I've made the mistake of giving lots of honest feedback to my boss, director and other managers in the area. Also, I made the mistake of telling my peers what I honestly think of my current position. I am debating if the best way to move forward is to "correct" these issues or just make better choices going forward.
Here's some additional background:
My work has 2 year rotations. Every two years, management reassigns the "students" to a new part of the company. The powers that be ask the students where they would like to rotate to, and then months later they let us know where they chose for us. I was placed in the one spot that I asked NOT to go (and they placed a new hire in two of the three roles I asked for. Once there, I struggled because I had little guidance (and the little I got was mostly incoherent), yet had literally 8 bosses or customers that I had to report to. I was pretty frustrated and the area was pretty dysfunctional.
The dysfunction has been noted by everyone in the company (3 directors in 4 years, and all students saying they Don't want to rotate there). So after I rotated there, the VP, Director, my manager and the director of our primary internal customer all requested repeatedly for feedback on why nobody wants to go to or stick around. After a bit of trying to deflect it, I finally told them why I didn't want to be in that area (w/o mentioning the people, which was also an issue).
After a year and a half of quality work and nothing but positive feedback from my customers and bosses, I got a bad review. The review said my work was good, but my attitude was poor. I was trying to honestly answer, but ended up coming across as a drag on the team.
My question is, do I try to "fix" things somehow or do I just keep my head down and practice saying things like, "It was a great learning experience and everything in that area is great."?
Thanks for your consideration!
Hi The sentence that stands
Hi
The sentence that stands out when I read your post was "After a bit of trying to deflect it, I finally told them why I didn't want to be in that area (w/o mentioning the people, which was also an issue)."
It might be an unfair reading but without knowing the details of what you said and how you said it this sounds a lot like personal and emotional complaining instead of professional and objective discussion. Maybe you threw your boss under the bus without knowing it and he politely replied with a unprofessional bad review.
If I was in your shoes I would ask why my attitude was poor on the next O3 and ask for guidance. I would also ask for feedback so that you could adjust my behaviour in a way that would benefit the organisation. I mention this because you sound surprised for the bad review which usually means that you got no feedback about it and heard of it in the review for the first time. My mindset would be "how can I be part of the solution".
Communication is the key
I agree with RVladimiro but add another step. Do talk to your supervisor. Express your willingness to improve and your awareness that you could have done better. I would also encourage you to ask your supervisor if you have the option of recovering from earlier errors or if s/he would prefer that you move to a team with a better fit. Ask for support if they want you to move on.
Admit mistake, ask for help to correct
Go to your boss and explain that you think you have made a mistake and ask how you can correct and do better in the future. You will be surprised at how honesty and a geniune attitude to improve can make a situation better.
Fix it or move on?
Hi,
My first thought when I read your text is: "You can not fight the system". Unfortunately you finished in a part of the company where everything works in a bad way, and my strong suggestion is leave it. If you have 8 bosses or 3 directors in 4 years (whatever), that means you have a few superiors where emotions can overcome your professionalism.
If you ask me, we all wish to have job and working environment where all can easily go. But unfortunately we don't, and that's why we must adjust to a new environment, conditions or people (colleagues) so we can keep our professionalism by doing our job.
So, as dtiller said: go to your supervisor/boss and try to fix your mistakes as soon as possible, and i'm sure your boss will find some understanding for you..
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