Substance not Style is the Key - Susan Stanton

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Most of us have had them unless you are an independent contractor and then it is your production level or successfully implementing a predetermined plan that determines your performance and essentially your worth.

My first job was that of a dental assistant so I was reviewed by the dentist from patient to patient on a daily basis. From that job forward, I never found an employer that understood all that I did. They had a general knowledge but not an in-depth one. When it came to the abstract such as selling the company as a good investment, then they had to trust you to be smart enough to perform, be persuasive and to do the job. Also, I never worked for an employer that I did not hold in utter respect. If that element was not there, eventually neither was I.

The most important part of a performance review is for the Commission to guide the city manager into the future by giving her set but achievable goals. The Commission and the city manager should have a clear expectation at the end of the process.

A performance review should never be based on a few isolated incidents. Nor should it be based on personality traits. You are never going to agree with an employee 100% of the time nor he with you. It should be based on his/her accomplishments and what he has done. The Commission should be rating the performance and not the attitude. For Commissioner Maxwell to interject “behavioral traits” into the mix is unfair. These so called “traits” are coming from a few disgruntled employees. What is objectionable to one person may not be to another. It is not style but the substance.

For the Pelican (Lake Worth Herald) to imply that this Review is politics when the Editor said, "...evaluating the city manager is an evaluation of each elected official who participates." No it is not. This is not about politics, at least if our Commission is doing its job that we elected them to do. This is not about two newly elected officials that might have some ax to grind or feeling obligated to answer to some of their political constituents. This is not about building some sort of a bogus case. This is about performance, pure and simple.

It is not called a Personality Review. It is a Performance Review. They do not go hand in hand. Let’s keep it at what it is and keep politics out of it.