tend to stay planted in the Effort and Progress phase longer than we should. ("I meant to, I was going to, I tried to"). But we jump quickly to Results and Results when evaluating others, for example, when a steak isn't cooked to our specifications at a restaurant.

Effort-Progress, Progress-Results, Results-Results.

Awareness of these three phases, whether as a leader, an evaluator or a follower can help facilitate clarity of expectations. And when expectations are clear, performance is better, whether for a nuclear power plant operator or a dish machine operator. And after all, what makes us focus more than clear expectations.