Help! Have to do performance review on my boss

SunnyCanadian · July 2011

I DD'd

erbear · July 2011

Boss reviews are common at my school. I am always honest, but constructive. I wrote a rather negative one this time around, but it was honest and I tried to give helpful feedback, but there's no point in lying...it's actually making my work life harder.

Dr.Loretta · July 2011

I would be honest, but professional.

Is the reason she's irritating you because you mentally checked out of this job already, or is she doing a crappy job? I can't tell from your post.

But getting back to it, be honest but professional. I'm assuming this person has some strengths, so list them. As for weaknesses, it depends on what they are. If she's a crappy manager, but you think she just was never mentored or prepared to manage, you could state that managerial training would help her improve her management skills. If she delegates too much/too little, state that she needs to take on more roles to stay in the loop/needs to delegate more. Etc.

We all have weaknesses and things we need to work on in a review. There is no perfect employee. And your boss's boss is right--in the grand scheme of things it's going to get rolled in with other comments.

Hennessy · July 2011

I have been through a few 360 reviews... on the evaluation side and on the recieving side.

I would be honest but not negative. I'd share constructive feedback that doesn't come across as bashing.

I will say, though all the feedback is lumped together, I could identify who wrote what based on their style of writing. So, this is just a heads up to you that while it may indeed be anonymous, it was relatively easy for me to figure out who wrote certain comments and you should consider this as you write your review!

The good news is that this is a very humbling process and oftentimes there's a lot of overlap on feedback from a variety of people.. so the areas you identify as weaknesses may be identified by others also!

SunnyCanadian · July 2011

Well I have both professional and personal issues with her. And they've been festering for awhile now (we've worked together for 5 years).

I think she micro-manages sometimes which really frustrates me. It probably has to do with the fact that our desks are squished into a small cubicle-like area so she can overhear when we're on the phone handling help-desk calls, or when a coworker from another dept. comes over to talk to us about a certain problem. She ALWAYS has to be involved. But then complains she has 10 million things to do and never enough time to do them. Why don't you mind your own business then? If my coworkers and myself can't handle the issue or need advice, we will come TO YOU. She tries to give her little "well I think you should do this and this" and we're like no sh*t! We've been around long enough and are more than competent to do our jobs.

It also takes her forever to follow through and complete a project, she always has us start a bunch of things but before we can complete them she re-prioritizes and has us start something else! It's hard to explain this without getting into specific details about my job but let's just say there is a particular project that has been in the works for 5 years!

On a personal level....I've been waiting since July 2009 to get a promotion that's been promised to me. I worked my butt off for 2 years to complete a program that my organization paid for, and it was implied that they'd give me a new position. At first the reason it wasn't happening was it wasn't in the budget. At the beginning of this year though my boss approached me and said it was in the works (has to go through HR first so they can work out the job description and pay scale). Then in March she tells me she hopes to have it in place by April. Well April came and went, and now July is here and she tells me she has to give me my performance appraisal (which was actually DUE in Feb!) so that I can advance to my next pay step. THEN I get the new position. I ask her what the new pay scale for the new position will be and she kinda fumbled her words and said "I can't really remember. But you know that not-for-profit pays a bit less right". Well that sounds promising hey?

I'm kinda wary of this so while she takes a week off for holidays I call HR and ask them point-blank if they can tell me what the new pay scale will be. It turns out the top end of the scale is only $1.66/hr MORE than what I'm making now! I am livid. I took a 2 year program and that's all its going to get me? And I've been WAITING around for this stupid position? Hence the new job search.

/end rant.

So yeah, I think its quite hilarious that I've now been asked to do a performance review on HER. I just wish I could take my sweet-ass time to do it so she could know what it feels like.

SunAndRain · July 2011

We have something similar at work. My rule of thumb is to not write anything in the review that I wouldn't tell her directly in advance of he review. So if I was going to write something negative I would tell her in advance. This keeps me from saying anything that would come back to bite me. In the end if you are not constructive in your criticism, no one wins.

katarczyna · July 2011

I find it extremely odd that only one direct report is chosen to give upward feedback. Normally with 360s, it's recommended the manager choose 5-7 DRs and the data is aggregated and reported in summary form only if at least 3 responded. (Same with peer.)

Help! Have to do performance review on my boss

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