Peter Drucker is one of the most well-known names in the world of business, often credited with creating the field of management. In the many business courses I have taken over the years, the odds were high that his name and his contributions would be a featured part of the course.
So when I saw the title of Dan Pink’s latest Pinkcast: “Here’s Peter Drucker’s simple method for improving your performance“, I was all in.
This episode looks at one of Drucker’s self-management techniques known as “feedback analysis,” which involves writing down your expectations today to improve your performance tomorrow.
This technique can be broken down into two simple steps:
- Whenever we are about to make an important decision, write down in advance what we expect will happen
- In nine to twelve months, compare the actual results to our expectation
Dan notes that he uses a modified version of this, and has found the following benefits:
- It helped him to see his blind spots. Many problems seemed obvious in retrospect and as a result, Dan got better at identifying and avoiding problems in the future.
- Dan got better at understanding his strengths and weaknesses, both of which are critical for high performance. The gap between his expectations and reality enabled him to focus on what he was good at and delegate what he was not so good at.
- This technique made Dan a bit bolder. Dan realized that he was often a little too pessimistic and hence too cautious in trying new things.
Here’s the video:
My fear is that if I tried this technique, I might find out I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I expected and so I would go into a funk and never want to try this again…
*image from Toolshero
Dan sure seems to have a lot of time to do a lot of things.
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Great advice! I had to double check to see if this was indeed Borden’s Blather.😄 No blather here.
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all credit goes to Dan and Peter… 🙂
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I find merit in what Pink discusses, as I would have guessed that patterns would evolve. Waiting to revisit it 6-12 months later seems like a long time to wait to make evaluations, but I assume he’s talking about long-term projects.
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I also thought 6-12 months seemed a bit long, but you make a goodp oint that sucha timeframe may be more appropriate for longer term projects…
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Have you applied this to an expectation and result of your own?
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not at this point, but it does give me food for thought…
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and my fear is that I couldn’t fine the place where I wrote it down
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that would be a fear of mine as well 🙂
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find )
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I would find this hard to do. I am not always sure what my expectations are and the work to delineate them seems a chore. But I do believe it would be a great technique for those so inclined. Great post to share, Jim!
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it does seem to require extra effort, but as you point out, that extra effort could be worth it…
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As ignorance is supposed to be bliss I think I’ll stick with my own personal version of nirvana. I wouldn’t want to find out that I’m not perfect and spoil the illusion 😉
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exactly; who wants to be constantly reminded that they failed to live up to expectations? 🙂
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LOL! 😂 Good point!
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👍
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I don’t think I would want to be constantly setting myself up for disappointment.
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that’s exactly how I feel about it 🙂
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If anything this just reiterates the need to slow down and reflect every so often on who we are at this juncture in our lives and what we are doing and where/what we hope to move toward so that we can better understand what’s required to get there? It reminds me of sometimes having this goal in your mind but then life happens and circumstances evolve and the goals you had 5 years ago that you are still chasing to this day could very well mean nothing to you now because it’s no longer what you strive for or it’s no longer what will bring you peace and happiness…
Hmm I seem to have gone off topic here but these are the thoughts that sprang to mind as I read your post today 🙂
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I agree witht he importance of taking the time to reflect; I just don’t know if I could formalize such a process, even though it appears beneficial to do so.
With life getting in the way, there are many things that could throw us off track, and I think the takeaway from that is sometimes plans go awry. But most of us know that already 🙂
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Oh that technique truly sounds smart, although as funny as it sound the last paragraph does makes sense 🤣
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yes, unfortunately the last paragraph is very much a real possibility 🙂
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haha tragic but true haha 😀
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I share your fear! 😀
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👍
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My wife and I should have written down our expectations of having a baby. He might have been an only child.
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sounds like you exceeded your expectations 🙂
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