When Life Hands You Lemons: How to MAKE the Lemonade

We all know we’re supposed to make lemonade when life hands us lemons. As nice as it might be to never get the lemons in the first place, it’s not up to us what kind of feedback others (or the universe) give us. And unfortunately, there’s no “Making Lemonade 101” course, nor does the well-intentioned advice come with a handbook.

Perhaps surprisingly, it turns out that our years of experience in assessment has turned us into Lemonade Masters. We usually refer to the process as “Turning Evaluation into Assessment”, but it’s really a recipe for taking those lemons that are tough to swallow (evaluation) and turning them into lemonade (self-assessment that anyone can use to improve).  

Here’s our recipe for Turning Evaluation Lemons into Self-Assessment Lemonade (Serves: 1)

Stage 1: Dealing with the Lemons

1. Receive the evaluation: Review the evaluation feedback in a relaxed, non-defensive manner. (Others are in charge of what they say; you’re in charge of how you react.)
2. Be objective: Consider the evaluator’s perspective and their motive for the evaluation (take an objective perspective). Strive to appreciate that people can lash out and say hurtful things for a variety of reasons, many of which will have nothing to do with you! People can also mean well, but simply be wrong.
3. Gain clarification: Ask questions to attain clarification from the evaluator as needed and if possible.
4. Summarize: Sum up the outcome of the evaluation. What total information do you actually have?

Stage 2: Making the Lemonade

5. Reframe the outcomes: Reinterpret the outcomes of the evaluation in a way that you can use to improve future performance. Resist the trap of self-evaluation! (Don’t fixate on the lemons or try to keep them; focus on making the lemonade.)
6. Create goals: Use the information from the evaluation to create goals, objectives, and benchmarks to help structure your action plan for improving future performance.
7. Set a timeline: Formulate realistic and attainable timelines for accomplishing your goals.
8. Create an action plan: Craft a plan of action that brings together the goals and timeline.
9. Work it! Put your self-assessment action plan to work.

Stage 3: Enjoy the Lemonade!