Wednesday  24  June, 2015

North Atlantic Ocean 48 36.5N 13.15.4W

Today's Blog by David  (Time zone: BST; UTC +1)

Throughout one’s life one has to interact with people.  Some of us, (Type 1 - those masters of tact, wit repartee and diplomacy), are rather good at it – their passage through the genteel waters of society is marked by hardly a ripple. At the other end of the spectrum there are those (Type 2) whose pathetic attempt at small talk has the same staccato impact as a submachine gun in a china shop and whose genteel ripostes, however well-intentioned,  are received  much as a bride in her pristine white wedding dress might welcome a shower of creosote.  Many Type 2 people go through life believing they are Type 1, believing that the foaming tempests that mark their wake are the result of ‘simple’ or ‘unfortunate’ misunderstandings.

Few people have the courage to explain to any Type 2 person the error of their ways – and they probably wouldn’t listen, anyway. ^{Note 1} 

It is not until the commencement of employment that a goodly proportion of the population,  (well,  of that proportion of population who actually work for a living),  encounter the protective and corrective influence of the  fur-lined mousetrap of a fully-fledged Human Resources Department.  Protective because HR people generally seek to position themselves as your career development counsellors while all the time seeking to correct your behaviour, better to align it with the needs of the people they serve – i.e.  one’s employer.

Every HRM department worthy of the title will operate what can become quite a complex (and time consuming)  system of skills evaluation and performance appraisal. ^{Note 2}   At its simplest, a supervisor prepares an annual performance evaluation on the people that report to him. More sophisticated (and so more complicated and resource intensive) systems involve  more frequent appraisals and by more people; six monthly appraisals by indirect supervisors,  by one’s peers and  perhaps ‘upward’ evaluations by one’s subordinates; the most sophisticated (i.e. ‘anal’) systems espouse a process of  360^o feedback whereby anyone can chose to evaluate anyone else in the organisation.  

When I started out in professional life, the evaluator would discuss his or her evaluation with the evaluatee and might make amendment to the evaluation in the light of explanation or new evidence ….or s/he might not,  and there was a process of appeal.  In a system with evaluations flying in all directions twice a year,  the organisation would come to a standstill if everyone were able to challenge/discuss/rebut every such evaluation  (assuming of course that the organisation is at all capable of continuing to operate under all this well intentioned and ‘empowering’ red tape!)

From the perspective of the evaluator, this 360^o feedback process is not without risk but the nice HR group is there to prevent victimisation and reprisal.   The evaluatee has no practical line of appeal – s/he simply has to take it on the chin and consider what s/he had done to deserve such an effusive assessment. ^{Note 3}   

There being no room for an HR department in Serendipity’s budget,  the process of performance appraisal is simple, direct and effective.  If messages seem sensitive and one is concerned about the way the message might be received then there is the alternative to try to dress the message up in some ‘humorous’ bon mot on this Blog.  For example SOMEONE changed his showering arrangements after reading the ‘Nellie the Elephant’ blog.   However, the  process of  360^o feedback is confidential and the detailed evaluation remains private between evaluator and evaluatee (AND  also, of course, the ‘Big Brother’ HR department),  so an ill-considered or incorrect appraisal should get buried in the system.   From    Serendipity’s Blog, being a public record,  there is no such relief.

Reflecting on yesterday’s Blog,  “Forecasting Feets” I should like to make a couple of small points.

1              My parents used to do the Pools every week.  All they needed to do to “Win the pools” was to predict 8 score draws from the matches being played in the top league divisions.  They randomly entered a series of ‘X’ marks (I think perhaps 16) on the pools form representing their “Forecast” (for that Is what  it was called) of the results of those matches.  If you buy a lottery ticket, you make a similar “Forecast”.  

So the first point about forecasts is that they are made without any real prospect of the outcome actually being ‘as forecast’.  indeed, if the outcome were just ‘as forecast ’, that outcome it would be the subject of great celebration!

2              As it happens, all I do is to pass on the weather information we can get at sea – namely a digital representation of the  output of one of the four principal computer models which REAL weather forecasters use as one of various inputs to their forecast, then overlay with their professional knowledge and experience.   Sitting at anchor in Flores,  “waiting for the window”, we could see that because of the then instability in the jet stream these models were not in agreement – some days not even close.  So the idea that one might be the object of ridicule simply because a ‘forecast’  made based upon the output of but ONE of these models proved to be inaccurate is a matter of personal learning and career development for me.

In future,  I would be better advised to cut a pack of playing cards and  base my forecast on that (See Blog: “Yottimet”  22 November 2012 – Ed); at least the crew could then appreciate all the inputs to the forecast.  

3              Finally, any  prediction of the time at which a front will “come through” needs to consider both the speed at which the front is moving and also the speed at which the boat is moving.   If Serendipity is being sailed with such consummate skill and professionalism - and so achieving such speed that it OUTRUNS the front, thereby remaining in the fresh southerly winds that allowed us to romp homeward covering more than 200 miles a day,  then that too should be the cause of celebration. 

4              And another thing ……………..  Hmmph!

Anyway, the front did eventually catch us up - but not until later last night – since then we have been motoring.  It least the sky has brightened up and the sun is out.   Should be in Falmouth ahead of schedule – sometime on Friday ………….. unless we stop off somewhere on the wayJ!

Notes

1                     My reputation as a recidivist Type 2 has been hard won and I am told is well deserved.

2                     I am aware that HR lays claim to a myriad of other responsibilities but, by and large, these are not relevant to the subject – eerrr, what WAS the subject?    - Ahhh yes!,  

3                     Towards the end of my career, I  received an evaluation from a senior partner - whose views I still respect - to the effect that my ‘lugubrious manner’ made me well suited for my risk management job.  I was quite chuffed that he should be so generous …… but then ‘lugubrious’ was not a word with which I was then familiar!