This time next year you may be evaluating 2021.
You should. Neglecting to evaluate leaves learning on the table. We should consistently debrief events, hiring, meetings, and decisions.
But first, we should name what’s most important.
A debrief without values becomes a potpourri of unfiltered opinions. Maybe you stopped asking how it went because you got tired of endless complaints.
To evaluate is to assess the value.
You can’t evaluate if you don’t know what you value.
Take a moment before you evaluate and name what you valued going in. Better yet, name them before you begin.
If you’ll end the year evaluating how it went, maybe you should start the year by naming what matters most.
Your values are filters. They tell you what you say yes to.
You’ll judge something differently if you say “we care about efficiency” than “we want you to feel personally seen.” Scalability is judged differently than aesthetic.
- Before we know if they are a good fit on our team, what values (not just skills) matter to us?
- Before we plan the event, how would you want someone to walk away and feel?
- What words would we want to use to describe the process we are building?
- Before the make the decision, what do we want to be true of us?
Values are bouncers. They help us answer, “With do we spend our limited time and resources on?” Values put up walls to the tyranny of the both/and.
Name them. Try them out. Evaluate around them. The autopsy of your next opportunity will be clearer if you know what you’re looking for.
Next week: Why you need to find a bigger problem