You Can't Make This UP

You Don’t Really Want to Know

You Can’t Make This Up…episode 5

One of the biggest adjustments I had to make when I joined corporate America was its protocol for the boss to ask his direct reports for feedback on what he or she could do better. It’s hard to imagine General Patton asking a subordinate to tell him what he thought about the Generals leadership. Sounds great in practice but as I found with corporate managers, feedback was more a test of your loyalty to them than a true opportunity to help them be a better leader. Loyalty is shown through agreement, not constructive criticism. Be truthful at your own risk.

As always, names and specifics are changed to protect those involved. My goal is to educate, not criticize.

I realized early on that end of year ratings use few specifics around tangible actual events. I was always criticized by my bosses for my communication style, but always got a blank stare when I asked for an example. On paper, it reads, “needs to improve communication style.” I always gave my direct reports specifics rather than generalities. I learned generalities can’t be contested because poor communication style is in the eye of the beholder. ?If you hurt my feelings, my feelings are hurt.

The feedback I gave to my absolute worst boss was pretty rough but honest. He was the smart guy that loved to create Excel spreadsheets where you plug in some data, and it spit out an answer. Management by Excel spreadsheets. He reminded me of a young Marine I deployed with in the 90’s, when my platoon Sergeant asked him to figure out how many radio batteries we needed for a 5-day operation. Hours later he came to us with pages and pages of pages from a program he created that spit out an answer. I watched my platoon Sergeant sit down with pen and paper and get the answer in 10 minutes. Who’s the smart guy?

My feedback was as follows: “You ask for thoughts on your initiatives, ignore our input, and put out guidance that’s exactly what you initially said you wanted. Never assume you’re the smartest guy in the room. I’ve always found the best ideas come from those closest to doing the work. You’re condescending to me and my employees. How many times a day does someone say something to you and you say, ‘help me understand?’ What you’re really saying is you’re smarter than the other person. When one of your initiatives don’t have the desired results, you blame everyone except you. My team avoids you because they know you’re going to blame them for doing what you asked them to do that didn’t work out.”

He wrote in his little book as I spoke, thanked me for my input and assured me he would try to do better. Both of us knew the game that was being played. I didn’t care about my end of year rating or being fired, and he would seek retribution. For me, this was a time to, “help him understand,” he was a horrible manager. He left before the end of year ratings and left his notes with my new boss, who shared my opinion of the guy. The notes said I should be put on the naughty list to fire, but my boss just let it pass.

He was my worst boss only by a thread, in other words, he is the norm, not the exception. By the way, that horrible boss has been promoted twice since that encounter.

You can’t make this up.