Performance evaluation at work

[Anglewannabe]

I just got my written performance evaluation at work and next week, my boss wants to meet to discuss it for a few minutes. Of course I am nervous because I haven’t had a performance evaluation in over 3 years. And apart from ‘good morning’ and ‘have a nice evening’, I barely talk to my boss. In the cafeteria behind his back, people are always joking about how ‘loud’ he is. ie they are making jabs about the fact he is very quiet. I never join in the conversation because I just don’t think it is a good idea.

So, I read over the evaluation and I am a bit baffled. These things are very subjective. I have worked for bosses who believing is praising people even when they were not praise worthy and I have worked for bosses who believed in criticizing people even if they were supper stars. I have no idea what my current bosses belief is. Also, I highly suspect he just prefers to avoid all interpersonal discussions like the plague.

There are 3 possible ratings Strenght, acceptable and needs improvement. I got mainly acceptable and a few strengths. What baffles me is I got ‘acceptable’ and they in the comments section great compliments.

For example, one of the bullet points was ‘behavior’. He rated me as ‘acceptable’ but in the comments he put ‘energetic and enthusiastic’. That seems like a strength to me.

One of the objectives he has for me is ‘Ensure all deadlines are met’ Out of all of my tasks, only about 30% of them have a hard deadline. All the others are ‘whenever you get around to it’. Of my hard deadlines, I have always met them with time to spare. And there have been no complaints about my other tasks. Have I not already met that objective?

In the whole thing, there was only one negative comment where he put ‘Angie could benefit from reviewing the tone in her email correspondence’.

Also, I only have an average of 6 hours of work per day. The other hour and a half I help a girl in another department. On several occasions, I have approached her with ideas on how to do things faster or even offered to take on some of her time consuming tasks. She has always refused my initiative. After offering once, when she refuses I let it go because it is her ‘baby’ and I would prefer to get along with her. In my performance evaluation he wrote he wants me to learn more of her job My offer has to learn more has been rejected.

So, next week when we meet, I want to come across as open to his feedback. My plan is to first listen to what he has to say. Then, I am think of asking ‘Most of my ratings are acceptable. What can I do to make them strength’ and see what he says.

How should I bring up I have offered to take on more of ‘Gail’'s tasks and she didn’t want me to without making Gail look bad?

Also, as much as I want to listen to my bosses feedback, I really want to do God’s will more than anything. In my mind, my whole career rests on this. But the reality is, I can only do my best and put my trust in God.

Any words of wisdom?

Angie

 

[WT1]

1. Be confident in your abilities.
2. Resist the urge to under sell yourself.
3. Keep all comments Positive.
4. If there is an area you can improve bring it up but have a plan to address it.
5. If there are issues in your department bring them up with a suggestion of how you can help.
6. Be prepared to answer the question “where are you weak or need to improve”.
7. Don’t forget to smile, don’t fidget and project strength and confidence.

Always steer all answers to your strengths. If you have someone you can practice with then do it. Practicing helps prepare you.

Own this thing and best of luck.

 

[Sunbreak]

Keep in mind that sometimes an organization wants its supervisors to show something for the employee to improve even if there isn’t anything. So, you could be a stellar employee but because the boss has to show some area that could be improved, something has to be marked lower.

 

[Viki63]

So, next week when we meet, I want to come across as open to his feedback. My plan is to first listen to what he has to say. Then, I am think of asking ‘Most of my ratings are acceptable. What can I do to make them strength’ and see what he says.

This is a great way to find out what you can do to improve. But keep in mind what Sunbreak says, this is very true. In my organization we have continuous quality improvement, which feels in reality like we can never perform well enough.

How should I bring up I have offered to take on more of ‘Gail’'s tasks and she didn’t want me to without making Gail look bad?

Make it a question: “I’ve asked Gail to let me help her, but she preferred to do it herself. Do you have a suggestion as to how to approach her?”
It’s important that your boss know that you’ve tried to help, but have been turned down. Don’t make yourself look bad to keep Gail off the hook. The boss may need to have a conversation with her.

In the whole thing, there was only one negative comment where he put ‘Angie could benefit from reviewing the tone in her email correspondence’.

There’s a young man at my work who is a really nice guy, but his emails annoy people because they are so blunt, I suggested to a coworker that she talk to him about it, because it gets under her skin.
In my emails, I bend over backwards to make them courteous, because it’s so easy to be misunderstood, Instead of “I want you to reply to my emails so I know you got them,” I would write, “Would you please email me back when you receive my email, so that I know the message was received?” I keep it formal and friendly so I can’t be misunderstood, And even so I sometimes have trouble, because they don’t get my sense of humor. I try to keep that out of emails.

Hope that helps, Good luck with your evaluation. The boss is doing what a competent boss should do, going over the eval with you in case you have any questions.

.

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[Bspencer]

this is your first review in three years?
wouldn’t think that the company puts a lot of weight in them, then.
if the company is changing, and will be doing more reviews, here is a thought.

discuss with your boss your goals prior to next review. write down ageed upon goals.

1. i will develop 10 new accounts
2. i will blah blah
3. describe how you will address any negatives

during your performance period, track/record how you have met your stated objectives. be specific. meet with boss periodically during the evaluation period to review progress

when your next rating period comes around, give him both your goal sheet, and a summary report of how you’ve met/exceeded those goals.

ideally, you would meet with him in person to review prior to his written evaluation.

 

[Anglewannabe]

Keep in mind that sometimes an organization wants its supervisors to show something for the employee to improve even if there isn’t anything. So, you could be a stellar employee but because the boss has to show some area that could be improved, something has to be marked lower.

To be honest, I suspect my organization only does the performance evaluations because ‘it is what organizations do’. There is a lot of talk but little action. I am in more of an administrative role that does not affect our bottom line. I will bump into the VP’s and talk to them in the cafeteria and they are more concerned about the factory and how to make sure the product is what the market wants.

 

[Anglewannabe]

1. If there is an area you can improve bring it up but have a plan to address it.
   .

I see massive amounts of ineffieciencies and have a TON of ideas how to write Excel macros to automate tasks. However, no one there cares for it. They like the old fashion way and don’t really understand how Excel works. When they have a problem, they ask me to solve it but… they don’t want me to improve things. In order to fit in with the team, I let it go.

There is also a lady ‘Sally’ who has been there years and is the person I should go to when I need help. It is obvious she can do her job but she doesn’t always understand what is going on behind the scenes. Any improvement I have suggested to her is met with a ‘Well, it has always worked this way’. We will be getting a new software and since she is senior, she has sat in meetings with the sales people as they are trying to decide which software to buy. She has known about this way before me. I don’t know what she says in those meetings, but when I am alone in her office she just complains ‘I don’t want to go through another change, we just got this 3 years ago’ I have worked in places that made a point of changing the software every 2 years. She has also told me of all the benefits of a software they are considering and I said ‘That is great, a lot of the issues we currently have with the new software will be solved’. All she has to say is ‘Yes but I still would prefer not to change’. I am constantly trying to juggle getting along with her and being a proactive employee. I want to be positive about this change

And I suspect my boss would understand my good ideas, but I also suspect it just doesn’t mean enough to him t implement them

Angie

 

[1ke]

this is your first review in three years?

Angie has only been at this company a few months.

 

[1ke]

Angie, you haven’t been there very long. Your boss is not going to rate everything a “strength” when you are still learning.

 

[Anglewannabe]

Angie, you haven’t been there very long. Your boss is not going to rate everything a “strength” when you are still learning.

On the surface, that statement seems logical. However, only twice has anyone ever come back to me because I made a mistake. I honestly don’t know what else there is for me to learn