Tips on Performance Review

Which is worse: receiving a performance review, or giving one? At least with the latter you have some control. When you’re the one conducting the review, try doing these three things to make it a productive experience.

• Set expectations early. Make employee-evaluation practices clear at the beginning of the year with individual performance planning sessions.
• Set the right tone. Everyone hates the “feedback sandwich”: compliments, criticism, then more niceties. Deliver a positive message to your good performers by mainly concentrating on their strengths and achievements. Confront poor performers and demand improvement.
• Avoid money talk. If possible, don’t mention compensation during the review; but if you must, divulge the salary information at the start of the conversation.

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Are You a Born Entrepreneur?

One reason is that our genes influence the decision to start a business. I don't mean that figuratively; I mean it scientifically. With colleagues at Kings College in London and the University of Cyprus, I have been investigating how genes affect entrepreneurship for more than five years. Through studies of twins, and more recently, through molecular genetics laboratory research, we have found that genes influence whether people start businesses, are self-employed, or have owned their own companies. Our research shows that the same genetic factors influence the tendency both to see business opportunities and to start companies, as well as how much money self-employed people earn.

At this point you may be wondering how researchers could determine that there's a genetic component to entrepreneurship. It's actually pretty straightforward.

With twins, it's a matter of comparing the choices of the two siblings. Identical twins share the same genetic composition, while fraternal twins have half in common. If pairs of identical twins make more similar choices, such as starting a business, than pairs of fraternal twins, then genetics must affect the choices, as long as a few scientific assumptions hold. In the molecular genetics research, we examine the different versions of genes people have and see if entrepreneurs are statistically more likely to have one version over another.

There are probably many ways genes influence whether or not we become entrepreneurs, but in the twins research, we have found initial evidence that one route clearly is through our personalities. The same genes that affect whether we are extroverted, open to experience, disagreeable and sensation seeking also influence our decision to start our own business. Furthermore, the same genes that influence the tendency to be open to experience also affect the tendency to identify new business opportunities.

Before you start worrying that this research will usher in the world portrayed in the science- fiction thriller Gattaca, we are a long, long way from any practical application of these findings. That will come only after many years of replicating the findings.

Moreover, there's no single gene or even set of genes for entrepreneurship. Our genes influence broader categories of behavior, such as whether we do things that involve a great deal or small amount of novelty. While entrepreneurship might involve pursuing novelty, so do many other human activities.

Further complicating the issue, hundreds of genes probably influence whether or not we become entrepreneurs. Thus far in the molecular genetics research, we've found initial evidence for just one of them--a version of a gene for a receptor for the brain chemical dopamine.

Geneticists have speculated that sensation-seeking people have versions of dopamine receptor genes that require more stimulating experiences in order to produce a given amount of dopamine in the brain. To get the higher level of stimulation, those people are more likely to engage in sensation seeking activities, including starting businesses.

While your genes influence whether or not you become an entrepreneur, experience matters, too. Genes don't determine anything you do; they merely influence what you do in the same way your life experiences do. Just as receiving a financial windfall increases your odds of starting a business, so too does having a particular genetic makeup. But just as some people without a penny to their name start companies, so too can people without the genetic make-up associated with entrepreneurship.

While the research so far is limited, it does mean that when you describe someone as a born entrepreneur, you really are onto something.

Staying sane in a Startup

Running a startup is hard. It doesn’t matter if you’re fresh out of the entrepreneurial gate, or if you have a few years’ experience under your belt – it’s grueling. The hours are long, the peaks and valleys come in extremes, and it doesn’t help that your friends and family often have a difficult time relating to your roller coaster of emotions or why you’re always strapped to your desk. It’s enough to drive anyone a little batty.
But if you want to continue to grow your business, while still functioning in normal society, you have to hang onto that sanity. Here are a few tips to help.

Stay focused on your mission – It’s easy to get caught up in the chaos, but you started this business for a reason. There was something you thought you could provide, or something you wanted to do. Take time each week to remember what that was instead of becoming consumed in the meetings, the details, the projects – all of it.

Your mission is what matters and it’s what everything else in your day should be working to build. Ask yourself: Who do you want to be? Where are you trying to go? How are you working toward getting there?
If sometimes you find yourself pulling away from your core mission, reach out to people who can help you get it back. By commiserating, people are able to stay focused on why they’re doing this, and put everything else into perspective.

Set core work hours – When you’re an entrepreneur, your business becomes your life. It’s your passion, and where you spend the bulk of your time. And while it’s okay to go on the occasional 14-hour (or more) bender, don’t make it a habit. Set core working hours like you’d have if you were working for The Man in some corner office.

It’s okay if your hours are longer than someone else’s, but set that time for when you are working and, at the same time, when you’re NOT working. To do that, it may mean you need to become more disciplined with how you’re spending time. I’ve found that often just using a timer allows me to stay focused and work inside a shorter day. And that’s important because consecutive weeks where you never see the sun isn’t good for your mental state and it’s really no good for your work either.

Give time to your business, but also give time to yourself.

Learn to manage communication – The length of your day is determined by your ability to get tasks done quickly and efficiently. And a lot of that will fall on your ability to manage communication, both with the people related to your business and outsiders.

If you’re working alongside others, then you need to find an effective way for everyone to communicate – a way that helps you to be productive without being too disruptive. This may be different for different people, so make sure you know how everyone wants to be reached.
Of course, managing communications also means controlling distractions and shutting off low-value conversations. For example, that friend who calls when she’s bored. Your mother who calls to see if you’d had lunch. Twitter!

Finding a way to nip these focus-killers in the bug will help you get more done in your day, so that you’re able to grow your business without resorting to sleeping in the office.

Stay Healthy – Ever check in on someone about a year after they’ve started a new business? You barely recognize them. Suddenly the person you once knew looks tired, pudgy, and like they haven’t seen daylight in months. Working in a startup is stressful enough without handing over your health too. Set aside time to take care of yourself and stay healthy by eating right and getting regular exercise.

Running a startup will zap your energy. You need to replenish it with daily workouts that will help keep a spring in your step, your brain firing, and your mind calm. This will allow you to focus better, to think more clearly, and to get more done.

Take time off – The same way you need to find time to exercise, you need to find time to get away from your business. Obviously, your business needs you there to grow, but you also need to take care of yourself. You’re not doing your business or anyone else any good by becoming a recluse who’s over-tired and never leaves the house.

Taking time to recharge, let your brain disengage and enjoying some new sights maintains your passion over the long haul. A hermit never inspired anyone.a

Businesses should consider a social media policy

Social media is the use of an Internet website to turn communication into an interactive dialog among individuals. Many businesses are using social media websites as marketing tools and have been very successful with this marketing approach.

Facebook, a website which allows friends to connect and interact, is probably the most popular social media and has 500 million users. Linked-In is a social media website where professionals connect and interact. As a result of so many people using social media websites, a significant portion of a business's employees are members of a social media website. So, it is very important that business owners consider a social media policy.

If a social media policy is adopted, it will need to be distributed to employees, who should then acknowledge the policy in writing. The policy usually will not prevent an employee from participating in a social media website, nor discourage them from publishing personal information. However, the policy will require employees to avoid posting any information on these websites which in any way could harm the business. The policy should cover whether the activity takes place during or outside of regular business hours and whether or not it is done with the use of firm or non-firm equipment.

If an employee chooses to identify themselves as an employee of a particular business on the social media website, the business may request the employee to do all of the following:

Require the employees to state that any views expressed on the social media network are the employee's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the business;
Be certain not to disclose any information that is confidential to the business or to any of the business's customers and/or clients;
Refrain from making statements about the business, coworkers, customers, clients or competitors, which could be considered as harassing, threatening, libelous, or defamatory in any way.
Refrain from acting as a business spokesperson or posting any comments as a representative of the business on the social media website.
Behave in an appropriate manner, be courteous, respectful, and thoughtful about how other employees may be affected by any postings and do not share any communication that engages in personal or sexual harassment, unfounded accusations, or remarks that would contribute to a hostile work environment; and
Give the business access to his or her personal social medial websites to make sure that the policy is being followed.
When used in an appropriate manner, social network websites can be a very effective marketing tool. However, they can be misused. In order to protect itself and its employees, a business should consider a social media policy before an incident occurs.