Performance Reviews, Learning, & Coffee

photo by Bsivad

The Trouble with Performance Reviews - Businessweek

Possibly the biggest issue, however, is that performance appraisals focus managers' attention on precisely the wrong thing: individual people. As W. Edwards Deming, the father of the quality movement, taught a long time ago, company performance often results more from variations in systems than from the individuals doing the work.

The New Finish Line for Learning - ASTD

Some of the authors of The Six Disiplines of Training write about the bar being raised on successful training delivery. On-the-job performance improvement is the newest gauge of effective learning transfer.

Coffee

While I normally stick to posts that are related to learning and performance, I could not resist pointing to this article in Science Daily: Caffeine Reverses Memory Impairment In Mice With Alzheimer's Symptoms. For another view, see this report.

After all, I did spend 14 years in the coffee industry. There have been other resech that shows the possible heath benefits of drinking coffee:

• Drinking coffee has health benefits - ABC news
• Coffee as a Health Drink? Studies Find Some Benefits - New York Times
• Scientists Find a Latte Health Benefits from Drinking Coffee - ecosalon

If you liked to learn more about coffee, check out my Wire Java Fanatic site.