>Fred, there is something in what you say, in that being clear and
>well-defined is important wherever possible. Does that fit with what you
>mean by 'objective' or do you mean more than that?
I certainly mean clear and well defined. I also mean objective in the
sense of independently verifiable. Suppose I'm a sales manager and my
boss, the VP of sales, expects me to increase sales. That's a measurable
goal and it is independently verifiable, hence objective. What's not
clear or well defined is by how much. But, presumably, a little
discussion could clarify the amount by which sales are to be increased.
In this hypothetical example, I have at least one objective measure of
performance, namely, some specified impact on sales.
On the other hand, qualities, characteristics, and attributes such as you
list in the paragraph below are, as you observe, "...difficult to measure
in an objective way..."
>Second, sticking to the objective leaves out a lot of rich territory for
>exploration. How do we get at attitudes, energy, enthusiasm? Even more
>important, how do we identify -- and recognize -- someone who is
>inherently (as opposed to positionally) powerful? How do we recognize
>'presence'? How do we even recognize someone who is willing to take
>reasonable risks, and willing to be innovative? How do we assess values?
>These are difficult to measure in an objective way, but no less important.
Unless we carefully define what we mean by qualities, characteristics, and
attributes such as those you've listed above [e.g., attitudes, energy,
enthusiasm, inherently powerful, presence, and innovative], then any
attempt to assess them will almost certainly be lacking in reliability,
and their validity will be wide open to challenge. I am especially wary
of trying to assess someone's "values."
Regards,
Fred Nickols
The Distance Consulting Company
nickols@worldnet.att.net
http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm
--Fred Nickols <nickols@worldnet.att.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>