Doing the "Dirty work".

[Eamonn]

I found the 360 Assessment part of the WB course when I first seen it and presented it to be a bit of a waste of time.

But, like a lot of other things that maybe I don't get at first, over time the light does seem to eventually go on.

Assessments are strange things.

They tend as far as I can see to either be very worthwhile or just a waste of time, with little or no middle ground.

HWMBO has an annual assessment that seems to be a waste of time. Her boss tells her to complete the form and then her boss signs off on it.

Having been self-employed for about 20 years, I wasn't sure about this assessment thing!

My boss does take it very seriously and puts a lot of thought and work into it.

This might be because he has more time than HWMBO boss who has a busy ER to manage?

I had my assessment a few months back.

As I expected it was good, in fact it was better than I'd expected. I blame this on me being the worst boss I ever worked for!

At the time I was called into the office of my boss, we went over it and I signed off on it, thanking him for being such a nice fellow.

 

Last Tuesday I was called into his office again.

He wants me to give the inmates who work in our department a presentation on Ethics.

I explained to him that I thought that maybe trying to teach a class on ethics too a group of convicted criminals might be a bit of a waste of time! He kinda agreed but went on to say that he thought it wouldn't do any harm and that I was the right person for the job. (Talk about a snow job!!)

A couple of days later he called me back into his office, to inform me that his boss wanted some of the rules that we had maybe been a little lax about, to now be followed and enforced. None of this was in any way life threatening or that serious. He (My boss) explained to me that he was asking me to do this because he thought that I'd be able to cover this in a "Friendly" way!

This got my little gray cells thinking.

 

Back "In the day" Whenever that might have been?

I don't remember anyone really giving two hoots about things being done in a friendly way.

There has in this forum been a lot of talk about how parents act. (Yes I know I started a thread about this!).

My parents never went out of their way to be my friends or gain my approval, same goes for a lot of the adults that I had to deal with as a young boy and teenager.

While of course no one ever wanted to see me harmed or hurt.

They were the adults and I was seen as just being a kid.

They didn't have to do anything to earn my respect, they expected it and I just fell in line, doing what was expected.

The very idea of me ever telling my parents that a teacher or master had treated me unfairly? Was something that never crossed my mind as I knew that they would take the side of the adults.

While this might sound very unfair. There were some advantages to it.

I was a kid and expected to live in a kids world.

I never had any idea about our family finances, bills or that adult stuff.

I to this day have no idea if my parents were happy or not! They were my parents and that was all I needed to know.

There are times in Scouting when the adults do need to stand up as adults and wrong as it might seem the answer to the "Why?" Question can only be answered with the "Because I said so!" Answer.

I'm OK with myself and my feelings of what is right and what is wrong. (Even when I might be in a gray area!) I don't need a long list of rules, policies or that sorta thing.

While I hope I don't ever go out of my way to be unfair. To me if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, there is a very good chance that it is a duck.

While I know that I'm a lot more friendly toward children than the adults of my youth. There are times when there is something that might not be popular that needs done, I don't have a problem doing it.

I do try to do a quick assessment of how I'm feeling to ensure that I am acting out of what is right and not out of the mood I'm in.

So maybe when it comes to doing the "Dirty Work" That 360 Assessment wasn't such a waste of time, after all ?

Eamonn.

 

 

[Buffalo Skipper]

I agree that assessments are too often viewed as counter-productive and a waste of time. Prehaps some of the problem with these 360 assessments is that those who write them (presumably those who put on the activity/training) see the program as good, and therefore they do not ask the right questions.

 

I have always written my own on training events and activities with which I have participated. I try to present open-ended and well thought out questions which allow the participants to explain in their own words how they felt about the event. I usually get a balance of short answers ("this assessment is a waste of my time"), narrow minded responses (missed the whole purpose of the event), and well thought out feedback (not always complementary or what I expect to read, but honest and refreshing). I do feel that how well written the assessment/questionaire is will determine the quality of the respone.

 

For years I worked for an international company who required their employees to answer a 5 question self assessement, which, with the supervisor's additions went into one's "permanent" record as a preformance evaluation. For the 5 years I worked for this company, the questions remained unchanged, and one in particular always burned my *%#(!).

 

It was: "Explain how you plan to exceed your expectations in the next year." What?!? I don't plan to "exceed my expectations" this year. If I planned on exceeding them, the would be my expectations, and I would not be exceeding them! I was dumbfounded year after year as to how this question was actually asked of employees of a company of this size.

 

It did serve to have me set a higher standard on any assessments I have written as a scouting volunteer.

[momma_bee]

I know this is in the Boy Scout side of the message board but I have been obsessing about a Girl Scout thing.

 

They ask the girls to make S.M.A.R.T. Goals. (hmm, without looking it up, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely - that may not be right)

 

It has been bugging me, not because it is a bad idea to have a goal that meets that criteria, but because I will be asked to do the same thing at work this year. It bugs me because it is a corporate idea, applied to the girls.

 

But, I am going to think about your post and try to be open minded about the potiential for improvment in the girl and the program.

 

And, maybe the boy will be inspired to help me out and use the process as well.

 

I'm trying to say "thanks for the well thought out post, I wish I had words of wisdom to share"

[Buffalo Skipper]

momma_bee,

The S.M.A.R.T. criteria is used in Boy Scouts as well. Specifically it appears with Wood Badge, as a method of evaluating one's tickets. but this is an adult evaluation tool, not a youth.

 

Certainly it has merit as a management tool, but I appreciate your reluctance to apply this to a youth setting (girl or boy). On the other hand, acronymns like this do have retention value with youth.

 

As I and others have stated before, it is important to differentiate leadership and management.

[Lisabob]

re: the SMART thing, as a social scientist I found the delivery of it to be laughably poor at WB, particularly the specific and measurable parts. Those are not such easy concepts to put into practice. If adults struggle with it I really don't see it resonating well with kids.

 

Sometimes a simple "gut check" is really all that is needed, and is a lot easier for people (kids in particular) to grasp. Does this feel right? Am I doing this out of frustration/anger/spite? How would I feel if I were on the receiving end? That sort of thing probably works better for most situations than a formal assessment.

[SSScout]

Eamonn: Ethics in the Work Place, and the workplace is a prison?

 

Check out Alternatives to Violence Project:

 

http://avpusa.org/

 

All volunteer org, nonviolent techniques for conflict resolution, doing the right thing for the right reasons. Much experience in prison workshops , both with inmates and staff. Don't know who is close to you, but very sympathetic folks.

 

YiS