Hi Nick—

First, you’re not alone.  Many new employees, members of Gen Y, are hungry for more feedback.

The problem is that “feedback” for many older employees tends to be associated with an unpleasant experience—it often implies a judgement, an assessment, a criticism.  And many tend to do it as infrequently as possible.

You’re looking for something quite different—guidance, clarity, advice on how to be more effective.

My basic advice is that you make your request as clearly as possible.  Don’t use the word “feedback.”  Ask your boss to spend some time coaching you or sharing some tips with you about how you can be more effective.  Don’t approach the conversation with the thought that you need to explain areas where you feel you’ve failed.  Instead, ask your boss for some tips on how you could have done those things better.  Keep it positive and learning oriented.

Good luck!

Warmly,

Tammy

Filed under: Interactions with Your Manager | Published: 01/15/11

Dear Mlletttle,

I’m so sorry to hear you’re having such a difficult work experience.

I can’t offer extremely specific advice based on the information you’ve provided, but let me offer some thoughts that I hope you’ll find helpful.

First, before focusing on your career, you need to consider your ethical responsibility to the company.  Depending on how serious or widespread your boss’ actions may be, it may be necessary for you to bring his actions to the attention of those higher up.  Employees who lie are never in the best long-term interests of an organization.  Certainly, someone in the financial department who lies and makes numbers up would be a very serious liability.  On the other hand, allegations of this sort are very serious.  You need to consider whether his actions are detrimental to the ethical integrity of the company and how certain you are of your views and, if appropriate, discuss your concerns with others.

Second, assuming your boss’ actions do not represent ethical violations, let’s turn to your performance review.  Most company’s processes allow the employee to add a note that expresses your own perspective.  Is that possible in your case?  Ideally, you should acknowledge that the review has been discussed with you, but also offer a short, non-emotional note that conveys your view of your performance.  Perhaps most importantly, most review processes also include an opportunity to document next steps and development plans.  This may even be an opportunity to get back on track with this boss, if possible, by outlining activities and metrics that you can both agree to.

And finally, it is probably wise to begin considering other options.  In many cases, an acquisition imposes a different culture on an organization – one that may be very different from the culture that attracted you in the first place.  At some point, it makes sense to decide whether or not this organization will be one that will engage and excite you.  If not, you owe it to yourself and to the organization, to lay the ground work for moving on – not necessarily urgently, but determination to find a work environment that works for you.

Best wishes,

Tammy

Filed under: Interactions with Your Manager | Published: 05/13/09

Hmmm.  That’s not easy.  It’s hard when any colleague—and particularly a boss—approaches work from a fundamentally different standpoint than you do. 

In this case, your boss’ behavior is consistent with the normal way businesses operated when he was a young employee.  He undoubtedly experienced an extended period of having to learn the ropes and follow the rules before he was allowed to offer any input.  And he probably turns to other old timers for feedback, since he feels comfortable that they share his values, understand his perspectives, and operate using behavioral norms he understands.

I know that this doesn’t make your situation immediately better—but I hope it makes it a little easier if you keep in mind that he’s not behaving in an unusual way—and would probably be very surprised to learn you view him as “hostile.”  As a general rule in life, whenever you meet someone who’s mental model of how things (should) work is very different from yours, start by understanding all you can about where they’re coming from—and develop your strategy from there.

Since he’s the boss, you essentially need to play the game by his rules.  This doesn’t mean that you can’t play to win—believe me, he understands wanting to “win”—but you need to figure out how he judges success.  What are his metrics?  And what do you want?  Think in terms of creating a very professional win/win “contract”—you’ll exceed his standards, with the expectation of gaining (more responsibility, more latitude, more money, or whatever you value) in return.

Good luck!  And remember, he undoubtedly values loyalty and company commitment, so maintain an upbeat attitude through it all.

Warmly,

Tammy

Filed under: Interactions with Your Manager | Published: 05/10/09

Hi AS,

How frustrating!  I’m sorry that your talents aren’t being tapped more fully.

Let’s jump in.  I would guess that you’re in a role that the company simply needs someone to fill—and clearly you’re performing well. The company’s incentive to make you happy by moving you into a broader role is not as great as the need to get the specific work you perform well done.

First, look at the structural options in the company: Are there other people who could move into your role?  Could you offer to train someone?  Is there a logical new role you’d like to take on?  Can you begin developing the skills required to do that well?  In other words, try to make any transition easy for your boss and the company—a “safe” alternative to take on your work and an option for you to move to that you are ready to do well.

Second, look for ways that you can make your current role more interesting.  Is there some type of added value that you can offer?  For example, one summer I had a job in a book bindery—a pretty unchallenging manual assembly-line set of tasks.  But I spent a fair amount of time thinking of ways we could improve the process—making it either easier, faster, or cheaper.  I ended up learning a lot and making a contribution that went beyond what the company had hired me to do.  The key is that I didn’t ask permission to do this; I just did it.  Are there dimensions you can add to your current role that would be interesting for you—and beneficial to the company?

Threatening to leave is not a great strategy, although I think it is important to communicate clearly with your boss and the company more broadly.  Regarding the latter, you may want to talk with your human resource representative, to make sure that your interests are understood by others.  Your tone should be respectful, helpful, and focused on finding a win-win solution:  “I feel ready to take on a more challenging role as soon as the timing is right.  I understand the importance of performing my current role well, and am committed to doing so, but would like to understand your views on when a change might be possible.”  Any smart boss or human resource executive will understand that this sort of discussion also serves as fair warning that you won’t wait forever.

Good luck—I hope you have an exciting career ahead.

Best,

Tammy

Filed under: Interactions with Your Manager | Published: 05/10/09

Dear W.,

First, congratulations on realizing one of the most important truths of career success—you have to do well what you’ve been specifically charged to do.  I’ve seen so many people make the mistake of jumping into a new project and falling short on their assigned quotas or objectives.  Ironically, even if the same human being “tempts” you in the new direction—let’s say the head of sales asks if you want to sit in on a marketing strategy meeting—you always need to assume that the invitation includes an explicit “and”—that is:  “would you like to sit in AND still meet your sales quota.”

So, that’s the first step.  Knock the ball out of the park in terms of your sales responsibility.  Think of it like collecting chips in the poker game—the better you do at meeting your sales responsibilities, the more chips you have to play with down the road.  Once you’ve proven yourself, I think its completely appropriate to discuss your shifting career interests.  But only after you have a pile of “chips” on your side of the table—chips earned through strong performance against your initial task.

If you were in the tough position of not being able to accomplish your assigned task and wanting to change into something else, that is, frankly, much more difficult.  I guess, in some ways, you would have little to loose in that situation, since one way or the other, you’d be headed for a tough conversation.  It would probably make sense to raise the issue yourself—“I recognize that I’m not excelling at X, but I think I can do Y well”—but the outcome of that move is far from certain.

By far the best bet is to earn the right to ask for something new and different, by doing the first task well.

Good luck,

Tammy

Filed under: Interactions with Your Manager | Published: 12/05/08