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"Quotables"

On Relatives:

Are you any relation to your brother Marv?

Leon Wood, New Jersey Nets guard, to Steve Albert, Nets TV commentator

On Rules, Strange:

Under the rules of the contest, any concrete canoe that sinks directly to the bottom of Round Pond is not allowed to continue in the race.

From rules for a West Point contest printed in a local newspaper

Of Odds:

Every person now living in the United States has one chance out of fourteen of dying of tuberculosis and one chance in fifty of becoming affected with this disease.

Dr. Linsly R. Williams, then managing director of the National Tuberculosis Association, quoted in the Congressional Record

Source: The 176 Stupidest Things Ever Said, by Ross and Kathryn Petras,
Doubleday Publishing, 1996.

Ease Performance Review Pain

The problem with "annual performance reviews" lies in the word "annual." In our view, the year-long wait can loom like a huge rock dangling by a chain over your head. You hope your efforts will strengthen the chain. But as you wait, you worry that something you've done-or failed to do-will weaken a link, and the rock will crush you at year's end.

If you're a manager whose system still relies on just one review a year, you might want to consider these ideas:

• Take a bow if you review every six months. But realize that even that's not enough in today's workplace, where competitive pressures demand faster results from both managers and employees.

Suggestion: Start with quarterly reviews and then go to every two months. Eventually, try for monthly conferences.

• Offer feedback at meetings, during a project, by memo, by e-mail, in short talks. Force yourself to devote part of every day to feedback. And don't overlook the power of even few encouraging words.
• Avoid delaying feedback until too long after the performance it deals with is over. Delay robs feedback of at least half its value, as you try to recall what went right and what needs improving.

Caution: Don't rush things if feedback involves a situation that upset you and the employee. Wait until you calm down-but no longer than a week-to ensure that you'll be objective and the employee will be ready to listen.

If you're an employee:

• Accept at least half the blame for not getting enough feedback. You can easily solve the problem: Ask for feedback. Even the busiest manager can answer quick questions such as: "Was that report what you expected?" "Should I change anything next time?"
• Forget all the advice that says it's wrong to boast about what you do. Instead, think "It's up to me to let my managers know how much I've done to help the organization succeed." This is especially important if your job doesn't link directly to bottom-line results. So record everything you do-daily, weekly or, at the least, monthly.
• Offer to review yourself so your manager can use what you write to compare with his or her evaluation. This yields a dual benefit: You get to show what you've done. And you relieve the manager of some of the review burden-a move that should work in your favor.

Suggestions: Offer to write a review quarterly-or even each month if you can. Caution: Be sure to include any shortcomings in your reviews-and say how you plan to correct them.

Source: Communications Briefings, November 1998, article by Jack Gillespie, editor, and Isabelle Bruder Smith, managing editor.

Introduce Yourself With Enthusiasm

Add power to what you say when you first meet others by crafting an introduction that could:

• Be said during the time it takes an elevator to travel two or three floors.
• Prompt listeners to ask for your card. Example: "I offer information to help businesspeople worldwide communicate better with their bosses, peers, employees and customers."

Source: Hilton Johnson, sales coach, cited in HomeOffice, Entrepreneur Media Inc., 2392 Morse Ave., Irvine, CA 92714.

Focus on an available engineer:

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