Here's Where To Stick Your Performance Improvement Plan

Dear Liz,

I work for a successful boutique consulting firm. I'm a Project Manager. I've worked here for almost five years. I established myself here a long time ago. The Managing Director loves my work. All the managers know me.

I’ve worked for three different Directors in the company and they were all great to work for.

Six months ago there was a company reorganization.

I was moved to a new team. I understand the logic behind the re-organization but it was abrupt. The integration has not been smooth. My role stayed the same in general, but it was reduced in scope because the projects I’m responsible for are not close to the company’s core expertise or relevant to our most important clients.

I mentioned to my new manager “Nora” that I can take on more responsibility. It was a good faith gesture, but she reacted badly.

Nora immediately got huffy. She said, "You will prove yourself in this new capacity, and then you'll get bigger projects. I decide who works on what -- not you."

I was stunned by Nora's reaction. I didn't ask for a pay raise or a title change.

Nora is very insecure about her authority. Since I became her team member, she has looked for opportunities to throw up roadblocks and limit my effectiveness.

I have worked for managers who ignored me. That didn't bother me. Nora doesn't ignore me. She deliberately undermines me. She talks behind my back. She pulls projects out from under me. I have never run into this type of managerial sabotage before.

Nora is hyper competitive. She is the least popular manager in our organization.

I confidentially asked a friend of mine in HR why Nora is so negative and back-biting, especially toward me. My friend said, "Nora is afraid of you. You have more credibility around here than she does. She doesn't want you to succeed."

"Okay, fine," I said, "but then why is she allowed to supervise me? Don't the leaders care if I leave?"

My friend said, "Of course they care. Nobody wants you to leave, but the leaders are wimping out. They figure you can deal with Nora better than most of our Project Managers could. They're hoping they get lucky somehow, like maybe Nora will quit. Her own manager is afraid of her. Nobody wants to confront her."

My warm feelings toward the company disappeared in that instant. I started job hunting the following weekend. When my friend in HR told me that the company's leaders weren't going to do anything to improve my situation or get Nora off my back I knew it was time to go.

I wasn't fast enough, I guess. A week after my conversation with my HR friend, I got pulled into HR for a disciplinary meeting. I got an email message twenty minutes before my meeting in HR was scheduled to start.

There are 75 employees in our office. It's not a massive corporation, but I got hauled into HR in the most formal, insulting way you can imagine. Nora was already there when I arrived. The HR Manager was there. They both looked very solemn.

The HR Manager said, "We need to talk with you about your Performance Improvement Plan." I'm a five-year employee with a great track record and great relationships all over the company, and I got ambushed in HR with a Performance Improvement Plan.

I wasn't having it. I said, "Let's be honest. Nora and I do not work well together. We don't mesh. That doesn't make either of us right or wrong but it suggests we should not be working together as closely as we do. This is not a situation that calls for a Performance Improvement Plan. It's a situation that calls for an adult discussion about where Nora and I can each be most effective.

“My work is exceptional and everyone in this room knows that. I'm not going to sit through some ridiculous disciplinary process trumped up to justify Nora getting rid of me. If you want to talk like adults about a severance package, then we can have that conversation."

I was full of righteous indignation. I didn’t care what Nora or the HR Manager thought about my opinion but I wasn’t going to sit there and suffer through the Performance Improvement Plan charade.

Both Nora and the HR Manager looked like they were going to faint. The HR Manager wavered. She wasn't ready to commit to Nora’s made-up Performance Improvement Plan. She said, "It's good we're having this conversation.” That's when I knew I was not going to get fired -- at least not that day.

After our meeting I couldn't focus. I was still in shock. I texted our CEO and said, "Please call me when you have time." The CEO is my boss's boss's boss but like I said, I've been here for a long time and I know the CEO well. He called me about an hour later. I stepped outside to take his call.

I explained the situation to my CEO. I stayed calm. I said, "It's your company. It's your decision what to do. I don't have to stay in the company but I'm not willing to go out under a cloud of poor performance, as you can understand."

He did understand He called my VP, who is Nora's boss. We all met the following morning: me, Nora, our VP and the CEO.

Nora's "case" against me melted into a pile of nothing at that meeting, but I still felt bruised. Why was there so little oversight while Nora was tormenting me?

Nora made a fool of herself in the meeting with the VP and the CEO. All she could say was, “Gennifer isn’t committed to my team.” She couldn’t point to one error, oversight or failure on my part.

I was honest. I had no reason to hold back. I told the CEO and my VP that it wasn't just Nora -- the leadership culture and communication in the company has gone downhill dramatically in the company, during the time we were growing fast and adding layers. The CEO and the VP had very little to say. The evidence was right in front of them.

They both said nice things about me and nice things about Nora, as you would expect.

The next day my VP offered me a newly created position reporting to a different Director. I said I would take the job on a six-month contract. I was still reeling from being dragged into HR to sign a Performance Improvement Plan.

Now I'm working for my new boss on one of the most interesting assignments I've had here, but I'm still job hunting. This experience woke me up. If I had had one drop less credibility with our CEO or one drop less confidence, I would be on probation right now and scrambling to keep my toxic ex-boss Nora happy. I would be in a desperate situation, trying to find a new job before I got fired.

Most people will not go over their boss’s head. It seems like a risky strategy. In my case it was the only thing to do but I understand why most people wouldn’t dream of contacting their boss’s boss directly.

You might be wondering what happened to Nora and whether she's getting more leadership guidance now. My friend in HR tipped me off. She said, "It's one of those things where Nora will probably be gone from the company in three months, but they're taking it slowly."

I don't believe Nora is save-able as a manager but then again, I've never managed people. It took me making a ruckus to get my CEO and VP to notice that they had someone petty, vindictive and in over her head in a leadership role. Why were they so asleep at the wheel?

I understand the need to be fair and coach people who are struggling but I really have to wonder whether Nora's remaining employees are also being coached and supported while they suffer under Nora's management style every day. I doubt it!

It really hit me that just because someone is a VP or a CEO, it doesn't make them brave. It doesn't make them a person who can always stand up for and act on their values.

It's a good learning experience, but painful. Thanks for your support of all of us, Liz!

Yours,

Gennifer

Dear Gennifer,

Pat yourself on the back for finding your voice and your backbone when it mattered! I'm glad you are job-hunting.

Your CEO and VP did the right thing that day in the meeting with you and Nora but they are struggling to maintain trust in the organization as it grows, and you are smart to take the next exit ramp.

Fear is rampant in corporations, start-ups, not-for-profit agencies and pretty much every workplace. The healthiest organizations talk about fear and insecurity. The majority of them don't.

Your story is a great reminder that working people have more influence than they think they do. When you know you are right (and righteous) you can speak up. I wish more people would do it! We understand why they don't. Fear is a powerful emotion.

Every time you step through that invisible membrane between fear and trust, you grow your muscles, but you also do something even more important. You inspire someone else. You show them how to stand up for yourself.

Performance Improvement Plans are part of the toxic machinery that keeps fear in place and keeps working people walking on eggshells when they should be standing in their power, accomplishing great things. Performance Improvement Plans should have gone extinct in the Mad Men era. There are plenty of other companies that can use your brilliance. We are rooting for you as you go out and find one!

All the best,

Liz