We have reached the time of year when planning comes into sharp focus. On an individual basis, annual open enrollment provides an opportunity to evaluate our benefit options for the next year. As the holiday seasons approach, meal plans, travel plans, invitation lists, and health and safety plans all play a role in our preparations. And the effects of the election cycle, as well as COVID, shape our immediate and long-term financial plans. On the corporate level, we are fully engaged in preparing capital and operating budgets for 2021. Long range plans are being evaluated to ensure that multi-year projects are completed on time. A long-range financial forecast is being prepared for the Board’s review and approval. A load forecast is being completed to ensure that we are adequately planning resources to meet the energy needs of the Members, well into the future. And within a few months, we will go through the process of setting goals to prioritize our efforts over the next year and beyond.

Another annual event is underway, and one that we typically do not equate with planning—performance appraisals. Every year, at about this time, each employee receives a blank Self-Evaluaton form to complete. The form provides the employee an opportunity to explain how their performance and conduct over the past year matched their goals, and aligned with STEC’s Core Values of Safety, Teamwork, Integrity, and Communication.

While employees are completing their Self-Evaluations forms, supervisors are preparing Performance Evaluations for each employee. The last section of the Performance Evaluation form is reserved for an Employee Action Plan and Employee Goals. It is in this section that planning for the next year is discussed and agreed upon by the employee and supervisor. Every employee should want to know what steps they need to take over the next year to improve their performance. And every supervisor has the responsibility for working with the employee(s) they supervise to develop appropriate goals and action plans to achieve those goals.

Henry Ford wrote, "If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got." The premise of this quote is that if you want something different out of life, then you have to put something different into it. The same logic applies to our career. If we want to advance in our career, then we need to be identifying opportunities for advancement and se.ng goals to realize those opportunities. Annual performance evaluations are the ideal time for employees and supervisors to work together in that effort, and create a “win, win, win” situation for employee, supervisor, and STEC.