“Mr.Gamblin this is your sixth year in the role of my father. How do you think this year has gone?”
– My son during my imaginary yearly performance review.
Most holidays are set aside to celebrate an event that happened in the past while father’s day is mostly a day to celebrate what was accomplished in the past year.
It is impossible for me to celebrate without stopping and thinking about the past year. The easiest way to do this is to go straight to some classic performance review questions and apply them to my parenting skills. So here are the five questions I asked myself this morning:
“What went well this year and what might have gone better?”
“What can I do differently next year?”
“What are the most important goals for the coming year?”
“What knowledge or skills do I need to develop to meet my goals in this job?”
“In the past year, what achievement am I most proud of?”
Overall I think I did a good job this year but being a dad is one of the few roles in my life where I do not mind and actually expect to get a few “needs improvement” and no “exceeds expectations” because I am the one setting the expectations and I can never do enough for my son.
