Performance is not hitting the bull’s-eye with every shot—that is a circus act.
The first requirement of organizational health is a high demand on performance. Indeed, one of the major reasons for demanding that management be by objectives and that it focus on the objective requirements of the task is the need to have managers set high standards of performance for themselves. This requires that performance be understood properly. Performance is not hitting the bull’s-eye with every shot. Performance is rather the consistent ability to produce results over prolonged periods of time and in a variety of assignments. A performance record must include mistakes. It must include failures. It must reveal a person’s limitations as well as his strengths.
The one person to distrust is the one who never makes a mistake, never commits a blunder, never fails in what he tries to do. Either he is a phony, or he stays with the safe, the tried, and the trivial. The better a person is, the more mistakes he will make—for the more new things he will try.
ACTION POINT: Define performance as a “batting average.” Create an atmosphere where people are permitted to make mistakes. Evaluate a person’s performance as “the consistent ability to produce results over a relatively long period of time.”
Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices
* Source: The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker