I’m frustrated by my company’s lack of performance reviews.
So I’ve decided to approach my manager to initiate one. I would like to know where I can improve.
A first anniversary is a solid excuse for initiating this sort of conversation.
But maybe you can use the situation to your advantage. First, give some thought to what you really want: Probably it’s some combination of affirmation about what you believe you’re doing well and constructive suggestions about what to work on in the future. For your own benefit, you might want to write out a more specific list, or talk this through with a trusted colleague or friend.
Once you’ve clarified your goals, think about how to translate them into a review setting. Making sure you’re in agreement about what’s going well can establish common ground, but you don’t want to seem like you’re merely fishing for kudos. If there’s something you have specific concerns about, bring it up and ask for advice. Finally, leave room for feedback you haven’t anticipated.
The biggest challenge, since your company evidently doesn’t prioritize this process, is that your boss probably thinks of a review as a distracting hassle. But now you can make it easy. Skip references to company policies, and tell her you’d like to schedule a concise anniversary conversation. Then follow up with an email that hits on the main points you want to cover. As you suggest, be clear that you want to do this because you’re committed to your job and getting better at it.
Fed Up With a Colleague’s Sick Days
An emergency medicine resident I supervise frequently calls in sick, particularly when she is scheduled on a night shift or on days that bookend her weekends off.
I am all for sick leave when it is taken for legitimate reasons. But sick leave is often seen as an entitlement that is lost unless it is “used up.” Taking days off when one isn’t ill creates problems for others.
The context of emergency medicine makes for an acute example of a situation that most likely occurs in many workplaces. I suspect many of us have elected to “take a sick day” for reasons not strictly related to illness. And you don’t actually know that this person is selectively faking illness, or if so, why.
Probably you’ll need to have a frank conversation with her. Maybe observe that her colleagues have noticed a particular absence pattern, acknowledge that she may have been disappointed that her earlier scheduling requests were not workable, and ask if there’s anything she’d like to discuss.
I doubt her explicit motive is to burden others. So even if a more open-ended conversation doesn’t lead to an easy solution, it should clarify the problem.
Peer Review: Taming the Wild Office
Here’s a suggestion for how the front-desk coordinator who wrote in might cope with company scheduling chaos. He or she could take note of patterns: Who keeps the front desk up to date, who schedules meetings on particular days, etc.? In the case of colleagues who are weak on communicating, asking, with a smile, “How was your weekend?” can be followed by “Anything I need to know about your schedule?”
Same with visitors: Saying goodbye with a “See you next time” could reveal when that will be. Point is, there is a great opportunity for this person to become invaluable while getting better acquainted with all the employees and customers.
This is useful counsel. I would add only that this approach could work in tandem with prodding the bosses to remind everyone that failing to keep the front desk in the loop on important visitors and the like makes the whole company look bad.