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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Workplace Report Cards: Dealing with an Unfair Performance Review

With all the gorgeous spring weather we've been having lately here in New England, I've successfully shaken off the doldrums of winter and was even motivated and energized enough to tackle cleaning out my attic.

What a headache!

Boxes and boxes of...STUFF! My stuff, my husband's stuff, my kids' stuff: it was definitely a project that required a strategic plan, a cohesive team, a clear set of procedures...and a lot of garbage bags.

While I was sifting through a box of my old elementary school memories, I came across several of my report cards from first and second grade, and I realized that the box could actually be labeled "My First Performance Reviews." I was being graded on my skills, my successes (and failures), and my attitude as a student - just like most employees called into their supervisor's office once a quarter to discuss their job performance.

(And weren't we all disappointed to find that the end of school DIDN'T mean the end of report cards??)

As I looked over my grades, I began feeling that familiar sense of frustration start to bubble up inside me. The marks were low in most of my subjects. Why? Because no one detected that I needed glasses to see the chalkboard - and learn the concepts the teacher was scrawling across it - until the third grade. Up until that point, my grades suffered because of a physical ailment - not because I was "slow" (as one teacher constantly reminded me) or not interested in learning. I thought about how unfair those grades are and how I wish there was a way I could go back and change them.

How many employees feel the same way walking out of their supervisor's office after receiving mediocre performance reviews that they don't feel they deserve? How can they address the situation, or should they even try and risk making things worse?

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