How do we track what our people do from the beginning of the year through the end of it? Many organizations use some form of performance tracking or performance appraisal tool do it. There are a number of strategies to accomplish the goal of measuring performance against an employee’s job description, their core competencies or assigned goals. What ever tool you choose to use, there are a couple of common threads to consider. Performance assessments are continuous through the rating period. A common pitfall is only rating the employee on what has recently happened or what you recently remember. We all (leaders too) ebb and flow in our work intensity and all aspects of our performance should be measured, not just the highs or lows. In order to make these appraisals of value to the employee, you will need to create a tool that assists you with documenting their work all year long. Don’t rely on your memory; it will let you down in almost every case. A reliable system will provide you with good documentation of their work and not take up too much of your time to do it. While generally referred to as an annual performance review, you can easily fall into the trap of it becoming the “most recent memory” review. Good documentation is the key.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to end.”

“This is taking an eternity to finish!” A phrase uttered by all of us at some point. We have no concept of what “eternity” really is. God works on His own timeline and not one that we can understand. Stop for a moment and look back over your life, do you see how God has worked His plan in your life? The seemingly unrelated appear now to be connected to form an experience or opportunity. God is at work in and through us every day to bring us closer to Him for eternity. Fortunately for us, God doesn’t need a reliable system to document our “job performance”. If He did, none of us would pass an annual review. He sent us His Son to die for us, take the punishment for our sins, so that we can live with Him and God in eternity. The only measure is our faith in Jesus as our Savior, something that we cannot fathom from the beginning to the end.