The Human Audit

The title may appear intimidating, especially in the background of the crumbling markets and the malpractices which cripple many a commercial firm. As we stand at the last lap of the year, what does this human audit means. First of all, the very term needs explication and explanation, for this is not a common term that is often used to expound the evaluation at the end of the year. By the phrase human audit I mean a need to evaluate one’s performance, not on the basis of a set of criteria, but on the basis of one’s achievement as seen by oneself, without any intrusion by a second or third party. This includes basically two areas: the success and the failures, but these two are seen not as water-tight compartments, but as one flowing into the other. At the end of the year, we may find that we have so many incomplete tasks to be completed, and may realize that all our efforts to fix deadlines have failed miserably. But it is important that we become aware of our strengths and drawbacks, so that we are able to take ourselves seriously in the new year.

Very seldom do we make a self-evaluation at the end of the year; all the business firms and commercial houses undertake routine exercise to evaluate their performance. The two primary concepts around which evaluations are conducted in business sectors are : performance and achievement. But when we come to human resources, of persons we cannot force these two concepts to take top position. If we attempt that way, then we will realize that we too soon equate human persons to machines, and that may be the death-knell of the human-oriented business center. Perhaps the most effective evaluation that we can think of for human persons is the one where in they are the subject and the object. They evaluate themselves using their own norms and criteria. But an opportunity should be given to them to see for themselves how they have fared in the year that has passed away.

I would like to make five or ten criteria to evaluate my success, and another ten criteria to evaluate my failures. It is not important for me to identify the areas where I have failed, but more than merely identifying, I need to find the reasons which were responsible for such failure. It may be related to either myself or others, or even the infrastructure facilities provided by the firm. What is important is that I am able to see these for myself, and don’t require someone to tell me what had gone wrong in my sector. If I find out the lacunae in my work, that would save my face and help me to redress the lacunae without even letting others know that something had gone wrong in my area of work.

Needless to say, I need to take an audit for all the different areas where I am involved, interpersonal, academic, social, economic, religious and even familial. I cannot afford to drop any particular area, without assessing how I had fared. If I do this exercise consciously and seriously, then I am sure to make progress in the days to come; if I don’t feel the need to assess my different areas of involvement, then I am sure to stagnate, if not go backwards in progress. One may not do this officially, but it is important that one spends some time quietly reflecting about these two areas, and similarly finding reasons what had gone wrong in the process. It is important that I take forward the areas where I had succeeded and to re-plan the areas where I need extra effort to make it tick. Human mind is capable of fusing ideas from nowhere in order to provide solution to most difficult of problems. All that we need is effort to find adequate solutions.

In order to engage in this sort of human audit, I need to take time off from the hustle-bustle of everyday life and commitments, so that I can seriously enter into my inner self, pick up areas which I rarely pay attention to. It would benefit if I can go to a place where I can be all by myself without anyone to disturb me. There are two ways how I can conduct audit : I may go chronologically from the first of January last year, and go month by month, recollecting the different events and incidents which had either helped you or prevented you from carry out the task you have been given. The second way is to go in terms of area of work or involvement. In either case, one can see for oneself that there are areas which require fine-tuning, and there are areas which require rescheduling of action plans. If I am honest to myself and genuinely wish to take my life forward, then I can be sure to find areas where I need to improve. The next year provides an opportunity for me to take life forward.