You’re Just Not Delivering At Work
“Tom, my boss thinks that you’re just not delivering for us. He can’t understand why you waste so much time on project X when there are more important things to do. He’s pretty unhappy with you.” It was October. Annual reviews were to take place in January, and this was the first I had heard that my boss and HIS boss were unhappy with my performance.
I went to my boss’ boss and said “Joe. I heard from my boss that you’re unhappy with my performance. I think I’m probably working hard on things that you don’t value. Can we sit down and talk about what you DO value so that I can start to deliver the results that you want?”
Unfortunately he never made the time for a follow up discussion and in January I received the worst performance evaluation of my entire career.
In a recent post, Joel Peterson, Chairman of JetBlue Airways talked about 10 tips for feedback to employees. Clearly my boss (and his boss had violated #4 “Don’t limit it to an annual event.” They also dropped the ball on #8 “Follow up” – the only follow up was my performance review. Needless to say, I found another boss to work for after that!
Action Point:
Here are two of the top ten that you can apply right now!
1. Don’t “wing it” – Make the time to plan what you are going to say to a direct report when giving them feedback
2. Be specific – Tell them exactly what you want – in detail, and when you want it
More Info:
Check out Joel Peterson’s top ten
One Final Thought:
Come up with a specific, measurable action item you’d like to see a direct report begin to do for you. Then stop by their office and privately ask “May I offer you some feedback?” – if they say yes, tell them exactly what you want – then email me and tell me how it went: tom@BrightHillGroup.com
Cooper News:
We squeezed in a quick day trip to western NC to check out the fall leaves in the Blue Ridge mountains. What a BEAUTIFUL place. It reminded me of my late father and how much he loved being in the mountains. A good day.
No employee appraisal should come as a surprise. I read recently that the worst feedback is none. Positive, constructive feedback is best, of course, but negative feedback is actually better than no feedback at all. Clearly this boss was a poor manager. It’s sad how many people work for idiots. Shame.
Steve – you are SO right. How can we be positive, and specific in our feedback? I can’t tell how many times I’ve gotten “feedback” that left me confused rather than redirected!