This quote from Leadership First in Linkedin, caught my attention today as it is timely and actually resonates with my own stand when it comes to Performance Appraisals. Performance Appraisals have two goals. These are the following:

(1) establishing performance standards, 

(2) comparing actual performance against standards, and 

(3) taking corrective action when necessary.

In my current experience, I have seen how my manager has confused his managerial function of controlling with controlling my behavior to conform to his own in a manipulative sense. A managers managerial function should in no way attempt to control or to manipulate his/her subordinates personalities, values, attitudes, or emotions. (This is beyond micromanaging!) Instead, this function of management concerns the manager’s role in taking necessary actions to ensure that the work-related activities of subordinates are consistent with and contributing toward the accomplishment of organizational and departmental objectives.

Here is a htought provoking question from Leadership First, "What does it mean to be a leader who leads from a place of humble privilege vs. a place of perceived right?"

Here is an excerpt from "The Golden Rule of Leadership: Leading Others is a Privilege Not a Right (and My Challenge to You)" by Milo Sindell that attempts to answer it...

" Many leaders seem to forget that leading others should be held in reverence more than anything else. Being the leader means that you have been placed in a position to serve others.

Too often, I have seen leaders duck and cover, throw their people under the bus, throw their positional weight around, and instead of leading from a place of service, lead from a place of ego when things get rough.

You are privileged to be in a position where you can direct, shape, and focus people’s potential to a specific result. When you are given the responsibility to lead, you are given an awesome opportunity to influence the lives of many people positively, a responsibility you should never take for granted."