To determine success one must establish evaluation benchmarks. The term benchmark comes from cut-out horizontal areas surveyors made in stone structures. Then metal brackets were forced into these cuts to form little “benches”.

On these metal brackets they’d set their leveling rods on. This  ensured these areas stayed straight and level. They also served as a reference point for other parts of a building or structure.

These benchmarks were basically “set in stone” and served as reference points that would be there forever.

As humans, we also need these reference points. Typically people use dates, time and other measurements to determine their progress or lack thereof.  An easy example of bench-marking would be setting goals like losing 5 pounds in 2 months. The benchmarks are 5 and 2. If we never weigh ourselves, we have no opportunities to make the proper adjustment to our diets or exercise routines.

However, if we keep an exercise and eating journal, and weigh ourselves at the end of each week, we can chart our progress and make the appropriate changes. The more specific we are at goal setting, the easier it is to evaluate. Even businesses set benchmarks using current market trends as a means to measure the right time to enter a market.

Remember, we can’t evaluate what we can’t measure.

When evaluating our benchmarks, we must also remember to take into account your strong and weak points. If we are an optimist we generally focus on our strengths. If we are a pessimist we generally focus on our weaknesses. When you set up your system for evaluating the things you do, keep these things in mind:

Establish Evaluation Benchmarks – 10 points

1. Start your evaluation on what you’ve currently accomplished.  Then compare this progress against what you hope to accomplish. If you don’t see current efforts reaching your goals, try adjusting your methods to fit future objectives.
2. Perform your evaluation at peak effectiveness. If you are a morning person don’t do it at night. Find a time your mind is most clear and focused.
3. Start early in the process to give time to adjust. Waiting until everything’s finished wont help you adjust your course along the way. Changing and adjusting your efforts are the reason we evaluate in the first place.
4. Set realistic timetables. As business owners we often expect too much too fast. But Discipline takes time. Be careful to set a timetable that pushes but without adding undue stress.
5. Work with other people business people. In my first business, I avoided everyone as a unscrupulous competitor and  struggled to grow.  My second business, I helped start a regular meeting with others in my industry. Not only did I get great ideas, but found some of the older and wiser competitors were of a great help.
6. Organize your evaluation process in writing. A good idea is to put together a spread-sheet, journal or word document that outlines your ideas. Then get some input from others and try to quantify it into a real “Evaluation Process” document. This can be used as a HR document as you continue to grow.
7. Set aside a large chunk of time. This totally depends on your business size and complexity. My first company used dozens of subcontractors which meant weekly (sometimes daily) progress performance/evaluation procedures. My second company only required monthly information meetings with quarterly reviews and yearly employee performance reviews.
8. If it doesn’t work try something different. If you are unhappy with your company or find its not advancing or progressing properly try experimenting with different ways of doing things. You might find a few tweaks here or there may be all you need.
9. Be aware of negative bias. It seems we poor humans more readily register and dwell more on negative stimuli. Keeping a positive mental and emotional attitude during the process helps. Its hard to motivate if we only harp on the negative.
10. Assign various milestone awards. Both for yourself and those who work with you. I found that employee satisfaction was often determined by if my people felt rewarded for their work. Even our customers enjoy some type of reward every so often.

Establish Evaluation Benchmarks – Tools to build, not beat.

Finally, be careful not to give up too early, or fall back into old habits. Our times of evaluation are NOT meant to be a way to beat somebody up for missing a deadline or objective. The purpose of evaluation is to determine if we are going in the right direction and keep us on track.