Rate the boss, tactfully - II
Be fair and professional while
rating your superior or giving feedback.
You may have an opportunity to rate your boss as part of
an upward appraisal or a 360-degree feedback system. In the latter, you rate
your boss, colleagues and direct reports and they all rate you back, giving a
complete rating picture for every employee. Rating your boss is the trickiest.
How do you remain fair and accurate? Will it have a negative impact on your
career or relationship with your manager? Here is what you can consider while
rating your boss.
THE CONTEXT
Intention
The exercise
works best for you if you operate from the intent that you are willing to help
your boss improve and be more effective and successful. This works well for
rating others too. Next, consider what is your employer’s intent. Is this a
annual exercise that consolidates ratings and shares a summary with the
individual for his improvement? If yes, it matches your intent. However, if
your firm uses this to affect your boss’s compensation or promotion, then rate
your boss not for improvement but by benchmarking him against other managers.
If it is a one-time activity conducted to change policies and processes, then
rate from a perspective of how the firm can better empower your boss.
Trust
Honour the
professional or personal trust reposed in you. Abused trust inevitably bounces
back and harms one’s career. Do you and your manager trust each other
professionally and personally? Does your organisation rely on you to understand
your manager? Recognise that the opportunity to rate your boss is a
reinforcement of that trust. It is neither a chance to give a poor rating
because of last week’s disagreement nor an invitation to gift a undeserved high
rating hoping for a promotion as a return gift. Also avoid the trap of
group-think. If a couple of members in the team are vocal and have a strong
positive or negative opinion it may influence you and the group leading to a
copy-cat rating by everyone, which is unfair and incorrect.
Relationship
Be sensitive
about your relationship with your boss in the context of the rating process.
Unless the rating is anonymous, your boss will ultimately have access to your
rating, which in turn may impact your relationship. In such a situation, choose
to minimise and moderate negative opinions that you share. Similarly, if you
already have a bad relationship with your boss then its best to avoid
face-to-face feedback with him or in a public forum like a team feedback with
HR.
Solicited vs unsolicited
Has your
rating been formally solicited? If yes, then it is part of company policy.
There is likely to be an appraisal form with various questions asking you to
rate your boss on a scale of 5 or 10 with or without an opportunity to provide
feedback comments. The form may be signed or anonymous. A tougher situation
arises when your manager’s superior calls for feedback in person or in presence
of the team. Here your rating and feedback is also seen as a reflection of your
professionalism. Unsolicited rating is when you want to give feedback to your
boss even though she has not asked for it. As a rule, avoid that urge. In rare
situations where the trust is high and your boss truly relies on you to watch
her back, then give feedback regularly after establishing a process and context
of situation and project.
THE CONTENT
Process
expert
Apart from
questions in the rating form, evaluate your manager on five parameters.
Firstly, does he follow company processes with respect to business and people?
Justify your rating with examples framed in a positive tone. For instance,
write ‘Meetings can be planned in advance for better outcomes’, instead of
‘Productive time wasted in pointless meetings’.
Direction giver
A manager’s
primary role is to set measurable goals and deadlines for the team. Did you
know your targets? Did your boss communicate her expectations from you? Was the
team clear about the mission and had opportunity to clarify?
Feedback mirror
After setting
targets, your boss establishes a feedback loop for you and the team, to make
sure everyone is continuously aligned to the goal. This means you receive
regular feedback on how you are doing with respect to achievement. This is a
measure of your boss’s responsiveness and you know exactly where you stand.
Project accelerator
Your manager
is responsible to make sure the team progresses rapidly. Does your boss do his
bit to speed up your work? Here easy accessibility to you manager is important
so that you can reach out instantly for both serious problems and motivational
support.
Goal scorer
Both the firm
and you prefer to work and learn with a manager who is successful. What were
the outcomes your boss achieved in the past year and did she meet goals? Does
she have problem solving skills? Can she take quick decisions? How does she
handle upward pressure?
PLANNED, PRACTISED, PRECISE
Before you
give feedback, first schedule it in advance. Plan the setting where you will
speak with your boss. Next, rehearse what you are going to say. Think ahead and
prepare with observations, facts and examples while anticipating questions and
preparing responses. Be crisp and precise in your words.
I FEEL/I THINK
Understand
that you do not have all the information or knowledge of circumstances. So, for
your feedback to be effective, be non-judgmental. Use verbs instead of
adjectives. For instance: I think/What I saw/ What I heard. You can be honest
about your feelings: “I feel that I perform and learn better when you let me
figure out how to achieve the target.”
3 PLUS 1 MINUS
For negative
feedback use the 3-1 rule—three positive feedbacks, one negative. Be factual
and truthful in your approach. For instance, ‘I think what was great was that
goals were clear, resources available and no interference from senior managers.
I think we can do better if we have weekly reviews with you to avoid rework
later.’
SOLUTION ORIENTED
Share why
would you like to see a change. Describe the challenge precisely and avoid
accusing. Talk about actions and outcomes that can be improved without
labelling people as wrong and needing to change. Frame the solution positively
with a focus on improvement.
MIND THE FUTURE
Be respectful
during your feedback process. Know that if your boss has reacted negatively to
your feedback, you could have done a better job at communicating it or perhaps
having avoided it completely. Make sure that your approach continues to remain
constructive and professional and your feedback is oriented only towards the
future.
By Devashish
Chakravarty
ET26MAR18
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