Evaluating
August 23, 2026
Our desire to name and categorize as human is almost unavoidable. We identify patterns and develop strategies to categorize the behaviors in those patterns, all so we can put a name to a behaviour, bucket that behaviour, learn how best to interact with a behaviour. Are they mad, sad, or angry? We all know it’s not really just one, but we need to name it, to make it real. So we simplify it. We put together lists of behaviours and make judgments on them, and call them assessments.
This is especially relevant for us as we are entering our yearly employee reviews as well as starting the hiring pipeline again. An effective team is built out of people who complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. Having a general understanding of our current team's strengths and weaknesses allows us to understand where and how a new employee can fit into the structure we have and help us improve.
I've been reading Words that Change Minds, by Shelle Rose Charvet.
Context: behaviours change based on context, and you cannot assume a pattern of behaviour in one context will be the same in another context. I think this is the part that makes everything else in the book acceptable. It allows you identify a set of patterns without reducing the human to that set of patterns.
What's nice about the behaviour patterns explained in the book, is that it simplifies them without simplifying everything about the person behind the behaviour.
The patterns described in the book are easy to understand and identify - and they don't come with judgment. They are simply facts about how someone behaves in a context, not negative, not positive. And it's almost never 100% one or the other. Everything is on a scale.
Internal/External: does this person look inward to know if they've done a good job, or do they need an external confirmation?
Options/Procedures: when asked a question, do they talk about why they made a choice, or how they made that choice?
Proactive/Reactive: are they motivated by the desire to push forward, or motivated by problems?
Sameness/Sameness with Exception/Difference: do they prefer to have mostly the same responsibilities, same with growth, or completely different responsibilities every time?
Independent/Proximity/Cooperative: do they speak about work in mostly "I" terms, partially in a group, or is it all "we/team"?
Feelings/Choice/Thinking: when confronted with recalling a troublesome moment, do they get in their feelings and stay in their feelings, get in their feelings and are able to come out, or do they describe it without emotion?
There are more than just these, but these are the ones that have stuck with me so far.