Have you measured yourself lately?

On 4th June, Sydney, Australia, will be the first stop of the Olympic torch relay, as it makes its way to Athens for the opening ceremony on 13th August.

You may have noticed that there has been an increasing amount of media coverage to do with the Olympic Games and one of the items that caught my eye was regarding the preparation of the 3600 athletes. Obviously, the focus for them is how they perform at their particular event and it’s extraordinary the commitment they have to constant and never ending improvement. They measure and evaluate everything to squeeze that last, often minute, fraction of potential performance advantage out of everything they do.

This got me thinking about how much we measure our own performance so that we can make constant improvement and get better and better results. In business there are many areas that get measured such as sales and marketing figures, product performance, financial data and to a point I am sure we all evaluate our own performance. I also think it’s possible to leverage this to a much greater degree.

Let’s say for example that you spend a significant amount of time in meetings, either one to one or larger groups. Do you have a defined way of measuring and evaluating your own performance so you can identify where you are both strong and what you could improved? And if you did improve what it will do for you and your business?

A written evaluation to complete after meetings can be an excellent tool to help you improve. The following are examples of the kind of questions that will help you focus your attention on key areas:

1. Overall, how did I rate the meeting (from 1 to 10)?

2. What were the best three things I did?

3. What would I do differently next time?

4. Did I have a specific intention or outcome in mind before the meeting?

5. If so, was it met? If not why not?

6. Were all attendees happy with the outcome?

7. Have we agreed specific action to take following the meeting?

8. How was my preparation and what could I do to improve it?

9. How well did I listen?

10. How was the quality of my questioning?

11. How were my presentation skills?

12. What are my areas of development and how and when will I start?

13. What will be the specific benefit of my increased skill levels?

Obviously, the type of questions you ask will be subjective to your own situation but I’m sure you get the picture.

My experience has been that when this type of evaluation is applied and 20 to 30 meetings have been evaluated then significant improvements in performance will be result.

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