In doing performance evaluation training and research you quickly learn to shy away from the term "average" although many APR forms still use this term. Many are quick to point out that "meets expectations" or "average" means you are doing your job- not a bad rating but not a positive rating, right? So what is this hang up on the word average?
Let's think about this for a minute in other terms. If you were sitting at a bar one night and you over heard your ex talk about you as an "average" lover would that change your perspective of the word?
Should we stay away from using the word average as supervisors evaluating employees or are we going overboard in our sensitivity toward employee emotions? How do we tell an employee that he or she is just average?
Which brings me to this question for you parents...
Do you also think that teachers should mark little Johnny's paper with RED X's when he gets a math problem wrong? Would you rather see a blue ink check mark placed? Are we emotionally scarring our children by using red X's?
hmmmm?
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Spare the rod, spoil the child? Don't even get me started... well since you did, read this: http://busterpeach.blogspot.com/2009/02/suck-on-this-red-pen-helicopter-parents.html
ReplyDeleteAlso, I've seen the term MEETS EXPECTATIONS more often than AVERAGE on annual evaluations. I think MEETS EXPECTATIONS is a smarter, more effective, and less offensive phrase than AVERAGE. But it still reeks of mediocrity and is only thinly veiled corp-speak for AVERAGE. People who aren't dumb enough to be fooled by the phraseology also aren't aspiring to that status.
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