About the author:  Howdy! My name is Elliot and I grew up in central Pennsylvania.  Fair warning: I’m a proud Nittany Lion.  I had my first Williams experience, as an intern, working in Engineering and Construction for the Appalachian Basin Area. Upon graduation, I joined the rotational program as a Technical Services Engineer in the Four Corners Area in Bloomfield, NM. Most recently, I have relocated to Geismar, LA filling the role of a Maintenance Engineer.  In my free time, you will find me playing lacrosse, swinging a golf club, or snowboarding in the Rocky Mountains. I pretend to fish every now and then as well.

Did everyone catch my discussion about goals in the workplace?  Now that we have our goals, how do we track them?  How and what do we learn from them?  Uh oh, what if we fall short of completing a goal?  All of these questions are answered through year end reviews.

A few years ago, I would have told you that a review is when your boss shows you their list of all the things you did wrong.  Ha, try again.  Our supervisors are not babysitters, they have much more important things to do than keep track of every misstep we take.  Personally, this is something I struggle with.  I am scared to make mistakes – there, I said it.  My supervisors have to remind me that, as a young and inexperienced engineer, I am supposed to have slipups.

I’ve found that the managerial structure seems to work best when information is flowing up and down the “food chain.”  Managerial dictators aren’t good for business, ask Russia.  A review is a conversation, not a lecture.  It is at this time that we address each goal and see what you made of the opportunities provided to you by your supervisor.

Goal performance is a good indicator of our strengths and weaknesses.  If you find yourself stalling when trying to accomplish a goal, your supervisor might point out areas where you can apply your strengths to support your weaknesses.

Finally, a review is not only about the “you”, but rather about the “we”.  Studying employee-supervisor production is more beneficial than just detailing a single employee’s output.  If we as teams work to improve at the most granular level, we can achieve the title of North America’s leading energy infrastructure company.