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Excerpt
This is a reverse-guesting episode where I was interviewed about my story in starting up SEO Hacker as the leading SEO Services company in the Philippines.
How Do You Conduct Appraisals like Evaluations?
We have what we would call the reverse annual evaluation. We don’t have an annual evaluation here. That’s not how we do it.
In the RAE or reverse annual evaluation, we ask our people to send us an email about everything they have outside of their job description. Everything that you did outside of your job description for the benefit of the company is valuable information to us.
Aside from that, we ask that they send us their growth plan, what you want to do, who you want to mentor and who you want your mentor to be, and your projected salary two years from now.
These will be sent to the execomm and we will deliberate on whether we should approve it or not.
If it’s approved, we set a meeting with the person and we negotiate what the salary that they want.
We no longer ask how they’re doing because we do so bi-monthly with our fast feedback loop.
The fast feedback loop or FFL is part of Teamstrr, the software that we use to make sure we uphold unity in the team.
Two other notable questions we have there are the white ball and the black ball. The white ball is for someone that that person wants to commend, and the black ball is for someone that they think do not uphold the core values of the company.
This is done bi-monthly. We know what they need, and we know how we can help out. That’s how people realize that the management listens.
If I do nothing about the feedback that we receive through the fast feedback loop, then people will think that it’s useless. That there’s nothing happening. But if they see that the management is trying to solve these problems and providing what they need, they will feel like the management really cares for them.
This will foster loyalty that will then create unity.
We don’t need an annual evaluation because that happens twice a month.
If we deny the RAE, then they can only apply for one in the following year.
We have it this way because I am sick with the annual evaluation. It’s a waste of time.
The feedback loop is automated, and the reverse annual evaluation is crystal clear.
Teamstrr is instrumental in fostering Unity. Do you have any other apps or programs that are instrumental in fostering unity?
Hallway management. I go around the office and talk with people randomly.
Another thing with Teamstrr is the Weekly Mirror Report. Here, we ask why I should be happy with what they’ve done during the week. This is work-related.
We also ask for their Highest and Lowest points of the week. The highest point is anything that got them elated, while the lowest point is the ones that really put them down.
This report allows me to feel the heartbeat of my people. It’s not all about work.
Aside from that, Teamstrr also calculates the sentiments of each team member. We will know if one of them feels happy, sad, or agnostic.
Because of this, I get a big picture idea of the sentiments of each team.
Right now, I read all of the reports from my people, though I don’t reply to all of them.
I believe that building a good relationship with clients so that they stay in the long-haul. I should do the same with my team.
It’s more important for you to build good relationships with your team members.
At What Points Would You Realize that You’ve Made It?
I’m the kind of guy who, when asked how long you would want to live, would say as long as I can because I want to be doing what God wants me to be doing.
I believe God wants me to keep writing. I started with the God in You Blog. I realized early on that writing is my passion. I could do it for hours on end.
It’s just that right now, I’m an entrepreneur, I serve the people in my team, I’m speaking about faith, I serve others through this podcast, and so on.
Even then, if all of these are taken away, I know that one thing that God wants me to do is to write and publish books about him and his Glory and share it with the rest of the world.
To answer the question, I believe that I’ll make it when I’m probably going to meet my maker.
In terms of contentment, there are people that want more and more. For me, I’m happy with where I am. I don’t want more things. All of it is temporary.
If that’s going to be the future, then it’s not worth investing in. What’s more worth investing in is the people who will remember you.
The people who you helped, those that you made their lives more meaningful, those who I gave livelihood to.
This year, we are making plans to implement profit sharing. We’re close to making it a reality, where everyone gets a share of the profits, especially the leadership team.
That’s something that extremely few companies do. They don’t usually share profits with their employee, but it’s something that I want to have.
If your question about “making it” is about being content with what you have, then I’ve made it. But if it’s pertaining to the work that God has called me to do, that’s at the end of my life.