Responding to the BOLD direct...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified)
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Manager Tools Trinity
My organisation rarely dispense bonuses, promotions are almost impossible and career advancement is limited. (If that sounds like a government funded body, you'd be part way right) While most of my directs respond positively to 03's, quarterly reviews, team meetings and annual reviews, I have one who wants to question the value of quarterly reviews in building his career. He's a High I. I'm a High C. I'm not looking forward to the encounter and would welcome any advice in preparation. thks Eric
Submitted by Tom Waltz on Wednesday March 12th, 2008 7:50 pm

if he doesn't like your organization's policies then he would probably be happier somewhere else.

What he wants is not your problem. If he works for you, you get to make those rules. Remember, you are the boss here.

Submitted by Tom Comeau on Wednesday March 12th, 2008 9:17 pm

[quote="ebn305"]... I have one who wants to question the value of quarterly reviews in building his career.
...
Eric[/quote]

Until I saw your location, I wondered if you were the Eric on the 6th floor. :)

It's a coaching opportunity, right? Doing quarterlies lets you get measurements on progress and make adjustments before the annual review, which helps maximize the salary increase you can get.

I also wouldn't worry about [u]questioning[/u] the value, as long as he cooperates in [u]evaluating[/u] the value. I think questions are a good idea. Refusal is a different problem that you'd need to address differently.

Make it an experiment for the first year and see if it's helpful.

Submitted by Deleted User on Wednesday March 12th, 2008 10:17 pm

thanks gents.

what he wants is not my problem - that's a very very helpful outlook.
I also like the idea of discussing what value he does bring to the organisation and how that value should be compensated.

cheers
Eric

Submitted by Thomas Hoad on Tuesday March 18th, 2008 9:22 am

Hi Eric,

For those of you not from Australia, Canberra is our national capital and is largely populated with public servants. Firing government employees is not an easy exercise, and their is a strong public service culture that does not place a high value on performance.

Having said that, your direct is only looking at half the picture. Career development is related to compensation and promotions, but that's not really the point. Reviews and O3's are about making him a more effective and capable employee and that will be incredibly valuable to him in the long run, even if your current organisation doesn't reward that performance immediately. If you can convince him that it is intrinsically in his own self interest to allow you to develop him it is likely to more effective that extrinsic rewards provided by your employer.

I would have thought a high "I" would see it as a good chance to have chin wag at the very least. Maybe you can accommodate his high I desire for communication, as well as your high C tendency to focus on the task at hand?

Submitted by John Hack on Tuesday March 18th, 2008 11:10 am

Is his disregard for quarterly reviews the only issue? Is he otherwise a good or top performer, helpful to others and all that?

Or is this just one of a set of behaviors that concern you?

You can:
1. Have him just do it (Tom's suggestion.)
2. Try to get him to see it the way you see it (not likely!)
3. Consider if you need to change your review a bit.

If your direct doesn't see the value of your review, maybe the review isn't providing the value. He has career goals, and you should know them. You should also know how his daily/monthly/quarterly performance relates to his career growth. (Yes, the review isn't just about his career goals, but it should be relevant to them.)

You could then make part of your quarterly review discussion a focus on aligning his career goals with his quarterly goals and performance.

If he can't work with you at that level, then you have a different problem.

John