EDITOR’S LETTER : The under-practised art of self portraiture

Scrutinising your own performance is never comfortable exercise and I defy anyone to say otherwise. Whether the results are good, bad or (as is most likely) mix, it’s nerve-wracking, cringe-inducing, navel-gazing nightmare. Another equally distasteful pastime is admitting mistakes. I, of course, never find myself in this unfortunate situation but I can imagine how tough it must be.
Okay – that probably sounds bit flippant and maybe the reluctance to take yourself too seriously is something of Kiwi character flaw. But for anyone who is or wants to be in management – it’s flaw the country can’t afford. Honest self appraisal is where good management must begin. The damage done by those who won’t benchmark their performance, confidently relay their successes while honestly identifying areas for improvement and mistakes, is immense. It stifles creativity, leads to disempowerment of those around them – culminating in huge damage to personal well-being, work performance and the country’s overall productivity.
(And it’s really, really tedious for friends and family of those involved to have to listen to all the bellyaching. So, if for no other reason than that, it’s about time something is done.)
Moves are afoot which, surprise surprise, you can read about in this issue; page 30 to be precise, to address this. Public and private sector participants have got together to benchmark our national managerial performance and, as result of ‘room for improvement’ result, partner to offer advice and solutions on lifting our game. (No, not that game… the ABs seem to be doing that nicely for us… although that’s bound to jinx them.) They’ve called the initiative Management Focus as the goal is to enhance the nation’s collective management capability with view to lifting national performance and competitiveness. It’s by no means intended to criticise or finger point but has been put in place to offer starting point for everyone – and let’s face it, realistically most of us are responsible enough to want to perform to our best ability, the issue is more likely to be ‘where to start’. Being amiable sorts, they’ve also reached into their pockets for the all-important funding.
The Management Focus partners are running the first leg but the initiative will only succeed if others pick up the baton.

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