Operant Innovations 018 | Ending 2020 with Intention

Shauna Costello (00:02):

2020 has been quite a year to say the least. To describe it lightly, 2020 has been unprecedented, unreal, disastrous, apocalyptic, and unbelievable. We've had to come together as a society, like never before. We've lost people close to us, and haven't been able to spend as much time with the people we love to be cliche. There are no rainbows without rain. It is easy to focus on all of the negatives that 2020 has provided, but I want to focus on some good and continue moving forward. We have been able to reflect and refocus on our goals. We have been innovative with providing services, baking, holding meetings, balancing work, and real life and connecting in ways like never before. We have come out stronger and more resilient than ever. We're now able to innovate and adapt at light speed. As we come to the holiday season, Operant Innovations will be taking a break, but we want to thank you for listening every week and sending your suggestions. As we continue to look forward, we want to end the year with an intention in work and in our personal lives. Dr. Scott Geller will give us one more Actively Caring for People lesson on empowerment and smart goals this Friday. There are also steps we can take in our professional lives and the new book by Janis Allen and Dr. Allison King can help. From Boo Hiss to Bravo, behavior-based score cards, people will use and perform. And here's Janis to tell you a little bit more behind the book.

Janis Allen (01:37):

I'm Janis Allen. Author of the new book "From Boo Hiss to Bravo" with Allison King. This is a book about behavior-based scorecards people will use and like. I wrote this book because nobody likes performance appraisals, but everybody does them. Business people all know the need to measure and give feedback and reinforcement to behaviors that will get results. But I like to quote Dr. Aubrey Daniels, who is the author of the book, "Oops!13 management practices that waste time and money and what to do instead." He said, "I have said often and only somewhat facetiously that the best way to double the effectiveness of the typical annual performance appraisal is to do it only every two years", so that you cut the pain in half. Well, that last part was my editorial comment. The typical performance appraisal, in my experience, is D D D D: dreaded, delayed and done under duress. Supervisors' least favorite and most procrastinated task can be transformed into an ongoing source of feedback and positive reinforcement and spearheaded by the employee. Bottom up, not top down. My book is a how to, that includes six steps to successfully implement the performance scorecard with practical do's and don'ts for coaching and giving positive reinforcement. These concrete tools work in all aspects of supervision and management. Not just for the scorecard. So there's lots of information in here about coaching and feedback as well. This book is actually a field guide for both supervisors and employees. One of the people who bought the book from Auckland New Zealand wrote back and said, "I've ordered your book and looked forward to learning about how to implement a scorecard. I'm surprised that human resource people say they know about it, but few understand how to use it. After you read this book, you'll be using it and you'll be able to teach others. You'll put its practical examples to work for you the same day and every day."

Shauna Costello (03:57):

So let's take this time over the holiday to refocus, regroup and move forward into 2021 with intentions. Let's set our goals, not only for our professional life, but also our personal life. If you were interested in learning more or purchasing this book, please follow the link in the podcast description. And thank you again for spending your time with Operant Innovations. And as always, if you have questions, comments, feedback, or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to us at operantinnovation@abatechnologies.com.