Performance Review Hell
Traditionally, I hate, abhor, detest giving performance reviews. It could be that I am uncomfortable supervising the work of other people and therefore feel like a fraud when it comes to evaluating each person's performance.
The past few weeks, however, I have grown to feel a bit more comfortable in this position. About 9 months ago, the office was rearranged to put my department a little closer to each other and to make me part of it. We live in cube-land, so that means I am privy to a lot of the conversations that occur in my group as well as with subcontractors and project managers. I also have a feel for each persons strengths and weaknesses.
For the past 6-9 mo, I have been battling with W and our VP-Operations on the relative worth of our staff accountant / controller. I have maintained that they simply do not understand or see what he works on and if he left or was gone for an extended period of time, they would quickly see that he adds value, but it is simply not overtly evident. They have thought that he should have stepped up and taken over some of my responsibilities right after I had J. Recently, he has shown to them his value. I am beaming with "I told you so" smirks on my face. W, in fact, has been a champion. So, that performance review will be a bit easier to do.
My AP person has been a bit flakey over the past 6-9 mo, but still has managed to do a lot and keep on top of things. She is her own worst critic, so I know that she is harder on herself than I would ever be.
My new payroll person has stepped up and taken over all the billings from me, allowing me to begin distancing myself from day to day data entry. I am the freaking VP, I really cannot be doing data entry, kwim? It sounds snobbish as hell, but the reality of the situation is if they are paying me to do data entry, then there is a whole hell of a lot of other things that need to be done that are not being done - like, maximizing investments, cash management, treasury management, as well as many other sundry things. She is doing a good job, but needs to reign herself in and start to review her own work in order to minimize errors that take a very long time to reverse. However, this is easily told and measured.
It's the people who one cannot easily measure that is hard - the ones that have a job that I know sucks. The one who is a family member. The one W is really hard on right now. She has a really icky job of managing and processing the certified payrolls on all our projects. It's a thankless job. It's not one I would want to do. And she is good at it. But she also needs to learn to talk to people a little better.
I have started to adopt the methods of our VP-operations by giving constant feedback. However, that feedback takes different forms for different people. With one person, it's a comment such as, "I wouldn't want you talking to me that way!" and with another, it's asking a question such as, "did you get XYZ done for ABC?" Or a gentle reminder followed by a thank you.
I don't know if I am effective or good. In fact, I have a fear that I am a weak, horrible manager. I really don't know. All I do know is that I have six performance reviews to give next week and I am dreading every single one of them.
The past few weeks, however, I have grown to feel a bit more comfortable in this position. About 9 months ago, the office was rearranged to put my department a little closer to each other and to make me part of it. We live in cube-land, so that means I am privy to a lot of the conversations that occur in my group as well as with subcontractors and project managers. I also have a feel for each persons strengths and weaknesses.
For the past 6-9 mo, I have been battling with W and our VP-Operations on the relative worth of our staff accountant / controller. I have maintained that they simply do not understand or see what he works on and if he left or was gone for an extended period of time, they would quickly see that he adds value, but it is simply not overtly evident. They have thought that he should have stepped up and taken over some of my responsibilities right after I had J. Recently, he has shown to them his value. I am beaming with "I told you so" smirks on my face. W, in fact, has been a champion. So, that performance review will be a bit easier to do.
My AP person has been a bit flakey over the past 6-9 mo, but still has managed to do a lot and keep on top of things. She is her own worst critic, so I know that she is harder on herself than I would ever be.
My new payroll person has stepped up and taken over all the billings from me, allowing me to begin distancing myself from day to day data entry. I am the freaking VP, I really cannot be doing data entry, kwim? It sounds snobbish as hell, but the reality of the situation is if they are paying me to do data entry, then there is a whole hell of a lot of other things that need to be done that are not being done - like, maximizing investments, cash management, treasury management, as well as many other sundry things. She is doing a good job, but needs to reign herself in and start to review her own work in order to minimize errors that take a very long time to reverse. However, this is easily told and measured.
It's the people who one cannot easily measure that is hard - the ones that have a job that I know sucks. The one who is a family member. The one W is really hard on right now. She has a really icky job of managing and processing the certified payrolls on all our projects. It's a thankless job. It's not one I would want to do. And she is good at it. But she also needs to learn to talk to people a little better.
I have started to adopt the methods of our VP-operations by giving constant feedback. However, that feedback takes different forms for different people. With one person, it's a comment such as, "I wouldn't want you talking to me that way!" and with another, it's asking a question such as, "did you get XYZ done for ABC?" Or a gentle reminder followed by a thank you.
I don't know if I am effective or good. In fact, I have a fear that I am a weak, horrible manager. I really don't know. All I do know is that I have six performance reviews to give next week and I am dreading every single one of them.
6 Comments:
Nawww. You rock. The fact that you even think about it and care makes you rock in of itself, not even counting all the other managerial ways you rock.
I have to agree with Aimee - the fact that you've spent so much time already thinking about each person's strengths and weaknesses tells me that you're a great manager!
And no one enjoys doing reviews. Unless they are masochists.
well said by greeble gal and builder mama. ITA. Wholeheartedly. Have you ever considered doing a 360 review? That way you could get anonymous feedback on how you are perceived....although that can be a double edged sword.
Christina
Sounds to me like your employee isn't the only one who is her own worst critic. I think that the constant feedback thing is really important, no review should be a surprise and it sounds like you are giving the information in ways that meet the individual needs.
Good luck getting them all done, I know you will spend the time and care they deserve and it will be over for another year :)
your dada sez:
Isn't managing people fun? I, too, hated reviews, finding positive and corrective negitivity of employees and hopefully they can see it , too.
Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. It is clear that you've put forth a lot of effort on this. They're lucky to have you.
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