I had my annual performance review last night with the City Council. Since I started working here in 2002, my performance reviews have been somewhat similar in structure from year to year. We solicit comments on my performance from City Councilmembers, Department Directors, and generally about 50-60 other City employees. A couple of times we've also solicited and included community member feedback, but not always.
The review is coordinated and prepared by an outside third party, Personnel Decisions, Inc. The people who participate in my review receive an email from PDI which links them to an online questionnaire. They answer questions about my leadership; what I should do more of; what I should do less of; what I should concentrate more on during the next twelve months; what am I good at; and what am I not so good at. The results are completely confidential and are held by PDI.
I received pretty good marks from the City Council and City employees on my work performance. I am humble enough though to know that my work performance is, in large measure, a collective impression of how the organization is functioning. If things were functioning poorly here, I'd get stuck with that. But since things are functioning nicely, for the most part anyway, I get the benefit of that too.
It certainly is to my advantage that I work with a lot of talented, motivated employees. That's really the secret to getting a good performance review if you're a city manager.
