11:11 Tuesdays by Vaishali Wagle

October 20, 2026

Happy 11:11 Tuesdays Reader,

Here are 1 Thought, 1 Quote, 1 Word and 1 Humour for you to reflect upon this week.

1.

Thought

The three KPIs you missed can overshadow the seven you delivered.

A team member achieves seven out of ten goals. The seven wins become background. The three misses become the main story.

That's Zeigarnik Effect, which suggests that unfinished tasks tend to hold our attention more strongly than completed ones. In performance reviews, this may help explain why unmet targets can dominate a manager’s assessment, even when the overall contribution has been substantial.

But an appraisal is not an audit of unfinished business. A missed target deserves scrutiny. So does a significant achievement. One tells you where expectations weren’t met; the other tells you what worked, what value was created and what should be repeated.

When managers focus disproportionately on the gaps, they risk turning a performance conversation into a deficit report—and leaving people feeling that their contribution has been reduced to what went wrong.

A useful practice: Before discussing the misses, ask, “What were this person’s three most significant contributions this year?” Then examine the gaps in context.

Good performance management requires both lenses: the discipline to address what fell short and the judgment to recognise what went well.

As a leader, are you evaluating the person’s overall performance — or allowing the Zeigarnik Effect to rule?

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1.

Quote

“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”

— Robertson Davies

1.

Word

Equanimity

(n) The ability to assess wins and shortfalls with balance, without allowing either to distort your judgment.

[#WordChallenge: Use this word in your Executive vocabulary this week]

1.

Humour

If you liked this and want to share this issue of 11:11 Tuesdays with your friends and colleagues, just send them this link: https://zenesse.kit.com/posts/20261020​

Warmly,

Vaishali Wagle

Author, Coach, Speaker

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Every Tuesday, I share 11:11 - 1 Thought, 1 Quote, 1 Word & 1 Humour - for you to reflect upon and bring it into practice.

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