So a few months ago, I wrote about completing my
self-evaluation for work. A couple of week
ago, I received my completed performance review from my boss and went to the
meeting to go over it all. I know there
was quite a space between that first post and this one. I guess the company failed at the “within 90
days of anniversary” policy that they have.
My self-evaluation seemed to meet their approval. The review of my past year went along the
lines I was expecting. The short-term
goals that were given to me were mostly predictable. The long-term career path they provided for
me though took me by surprise, and not necessarily a pleasant one.
My self-evaluation seemed to satisfy my boss. She had no comments to add to my list of
tasks and responsibilities. So
apparently, I made no glaring omissions and I did not concern them with an
over-extension of my authority in the company.
She had no real comments on my significant accomplishments, except to
congratulate me on completing many of the goals that were set for me last year
(both by myself and the company). For
the short-term and long-term goals, she just told me that I had set good ones
for the company department. Many of the
things I included were very task-specific things that I want my team to
complete over the next year or two. I
did not include much in the way of career-oriented/personal growth goals, and
she included some of this in the set of objectives she gave me for the upcoming
year.
The next section is a list of categories that help the
supervisor evaluate the employee’s job performance according to the metrics
that are important to the company. I
receive a “grade” in each category and some comments to justify the rating
(good or bad). Then all the categories
are averaged together, and I receive an overall “grade” for my year. This year I received a 2.08 (scale is 1 best
to 5 worst), which means I frequently exceed expectations. This is great considering that I have been in
the position for less than a year, and I feel very unconfident in some of the
aspects of my job. My strongest
categories according to my boss are corporate policies/procedures, initiative,
quality improvement, and company identification (basically I follow the rules
well). My lowest scores were in internal
controls, knowledge, problem-solving/judgement/decision-making,
planning/organization, and communication skills, which mostly contained
comments related back to me being new in the position and still learning. She identified a strength in managing
subordinates, and a weakness in communicating with superiors.
The final written section is a list of goals she would like
me to focus on in the next performance period.
Nothing on here was unexpected, and only one thing concerned me. I am to take over greater
management responsibility for my staff.
Previously, I was managing their daily tasks, but not performing most of
the official employee management tasks (on paper they all reported to my
manager instead of me). Now they all
report to me officially, and I will be responsible for many of the supervisor
tasks such as performance reviews. She also
gave me a list of tasks she would like me to transition from her to me, most of
which I already had identified as something I should learn. There was one project in which I need to put some serious effort learning how to manage. This is something that used to be done by our
department but it was taken away due to a material weakness identified by the
auditors. It was not my fault it was
taken away in the first place, but it is now my responsibility to spend time
with the man who took it over and learn enough that this can be transferred
back to our team. Finally, she indicated
I would probably gain some not-yet-identified tasks stemming from the
accounting department reorganization which began a few months ago. The final goal is to take some seminars to
gain greater strength in communicating with my superiors. This is the only goal that makes me really
nervous, partly because I do not like communicating with my superiors and
partly because it is part of the not-so-pleasant surprise I mentioned earlier.
It is not written anywhere in my official performance
evaluation, but in the meeting my boss brought up my long-term career
trajectory with the company. My boss
will probably retire in the next 5-10 years, and they are starting to plan for
her successor. They have apparently
identified me as one of the potential candidates for her replacement. I was actually surprised they would see me in
that position, especially in that time frame.
I shocked her by not displaying great enthusiasm for the idea and by voicing
hesitation in seeing myself in that position. The idea bothers me for a few reasons. One, her position does not seem very
fun. She goes to a lot of meetings, she
does a lot of research, she acts as a go-between various departments, she makes organizational calls, etc. I like
burying myself in the details and playing with the spreadsheets, not really
orchestrating the big picture. Two,
personality-wise I think I am a bad fit for upper-management. I am rather passive and
non-confrontational. I think I would
have a hard time being a voice for the accounting department up against the
executive team and other departments.
Third, I do not think they actually want me in that position either, but
are just trying to figure out what to do since the girl they were grooming to
fill it left the company. They need to
prep somebody to fill that position (or at least do some of the work). Plus, I think they want me to feel like I have
somewhere to grow so that I do not leave too.
At least for now they want me to think I am a potential candidate. It does not change the fact that I just do not think I want it.
Bonus: My department participated
in a 360 degree performance review for all the managers. I received my feedback from that review in a
separate meeting from my official performance review. I had a really low response rate (3 out of a
potential 63 respondents), but overall I got a 1.15 (again 1 best, 5
worst). Apparently, my co-workers want
me to recognize/reward performance more, consider employee point of view when making
decisions, and be more aware of employee developmental needs.
That is it. My review is done for the year. I can breathe for a few months before the
process starts again. For now, I will work on my
short-term goals, I will think about what my real long-term goals are, and I
will resist the efforts to groom me for a position that I do not want.
See you next week!
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