Jan. 12--There are many perks of being president of the United States. There's free stationery. You never have to go to baggage claim. You also get to deliver a State of the Union address to assess the past 12 months and set goals rather than submit an annual performance self-review.
The self-review is a form of tedious torture favored by human resource departments of many businesses. They're meant to remind higher-ups what you do, what you think you do and how it could be done better -- or maybe without you.
Rather than make you feel part of a team, these surveys tend to make you feel like a small cog in a very big machine. It helps not at all that some or all of these reviews are often conducted online so as to take as much humanity from the process as possible.
One imagines President Obama puzzling over how to answer a particular online question on a scale of 1 to 10 only to be told later it really was aimed more at federal postal workers, but the 6 he gave himself for interactions with customers on his daily route seemed high.
It might not be for everyone, but the State of the Union sounds like a sweet deal compared to performance reviews. Talk about presidential privilege. Where's an executive order in your workplace when you need one?
Companies like Accenture have been dropping annual performance reviews, citing their own research and that of others that indicate the money, time and effort spent on them didn't actually lead to improved employee performance.
For one thing, the president gets his entire staff to help him craft a speech and doesn't even need to memorize it. The speech is then read in a big meeting room packed with people from various departments and invited guests.
Yes, it's also televised, and that may sound daunting. But what is said and how it's said can be run past focus groups in advance to maximize effectiveness. Plus supporters in attendance rise and applaud, both to offer encouragement and to let TV viewers know this is supposed to be good stuff.
When was the last time anyone stood and applauded you as encouragement while you gave a carefully crafted recitation of things you've done and still wish to do?
You probably don't have access to research and experts to help you portray yourself and your work in the most effective way possible either.
Another big advantage of a State of the Union is the ability to not only relate anecdotes, but point to invited guests to drive home their point.
There's not a performance review -- no matter the field you work in -- that wouldn't be helped by being able to say: "You know that nice email we received from that person saying how I really helped that time? The woman next to my wife up there, she wrote it! That's who we do this for! Let's give her a hand!"
Even acknowledging failures comes across better if you can have someone you work with behind you making a sheepish, hangdog face.
It is true that those with opposing views will sit stony-faced or grumble during a State of the Union address. It's considered poor form to heckle, but it happens.
If you're president, there's also someone assigned to give a speech after yours undercutting whatever you just said. Commentators then will discuss your reading skills, whether your staff nailed the rhetoric, reflect on the all-but-rehearsed applause and grumbling, then analyze what all of this might mean to others seeking your job.
Fortunately, unlike in most workplaces, the president isn't made to participate in any of the backlash after the State of the Union. Underlings might be dispatched to cheer the speech, but there's no requirement to log in again to respond or sign anything to acknowledge the criticism.
Presidential privilege includes heading home or back to work after a State of the Union. It's the same address.
A report to Congress is constitutionally required, but a commander-in-chief -- like everyone else -- already knows what criticism is valid, where there have been successes and disappointments, even abject failures. There's work toward improvement and goals daily.
In that, the presidency is like most other jobs so long as a worker is even slightly self-aware, open to input and in regular contact with a competent boss. Feedback and course corrections come on a daily basis.
So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how big a waste of time, effort and angst are those annual performance reviews?
philrosenthal@tribpub.com
