Evaluation – A More Detailed View

Your World Lens

Think back to your first consciousness or awareness of life.  For most of us, our earliest memories are a bit fuzzy and blurry, absent of detail and specificity.  We lacked any sort of comprehensive awareness of our surroundings or ourselves back then.  Nevertheless, even though we had only a simple, rudimentary comprehension of our surroundings, we learned, quickly, to react to our surroundings.  Some particular stimulus would enter our world, and we would react.  Something would scare us and we would cry, and then Mom would show up and we would giggle.

Then, at some point, as we became more conscious and more aware–something amazing happened–we learned to incorporate deliberation, consideration, and assessment into our surroundings and ourselves.  At times, we moved beyond the simple process of reaction, to that of evaluation.

This process, whether it is simply reactionary, or includes the higher order activity of evaluation, or some combination of each, leads us to our choices and decisions, which then leads to our actions.

What has just been described, albeit simplistically, is the underlying structure of human consciousness.  It occurs constantly throughout our lives.  It is real, decisive in influence, extremely complex, and unique to each of us.  Your underlying structure is the lens through which you see the world.  It helps guide you to your decisions and actions, and in great part, to the person you are today.

Values Make Us Who We Are

Your underlying structure is specifically, a value structure, and it is based primarily on your values.  Your value structure provides for you the ability to evaluate, to engage in the process of evaluation.

The process of evaluation is far beyond mere “thinking”.  True, evaluation involves “thinking”, but evaluation is a higher order activity, and much more sophisticated.

The primary manifestation of our evaluation is our judgment, and it is our judgment that is the primary driver in our decisions and behavior.  Evaluation and judgment–the use of evaluative judgment–from initial consciousness to final decision, sets us apart individually, and as humans.

Within the context of the Pilot Judgment^® Assessment, evaluative judgment is our ability, when presented with an issue, problem, or situation; to observe and understand the dynamics of the situation; to determine what actions will make the situation better; and ultimately to take action to improve the situation.

Continuously, incessantly, throughout every day, your value structure guides you through a process of evaluations, judgments, and decisions, from small inconsequential decisions to, occasionally enormously life-altering decisions.  This process is based primarily on your very own, very specific, very personal, one-of-a-kind, unique, value structure.  Your value structure therefore influences every decision and choice that you make.

Whether you are buying a car, making a proposal for marriage, studying for an exam, asking your boss for a pay raise, mowing the lawn, shopping for groceries, or flying a plane, your value structure is with you, helping to shape and guide your decisions.

Again–to emphasize this important point–the concept that our values manifest into our underlying value structure, which manifests into our evaluations, which manifests into our judgments, which manifests into our decisions and choices, which more than anything else, determines who we are as an individual, is a very big deal.

Always Changing, Always Growing

Many factors, such as upbringing, training, education, experience, advice, trauma, and so on, coalesce to form your value structure.  Your value structure is dynamic and always changing; it will continue to develop over the course of your entire life; it grows as you grow.

As you encounter new experiences, daily living, more education, training, adversity, and/or trauma, your value structure evolves and brings new understandings to the way you see and relate to people, work, places, and things. New problems and challenges may force you to mature and grow in ways you cannot always foresee.

Nevertheless, at any given time, your value structure is operating within you, and it significantly determines how you process the world and how you react.

The Values of Success

In terms of how successful we are in handling the matters, issues, and people before us, there are particular, specific, underlying values that lead us to higher levels of success, and particular values that lead us to lower levels of success, and even failure.  Thus, there is an actual value structure for success.  If there are any weaknesses within our value structure, with effort we can improve upon them; consequently, our judgments and decision-making abilities will improve.

The value structure of success incorporates an integrated and coordinated set of principles.  These specific, success-related, evaluative judgments act as a helping hand, guiding us toward those decisions and actions that are more likely to lead to success.

The guiding principles in the values of success include, for example: an ability to relate to people; an ability to accomplish tasks; a consideration of implications and consequences; an awareness of your surroundings; effective decision-making while under stress; open-mindedness to change; self-confidence; the ability to follow directions; the ability to maintain focus, and so forth.

If you are lucky, your unique value structure comports closely with the value structure of success.  However, if it does not, you have the ability, through effort and diligence, to change it.  Indeed, you can alter your personal value structure so that it is akin to the value structure of success.

Even so, how do you know whether your current value structure is akin to the structure of success?  Many of us emphasize and prioritize certain values, but are not always cognizant/conscious of them and how strong an influence they have on our evaluations, behavior, and actions. Fortunately, the Pilot Judgment^® Assessment easily and accurately measures the values that comprise the structure of success, and then helps people improve their value structure, and that is exactly what we can do for you.