One of the questions I always encourage my students not to ask is “What is my grade?”. Generally, I find the people who need to be most concerned about their grades are the ones who are the least, and the ones who need to be least concerned are the most.
Grades and performance reviews are just one measure of how well you do as a student or an employee. People need to be more concerned about the “grade of their performance” on a daily basis.
The grade of performance is that level at which you work and perform on a daily basis. Here are various grades of performance and how you can utilize them to identify how well you are doing. These “grades” can help you get a general idea of how you are doing daily.
Retro Grade Performance – realized too much on past performance, and not enough on new innovative ideas. Focused too much on things in the past and low level ideas.
Regular Grade Performance – doing the basics and getting the job done consistently
Economy Grade Performance – getting the best results by using the minimal amount of resources to get the job done
Premium Grade Performance – putting a premium on relationships and high level activities, while exhibiting all the characteristics of Regular and Economy Grade while using the past as a way to employ it to your benefit
Regardless of whether you get a formal review (or formal grade), doing a daily self-assessment of what grade of “fuel” you are using to perform properly can be an excellent exercise in self-awareness and better results.
