#453  from Innovative Leader Volume 9, Number 2          February 2000

FORUM—from our readers

An On-Time Review, Please

Each year, everyone in my department is supposed to sit down with our department director and have an oral assessment of how effective we’ve been.  It’s natural that each one of us is somewhat apprehensive about this review, whether we think it will be a great one or a dismal one.  Of course, salaries and bonuses are directly related to our effectiveness.

The reviews were supposed to be completed in December. It seemed that all of my colleagues went through their reviews.  But December came and went without an invitation to meet with the director.  By the third week of December, I was getting pretty nervous.  I was panicked by the last week--no assessment yet. 

Besides ruining my Christmas and New Year’s holidays, and restless nights in between, I kept wondering what was going on.  Had I done something very wrong?  I didn’t think so. But who knows how some people look upon an event that may have been a minor problem. Not everything I did turned out perfect; but that’s to be expected of someone like me who is paid to be creative.

Was my director avoiding the responsibility of bringing me bad news?  Could I have done something so wrong that I’m going to get the ax, or is there some business activity that I’m unaware of that would make me dispensable?  My wife wasn’t enjoying my company during this period.  I was miserable.

Finally, on January 6, I get an email scheduling the assessment for January 10 (that’s a Monday, and another weekend of worry).  I enter his office and asked why my review was delayed.  His response was, “I’ve been busy, and couldn’t find the time until now.”  Whew!  The review turned out all right.  What wasn’t all right was that my mind hadn’t been on my work over the last four weeks.  And here we are, being told that we’re neck-in-neck with our competition and that each of us has to put everything we can into our work.

A little sensitivity, Mr. Director!  Not just to be a nice guy; but to lead for maximum effectiveness.

Anonymous