Appraisal

Though I could not write anything about my Diwali preparations, I’ve decided to do an appraisal of my Diwali-Faral and write about it… :D (Recently we had a presentation given by our center head, regarding the overall appraisal procedure in the company. So still I have that hang-over… :P)

Before starting this write-up, I checked the exact meaning of appraisal on the net. It means ‘the act of estimating or judging the nature or value of something or someone’. So in this post I’m going to evaluate my tryst with Diwali-Faral.

As I mentioned before I still have that hang-over of the meeting about Appraisal, I’ll start with formal procedure of the appraisal. So the very first is to set the goals based on which we can evaluate the performance. So what were the goals that I set for myself?

I decided to make variety of items for diwali which can be listed below:

• Chivda
• Laadu (Besan)
• Laadu (Rawa-Naral)
• Karanji
• Shankarpali
• Anarase
• Chakali
• Shev
• Chirote

Time allotted to achieve the target - only an evening and a complete day before Diwali.

Any assistance availed – None.

Any other challenges– very much present.

(As I am setting the goals, I have entered into a manager’s role. So what is a manager's take on this?

The challenges are the one’s that make our life interesting. What is life without challenges – a monotonous journey! Have you ever traveled from Pune to Solapur? It’s a plain road. The journey is very boring and tiresome. Whereas the road between Pune-Mumbai is full of ghats and tunnels; hence the journey is quite interesting… As the challenges are integral part of our life, face them and grow yourself!!!)

Hmmm… the target was quite aggressive!!! Was it achieved? The honest answer is 'No'. Then what was achieved? Well the list includes: 

• Laadu (Rawa-Naral)
• Karanji
• Shankarpali
• Anarase
• Chakali
• Shev
• Chirote

Still the score is around 75%. Distinction!!!

But evaluation should include not just quantitative but qualitative approach as well. So except Chakali and Chirote, rest of the things was of above average quality.

What is my absolute rating? (Now as it was described in our company meeting absolute score is an individual score like the percentage we get in any exam.). I would call it as exceeded expectation. (We have 4 levels - Does not meet, Meets, Exceeds expectation and Far exceeds).

Areas improvement:

Need to improve on planning. May be one more day of leave before Diwali can help.

Some of the works can be delegated away to save on time.

Strengths:

Possesses potential to achieve the target and excel in it.

The final normalized rating:

The normalized rating is nothing but ranking amongst many people. As the appraisal is of my performance, I would compare it with my previous year performance instead of other people.

Previous few years, because of some or the other reason, I was not preparing any of these items at home. Hence it’s a significant improvement and the normalized rating can be kept at Exceeds!!! :P

With this appraisal, I can hope that next year I can use this post to have a better performance.