I am Brandon Cole

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Creating awesome calculated fields in Tableau

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What are calculated fields?

Calculated fields in Tableau allow you to add user-defined expressions as new data fields. These new data fields only exist in the Tableau workbook and do not impact the original data source. As Tableau visualization builders, we can use calculated fields to do the following;

  • Create aggregated fields
  • Concatenate fields of different types (add a number to a string)
  • Build out logical aliases
  • Create if/then statements
  • Split fields on different characters
  • Change the formatting of fields
  • Use regex to extract parts of fields

This list is just a tiny amount of the functionality that we can get out of calculated fields. They really are powerful, and if you are not already using them, you are limiting the potential for your visualization. Next, let’s look at some of the benefits of calculated fields.

The Benefits of using calculated fields

One of the best things I have found about calculated fields is that once you know where to go to create them, the learning curve to leveraging them is not steep. The Tableau interface for building out calculated fields gives some great examples of using each of the different functions that can be used right in the builder. It is worth exploring this built-in documentation to generate some ideas on how you might be able to use the calculated fields to start customizing your data.

Another benefit of the builder is that it warns you when your calculated field is invalid. It provides some good explanations for correcting your mistakes so that your calculated field can function correctly. I find this functionality very valuable when I am building out complex calculated fields, and I make a small typo (missing “,”) while typing.

As I have already mentioned. When you are building calculated fields, you will not be impacting your original data source, so you can play around with them and not worry about making mistakes. I love this because I really enjoy experimenting with data. I don’t have to worry about something breaking when I am doing this. I can easily step away from the work without needing to undo anything, and it will still be there for me to continue experimenting with when I open the workbook back up another time or day.

I love that you can build calculated fields from other calculated fields. This is amazing, considering we are not adding any fields to the original data source. I have found myself using this functionality quite a bit when I am working with regular expressions. I work with a lot of data fields where a code like ‘mpmfi’ has several layers of meaning built into the code. In this example, the first two characters point to an organization, and the third character points to a specific branch of that organization.

Using nested calculated fields, I can extract the first three characters to build out the branch and then use that calculated field to extract the first two to get the organization. Technically, I could build the organization calculated field using the full code, but I figure that because there is more data to load, I can actually decrease the load it takes to calculate the field when it has fewer characters.

Some of my favorite calculated fields

I have been using calculated fields for several years and now have a pretty large list of visualizations and reports. I work with Public, Academic, and School libraries and support their patron and circulation databases. I rarely create a new report without using a calculated field of some sort. These calculated fields range from pretty simple to highly complex. Below is a list of some of my favorites that I have built over the years and their purpose.

Create Bibliographic call number range reports

The Ask:

The member library wanted to see a report showing the circulation of their materials based on call number ranges. No existing reports did this. However, we do have access to call numbers in the items database view.

The calculated field:

IF STARTSWITH([Call #s],"27") THEN "270-279.999" ELSEIF
STARTSWITH([Call #s],"28") THEN "280-289.999" ELSEIF
STARTSWITH([Call #s],"29") THEN "290-299.999" ELSEIF
STARTSWITH([Call #s],"30") THEN "300-309.999" ELSEIF
STARTSWITH([Call #s],"31") THEN "310-319.999" ELSEIF
STARTSWITH([Call #s],"32") THEN "320-329.999" ELSEIF
STARTSWITH([Call #s],"33") THEN "330-339.999" ELSEIF
STARTSWITH([Call #s],"34") THEN "340-349.999" ELSEIF
STARTSWITH([Call #s],"35") THEN "350-359.999" ELSEIF
STARTSWITH([Call #s],"36") THEN "360-369.999" ELSEIF
ELSE "Other Call #s" END

The above is a subset of the call field. It matches the beginning of the field and uses that data to create the groups. Below is a screenshot of what the report looks like.

Extract a transit date from a string of text

The Ask:

I was asked to generate a report that could show items that had been in transit between libraries for too long. This report would help libraries identify materials that had potentially been lost in the courier system. The transit dates are contained in the text field that looks something like the following;

May 25 2017 09:12AM: IN TRANSIT from cmscirc to mpm

We wanted to be able to use the date field as a filter for a date slider. Strings do not work well in this kind of functionality.

The calculated field

DATE(DATEPARSE ( "MMM dd yyyy", REGEXP_EXTRACT_NTH([TransitText], '(^.{11}+)\s.*', 1) ))

The above parses a date in a specific format from the regular expression extract of the transit text field. Here is a breakdown of what is happening.

  • Extract the first 11 characters from the Transit Text. This is consistent across the field.
  • In case it matches multiple times, I only want the first instance of the match returned.
  • Convert the text into a date
  • This field gets called “In Transit Since”

Below is a screenshot of the first field and the output.

To Summarize

Calculated fields in Tableau are very valuable to me. They allow me to transform my data without a lot of necessary code, and they are pretty intuitive. They also allow me to provide better access to information to my customers so that they can see important and otherwise hidden information about the system and their materials.

If you have any questions about calculated fields or Tableau in general please leave me a comment below. I will do my best to respond with a helpful answer.

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My powerful workflow using Tableau prep for moving data and incremental refreshes

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A little background

At my job, I use Tableau Prep, Desktop and Server to create reports and visualize data from our Integrated Library System (ILS). Each member library uses this system to complete transactions and store information about library materials and patrons. The ILS uses a PostgreSQL database, and we can only access read-only views of the data. The views in question have very limited data retention. The retention default is useless regarding annual reports, so we had to figure out a way to offload the data.

Photo by fabio on Unsplash

In the following article, I will be discussing our solution, which incorporates the following from Tableau;

  1. Tableau Desktop
  2. Tableau Server
  3. Tableau Data Prep

I believe there are ways to achieve similar results without all of these services, but I am familiar with Tableau, and our organization is already paying for these services.

My first solution

Photo by fabio on Unsplash

My starting point on this project was to address the default data retentions in the PostgreSQL view. By default, the retentions are set to store only about a week’s worth of anonymized circulation data. The only use for this data was for daily checkout reports. So, we started by increasing the database’s circulation data retention to 380 days. This would let us collect an entire year’s worth of data, plus an additional 15 days of buffer to run reports or queries. We were covered as long as we remembered to run our reports or questions in this 15-day window. This data was live, so there wasn’t a good way to get it back once it was gone.

My second solution

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

Using Tableau desktop’s export feature, I could create static reports. These static reports include an entire year’s worth of data. Each year, I could create a new export and a new report. The problem I ran into was that if I ever wanted to update any of the reports, I had to be very careful to avoid updating the data source. Tableau desktop likes to run data source refreshes whenever you make any changes to the worksheets. I started off saving the exports to my local computer and then moved on to storing them as a published data source on our Tableau server.

Again, this became cumbersome, as I could not automate the connections of reports on our Tableau server to these exported files. I had to set myself a reminder at a certain date each year to pull an export and read my notes on how to avoid overwriting the other existing exports.

My third solution

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As I was working through the previous two solutions, I thought it would be great if we could pull an entire export of the circulation data periodically and offload it to a separate database. I was a newbie with my data ETL (extract, transform, load) knowledge then. I initially relayed the idea to our systems administration team, thinking they could set up a cron job to handle the process. Although it was a generally accepted idea, they never had the time to sit down and find a solution. So, I thought I would be stuck with my second solution and its limitations.

Then along came Tableau Prep. Announced in 2018, Tableau Prep provided a great set of simple ETL tools. Since our organization is a non-profit, we got a Tableau Prep license for extremely cheap. Initially, I was just using the tool to clean up and optimize my data sources. Also, around this time, I was in a database administration class and learning to use Microsoft SQL Server. Then, one day, something clicked.

I determined I could set up a Microsoft SQL Server database to store all my exports. I could use Tableau Prep to combine my exports into one file and then manually load them into the database. This was a game changer in our circulation history, and it was how we operated until I learned more about automating Tableau Prep files using Tableau Server and Incremental Refresh.

Introducing Tableau Prep Incremental Refresh

After several months, I noticed the new option to output to a database table in Tableau Prep. I immediately thought about how to automate the circulation exports I had been doing manually at the end of every year. With the output to a database table, I could post the Tableau Prep flow file to our Tableau Server and have it set to run every day. Remember that I only had the ILS server set to retain 380 days, so I didn’t want to perform full refreshes of the data each day. That would wipe out my history, and the Microsoft SQL database would just be a copy of the ILS database.

Incremental Refresh in Tableau Prep to the rescue. Incremental refresh reads the data in the destination database using a date or ID field. It then determines the data that exists in the source database but not in the destination. It only appends the new data to the destination database. Since I could schedule this to run each day, I would have an automated system to allow us to grow our historical data as much as we needed.

Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash

I connected to the Microsoft SQL server with Windows authentication in my initial setup. Initially, I ran the flow as a full refresh to set the stage for the incremental refreshes. The full refresh worked fine in the Tableau Prep program. So, I posted the flow file to the Tableau server and set it to a scheduled run. After a few days, I returned to the Tableau server to see if the refreshes were running, but I was met with errors. I tracked down the problems and found that to run incremental refresh; I needed to use a regular database user account rather than Windows authentication.

A word of warning. If you start with Microsoft SQL Server Express, you can create a free database of up to 10GB in size. I started with this setup and, after almost a year, started to get close to the limit. So, we upgraded the database and are now paying a nominal annual fee for a standard Microsoft SQL Server license. So I would advise using a different database such as PostgreSQL or MariaDB, for example, or planning and knowing when your data might exceed the Microsoft SQL Server Express limits.

Conclusion

At this point in time, I have two separate ILS servers and am using this incremental refresh and circulation data offload procedure to store extended historical data. We have about 3 years’ worth of data for one server and 1.5 years for the other. The export jobs do not require a lot of maintenance. I check on them in the Tableau Server every couple of weeks to ensure there aren’t any connectivity errors. The good thing is that because of our ILS database retention, as long as I resolve any errors within 380 days, the incremental refresh will catch up, and no data will be lost.

I now know more programmatic ways to do this same thing. However, because we don’t have to pay much for our Tableau licenses, my solution works perfectly fine for completing the job. Please let me know if you have any clarifying questions about the process I have set up.

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Surrounded by Idiots

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Surrounded by Idiots Summary

“Surrounded by Idiots” by Thomas Erikson provides a compelling exploration of human behavior and communication dynamics through the lens of personality types. The book introduces the DISC system, categorizing individuals into four color-coded personality types: Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. Offering practical strategies for effective communication and interpersonal relationships, the author delves into tips for interacting with each personality type, understanding body language, managing stress triggers, and adapting to diverse behaviors. With valuable insights into navigating the complexities of human interaction, “Surrounded by Idiots” equips readers with tools to enhance their emotional intelligence and foster better connections in various contexts.

Surrounded by Idiots Notes

Foreword

  • The feeling of people just not understanding you is common among everyone.
  • There are groups of people we feel just get us and those that we feel don’t. The ones that get us tend to become our friends and the others we try to avoid
  • These disparities occur due to differences in personality types

Chapter 1: Communication happens on the listener’s terms

  • We can shift how we communicate with others so that we create a safe environment that suits them. They know how they want to be treated and if we can also understand that we can adjust our communication to meet their needs.
  • Systems developed to “explain” human personalities and behaviors are never perfect. They cannot account for all the nuances that occur within a person. They just give a baseline from which to start
  • There are two situations when we can truly be ourselves and not risk misunderstandings:
    • When we are alone
    • When we are with people who all think exactly like us
  • As humans we naturally categorize. Categorizing others is something that we do even when we don’t mean to

Chapter 2: Why are we the way we are?

  • We are influenced at a young age by our family and friends
  • Influences can start in impact our core values which are central to who we are and rarely change
  • Attitudes are perspectives impacted by opinions and perspectives. Over time they can change
  • We modulate our behavior to fit the situations

Chapter 3: An introduction to the system

  • The colors system is used by DISC to codify the values that help determine the characteristics of individuals in their behaviors
  • 80% of people have two colors that dominate their behavior
  • ~5% have only one color that dominate their behavior
  • Everyone else is dominated by three colors

Chapter 4: Red Behavior

  • Reds are driven and highly competitive
  • They cannot sit idle. They have to consistently be moving on things
  • They set ambitious and often un-reachable goals
  • Reds often speak their minds
  • They will tirelessly work on a project when others have given up
  • Reds do not necessarily feel driven to win out of malice but that often can be the perception
  • Reds hate inefficiency. This can come through in meetings that are doodling on instead of getting to the point.
  • Reds can express their beliefs with so much belief and gusto that others will believe them as well even if they are wrong
  • As culture has changed many reds have figured out how to control themselves a bit more to be more effective in changing environments and cultures. However this control usually breaks periodically

Chapter 5: Yellow Behavior

  • Yellows create a sense of gravity toward themselves from others
  • Yellows tend to react to “gut” instincts more than other colors
  • Yellows create a sense of unrelenting positivity to those and others around them
  • Yellows tend to provide answers to those around them even when questions are not asked
  • Yellow are extremely social and tend to make friends wherever they are and wherever they go
  • Yellows tend to be able to think in visual forms using images and can picture their ideas as they start to unfold
    • This tends to help them come up with creative solutions to problems that others could not come up with
  • Yellows thrive on the success of those around them and the relationships that grow from those successes

Chapter 6: Green Behavior

  • Greens are representative of a balance between reds, yellows and blues
  • Because of the balance green behavior tends to stick out less than the others
  • Greens also make up the largest portions of the population
  • Greens are very reliable. When they say they will do something they will do it in a time frame that is very reasonable
  • Greens are eager to help and to avoid conflict
  • Greens are introverts and avoid talking for the sake of talking

Chapter 7: Blue Behavior

  • Blues are analytical and often know a lot of facts about the things that interest them or are near to their interests
  • Blues do not see the fuss in a lot of credit for their ideas. They have the right answers but usually won’t bring them up unless prompted
  • Blues are extremely cautious. They must make sure everything is in order and are very unlikely to take risks
  • For a blue they are interested in the all of the details and the journey to a destination rather than the destination itself
  • Blues will pursue the right way to do things every time
  • Blues live more as logical thinkers rather than emotional ones
  • Blues rarely get taken advantage of in a sale because they know all the details

Chapter 8: No One is Completely Perfect

  • Because behavior and understanding is so varied there are cases where being right does not inherintly mean that the other person or persons are wrong
  • Reds are notorious rule breakers to get things done or moving more quickly
  • Reds feel like they know what is best and will control those around them to achieve their vision
  • Reds do not want a lot of detail to things they don’t have a lot of interest in. If they ask about something they are not interested in then they just want a short and concise answer
  • Red have a hard time connecting with people because emotional problems are foreign to them and they cannot understand the feelings that people have
  • Yellows get interpreted as selfish, superficial and self confident
  • Yellows like to dominate a conversation and tend to have opinions or ideas on every topic that might be brought up.
  • The things that a yellow says may or may not be well thought out or true as they seek to entertain and inspired rather than educate
  • Yellows tend to dislike being controlled by systems. Thus they are terrible at planning and organization.
  • Yellows are great at starting things but lack the focus and discipline to keep them going
  • Yellows are bad listeners
  • Greens tend to hold on to belief that they receive from a trusted individual or source. This is a form of [[confirmation bias]]
  • Greens tend to be comfortable doing nothing
  • Greens feel uncomfortable being direct or committing 100% to a though or idea
  • Greens dislike change and need a lot of time to warm up to it
  • Greens are bad at providing feedback because they want to avoid conflict but they will provide it to others in smaller groups
  • Blues tend to take a long time to start anything because they need to work out all the details before they start
  • Blues have a hard time feeling like they have completed anything because there is alway something more that can be done to approach perfection
  • Blues have a hard time trusting you unless they know for fact that you are a expert or very knowledgeable in your field

Chapter 9: Learning New Things

Chapter 10: Body Language: Why how you move matters

  • Body language contains roughly seven hundred thousand signals according to the author
  • The personal zone refers to the general space between two acquainted people who are communicating
  • The social zone refers to the general space between two strangers who are communicating
  • Reds
    • Keep their distance from others
    • Have powerful handshakes
    • Lean forward aggressively
    • Use direct eye contact
    • Use controlling gestures
  • Yellows
    • Are tactile
    • Are relaxed and jocular
    • Show friendly eye contact
    • Use expressive gestures
    • Often come close
  • Greens
    • Are relaxed and come close
    • Act methodically
    • Tend to lean backwards
    • Use very friendly eye contact
    • Prefer small-scale gestures
  • Blues
    • Prefer to keep others at a distance
    • Either stand or sit
    • Often have closed body language
    • Use direct eye contact
    • Speak without gestures

Chapter 11: A real life example

  • Alcohol can change the characteristics of each of the different behavior profiles

Chapter 12: Adaptation

  • [[Emotional Intelligence]] can be interpreted as the ability to adapt to the different behaviors of those around you to be able to communicate with them in an effective manner
  • It is possible to completely be yourself and never change to meet a situation. This does limit the number of people who you will effectively get through to
  • We have to be careful in how we express this knowledge to others. If you can completely understand and individual and categorize them based on their behaviors and they know that you are doing it then some people will become uncomfortable that they can be deduced to a set of actions and behaviors

Reds

  • Reds desire quick results. Speak quicker and get to the point. Don’t flourish the discussion or meetings
  • Start with the point and then add the details as requested
  • Reds enjoy hard work and respect it in others
  • Encourage a red not to leave others in the dust when they are needed on a project. Give the red examples of how others can contribute. Remind them that they can’t do it on their own
  • Confront a red when they are being belligerent and remind them that you will not tolerate that kind of behavior

Yellows

  • Yellows what everyone to have a good time so the best way to behave around them is to enjoy yourself
  • Yellows get bored by the details. They don’t want to know how things work just that they do work
  • Yellows operate on gut instinct a lot more than others
  • Yellows like the latest and greatest
  • Yellows are bad listeners but if you need them to respond to something or someone it is important to know exactly what you want to say and the response you expect. Also plan to follow up.
  • Yellows are bad at estimating how long something will take and keeping track of time.
  • To make a Yellow as prompt as possible either ensure they know the repercussions of lateness or ask them to be there 30 minutes earlier than everyone else
  • Yellows are not good at making their own structure so you have to be willing to make it for them
  • To provide a Yellow with negative feedback you need to create a friendly atmosphere and be persistent

Greens

  • Greens strive for stability and resist anythings unknown
  • Greens need a reasonable amount of time to do nothing because that is how they recharge
  • Greens need to know the whole plan and all the details, but won’t be great at making the plans themselves
  • Greens don’t like friction. When confronted with conflict they tend to freeze up and become silent
  • Greens despise change and don’t handle it well
  • Greens do not like having to be responsible to make decisions

Blues

  • When a blue is interested in something they learn it inside and out. Because they do this they expect the same from others. If you don’t know something don’t tell a fib to a blue.
  • Blues want to keep work at work and avoid personal conversations
  • Blues thrive on realistic goals and aren’t very good dreamers
  • Give blues as much information as you can
  • Blues believe anything worth doing is worth doing right the first time
  • Blues have a hard time trusting their gut

Chapter 13: How to deliver really bad news

  • In order to provide bad news you first need to determine what color of behavior the person is
  • Reds
    • Don’t try to sugar coat feedback with a red. Be direct
    • Expect a heated conversation
    • Give concrete examples to a red and explain consequences that impact the business
  • Yellows
    • Plan to repeat your points multiple times as the yellow tries to navigate around it
    • Yellows can take criticism as an indicator that you don’t like them. You must clarify that it it the behavior and not the person you are trying to correct
    • Yellows will have to be reminded multiple times. Plan to follow up
  • Greens
    • Greens respond well to emotional feedback
    • Be clear and don’t back pedal with a green
    • Clarify that you still like them and not the behavior
    • Ask Greens to repeat the feedback and plan to follow up
  • Blues
    • Be prepared with tons of details before providing a blue with feedback
    • Blues like written feedback over conversation
    • Avoid the sandwich method with Blues. You will just confuse them

Chapter 14: Who gets along and why it works

  • Greens and Blues naturally work well together. They are both introverts and get to work without talk. They may have trouble making decisions
  • Reds and Yellows also get along well because they both work on instincts and momentum
  • Blues and Reds are also a good combination. Reds can be blunt with Blues. Blues can provide the data based logic that Reds need to change their minds.
  • Yellows and Greens can also get along. Greens provide Yellows with the stage they desire
  • Greens and Reds can be an issue because the Reds will perceive the Greens as lazy. Likewise the Greens will perceive the Reds as overly aggressive.
  • Blues and Yellows will clash the hardest. Yellows avoid details and Blues live for the details
  • Most common color combinations in one person
    • Blue/Red
    • Red/Yellow
    • Yellow/Green
    • Green/Blue

Chapter 15: Written Communication

  • Email communication tends to mimic in-person communications and behavior. It should be pretty easy to tell which color you are dealing with

Chapter 16: What makes us mad as hell

  • Reds are short tempered
  • Reds might erupt multiple time but their episodes of anger are short and to the point
  • Yellows anger is easier to notice before it erupts. There are signs
  • Yellows tend to be angry for longer than reds but will get over it in time
  • Greens turn all emotion inward. Over many iterations of this a green could explode
  • When a green explodes they will be at it for a long time. Everything is a target. They have so much pent up and it all releases in one go
  • Blues also internalize things similar to greens. The primary difference is Blues vent in tiny amounts every day so that a blow-up never occurs

“Generally the more important something is to a person the bigger the reaction”

Chapter 17: Stress factors and Energy thieves

  • Our behavior color does not impact our stress thresholds
  • Causes of stress for red
    • No authority
    • No results
    • No challenge
    • Waste of time and resources
    • Stupid mistakes
    • Being told to calm down
  • Reds can manage stress by doing physical exercise or competing in events
  • Causes of stress for yellow
    • Feeling invisible
    • Skepticism
    • Too much structure
    • Isolation from people
    • Being told not to joke
    • Preventing spontaneity
    • Continuous squabbling
    • Being publicly humiliated
  • Yellows can manage their stress with a fun social event
  • Causes of stress for green
    • Lack of security
    • Loose ends
    • Constant personal interaction
    • Quick changes
    • Being asked to start something over
    • Disagreements
    • Spotlight
  • Greens can manage stress by doing nothing by themselves
  • Causes of stress for blue
    • Criticism that is unfounded
    • Spontaneity
    • Pushing through risk
    • Surprises
    • Mistakes
    • Breaking rules or procedures
    • Overly emotional people
  • Blues can manage stress by being given alone time to think and calculate

Chapter 18: Short reflection through history

  • Ancient Greeks and Aztecs believe in four different behaviors in man. These behaviors are very similar to the colors

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The critical value Employee Satisfaction and Engagement surveys

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Are you satisfied?

I have been in my new role as an HR director for about four months. I have many ideas about programs I want to create to help improve the lives of the employees I work with. Something that has been nagging at me is how I determine if a program is effective or not in helping employees. How can I measure the impact of a new program if I don’t already know the baseline for employee satisfaction? For me, that is where an employee satisfaction and engagement survey comes in.

employee satisfaction
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Creating an employee satisfaction survey that isn’t just a cliche

One of my goals with this survey is not to create something that wastes employees’ time. I want them to see real change based on the data that we receive. I want the results to be anonymous but transparent to the staff. Below are the steps I plan to take to help this be an effective and appreciated tool.

  1. Use this first survey to establish a baseline of satisfaction
  2. Share aggregated and anonymized results with all staff
  3. Share information on how upcoming programs are designed to address specific areas of satisfaction and ask for feedback
  4. Start the revised program
  5. Ask employees to complete another survey after a period of time
  6. Used the results of the survey to determine if the program is making an impact or now
  7. Rinse and repeat

Sections of the satisfaction survey

As I built the satisfaction survey, I realized the questions should be grouped into sections. The questions then are asked to gauge employee satisfaction in the following areas.

  • Organization Overall
  • Job Responsibilities
  • Work Environment
  • Stress and Health
  • Compensation and Benefits

I believe this grouping will help us split the results into more meaningful analyses. For example, suppose satisfaction with Compensation and Benefits is low. In that case, some of our first programs should be geared toward improving satisfaction in that area as much as possible with the resources available. I think a critical part of this plan is to continually check in with staff to make sure that each section is asking relevant questions.

growth
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A couple of upcoming programs I have in mind

A couple of programs will depend on the results that I get from the first survey. However, we have a plan to start working annually to visit and rewrite job descriptions with the help of employees to make sure that job descriptions accurately represent the work that people do.

A program that I have already put into place is regularly occurring performance and goal check-ins. You can read more about the program I created to improve my organization’s performance and goal systems here.

Lastly, I want to work on a robust rewards and compensation program. I feel that our organization could benefit from creating a structure for employees to pursue rewards based on different accomplishments or other criteria. I am actually scheduled to take a course in April to get some ideas on some rewards and compensation programs that we could put in place. That class will align well, as I am hoping to get the first employee satisfaction survey out at the beginning of March.

If you have implemented such a system and have some lessons learned to share with me, I would be grateful for any comments you could provide.

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Daring Greatly

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Daring Greatly Summary

In “Daring Greatly” author Brene Brown explores the power of vulnerability and its role in leading a fulfilling and authentic life. Brown emphasizes the importance of embracing vulnerability as a strength rather than a weakness, challenging societal notions that equate vulnerability with shame and inadequacy. Through personal stories, research, and practical advice, she shows how vulnerability allows us to connect with others on a deeper level, cultivate resilience, and foster meaningful relationships. The book encourages readers to let go of perfectionism and embrace their imperfections, enabling them to step into the arena of life with courage and wholeheartedness. Ultimately, “Daring Greatly” inspires individuals to embrace vulnerability as a pathway to living a more courageous, fulfilling, and authentic life

Daring Greatly Notes

  • The mindset of never having enough is a leading cause of our shifting mindsets and our attitudes about everyone. Never mind having enough sleep, money, success, and time, it puts us in an impossible-to-catch-up negative state.
  • Our benchmarks for which we compare ourselves are unobtainable and thus continue to drive us into a state of lacking.
  • Fear thrives in a culture of scarcity. This fear turns us all into animals backed into a corner and ready to explode at anyone who threatens our beliefs. It also makes us susceptible to confirmation bias
  • Being vulnerable is difficult because it is us putting ourselves out there and accepting the risks that come. However being vulnerable is how we grow and how we learn to be better and more empathetic people.
  • We are only able to be vulnerable with those who we trust.
  • Trust is built up over many small moments. Each time someone does something to show they care, it increases our trust in that person. Each time they do something too wrong, that trust is diminished or destroyed altogether.
  • Addressing shame is a critical part of being vulnerable. Shame breeds in silence. It grows bigger and stronger. A business cannot cultivate a culture of innovation and growth with shame because ideas aren’t shared.
  • A process for shame resilience is to respond to the voice in your head with the reasoning for why it is fine for you to behave in a specific way.
  • As we grow up, around the time we are in middle school, we start to put on masks and armor to conform in order to fit in. As adults, we have worn these masks and armor for so long that we have gotten excellent at hiding the fact that they exist. Peeling away this armor is difficult and induces shame.
  • Living in a state of expecting the worst lowers the joy we can experience from the happy moments in our lives. We convince ourselves that expecting the worst will prepare us. But when the worst actually happens, we will never be prepared for it anyhow, so life is better led by embracing the happy moments.
  • Perfectionism is a form of shame where we try to avoid failure. However avoiding failure limits our ability to grow and in itself is a failure. We have to be willing to fail to learn.
  • Our battle against Perfectionism is believing that we are enough. Being enough entails wholeheartedly accepting and embracing yourself and the flaws that make you one of a kind.
  • When we pursue numbing agents or ways to take the edge off our life or our day, we avoid the real problems. Address the issues that make you feel like you need numbing in the first place. Many times, they can be corrected in one self.

Brown, C. B. (2012). Daring greatly: How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent, and lead. Gotham Books.

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My amazing new performance management system for 2024

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Why performance management systems are still important

A performance management system can either be helpful or a complete waste of time for employees’ growth and performance. I believe that the success of such a system requires dedication by management to invest time and effort into the system. Scheduling one hour per employee in each department every quarter is no small task. However, I feel that as a manager, it is a critical part of my role and should be made a priority.

Employees are concerned that annual reviews are just ways for managers and supervisors to identify mistakes or performance issues as a means to avoid distributing compensation rewards or promotions. I think that a performance management system needs to be separate from a performance correction system. I believe that issues with performance need to be addressed more quickly than once per quarter or, god forbid, once per year. The performance management time can be used to measure how an employee has responded to the behavior or performance corrections.

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The performance management system looks at how an employee is contributing to the organization. It also looks at how an employee is making progress toward their career goals. Traditional performance management systems tend to focus on what an employee is giving to the organization and ignore what the organization is giving back to the employee. Compensation is only a tiny piece of the pie and is not enough to help employees grow and stay loyal to the organization. In addition, we need to focus on career growth opportunities.

Scheduling and consistency is key

We all know that it is hard, if not impossible, to reflect on an entire year. The following scheduling helps to break the review into much smaller and more manageable chunks. The schedule also allows a more agile response to problems or obstacles that can be removed.

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Annual evaluations should be scheduled within the first two months of Q1. These evaluations will look back at Q4 of the previous year.

Quarterly goal check-ins should be scheduled for the first two months of Q2, Q3, and Q4. Each one of these goal check-ins will look back at the previous quarter while also planning for the current quarter.

  • Q2 reviews Q1
  • Q3 reviews Q2
  • Q4 reviews Q3

Annual Evaluations and Quarterly Goal Check-Ins

Elements of meeting

  • Review service assignments and job description
    • We review how an employee’s time is distributed between different services. The measurement informs budgeting as it shows how each employee’s time is allocated. We also should review the employee’s job description to determine if it still represents the duties and experience of the employee.
  • Review 2023 projects and discuss 2024 projects
    • This is the primary measure of an employee’s contributions to the organization. Discuss progress projects from the previous year. What went well? What obstacles were encountered? Are there any projects that need to be abandoned or rolled over to the next year? Were expectations met?
  • Review goal progress for 2023
    • Each employee determines their goals. The supervisor’s role is to be an accountability partner. Review progress toward goals. A note that employees should be encouraged to pursue a balance of aspirational and realistic goals. Employees should now be punished for not completing goals. Instead, review progress and answer the question, “Are your goals moving you in the direction you want to go?” It is also important to keep in mind that not all people look at goals the same way. Each employee needs to do what works best for them. We are just coaches to our employees.
  • Setting individual goals for 2024
    • Each Employee should set new goals or rollover ongoing goals from the previous year. Encourage employees to set goals in such a way that the goals feel effective as a means to measure progress. Reiterate that we are their accountability partners and that we will help determine progress each quarter. We will also brainstorm ways to free up stuck goals.
  • Scheduling professional development
    • What professional development should the employee pursue? As managers, we can offer suggestions. Employees should also be given opportunities to identify professional development opportunities they want to pursue as long as they fall within the professional development budget constraints.
  • Reflect and kudos
    • What is one thing that the employee was most proud of from the previous quarter? What kudos do we have to give to the employee?
  • Expectations reviewed
    • List out and discuss your or the organization’s expectations for the employee. Are they meeting those expectations?
  • Feedback
    • Review response to performance corrections, if any
    • Are there any growth suggestions we can offer to the employee?
    • Ask each employee the following questions
      • “Is there anything we can adjust in this process to make it more effective for you?”
      • “As your supervisor, Is there anything you need me to stop doing or start doing to help you be more effective?”

Personal and employee impressions after two quarters

After two quarters of using this system, I have received a lot of good feedback from employees. They appreciate the more thoughtful review and the encouragement they get on their goals. They feel more supported. They also don’t feel like managers and supervisors are using this system to find ways to avoid rewarding them. Each employee gets to set goals in a way that makes the most sense for them. Supervisors do not micromanage an employee’s goals. However, managers can review an employee’s contributions to a project and expectations. The managers are able to help get employees back on track as well as monitor for overload.

From an HR perspective, I feel like I have a better sense of how each employee is doing and the areas of growth I can monitor. I feel like I can help managers to identify potential problems before they get out of hand. I can also better identify professional development resources that are more relevant to an employee’s goals.

Lastly, this system requires a lot of commitment and time. At this point in time, I am attending all employee reviews and goal check-ins. So, altogether, this accounts for about 14 hours within the first two months of each quarter. Along with other responsibilities, those hours become a considerable but important amount of time.

If you have any questions about my process or lessons learned, ask in a comment below.

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