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> You landed in a really good culture Here's the crux of the matter. Your approach needs to be tailored to the culture you're in. The higher up in the leadersh

> You landed in a really good culture Here's the crux of the matter. Your approach needs to be tailored to the culture you're in. The higher up in the leadership chain you go, the more important your understanding of the political machinations of your company is. All corporations have politics, even the smallest startups. Some are just more cutthroat/feudal/kafkaesque than others.

borkt 8y ago
Once you realize you are at a company where telling the truth leads to a negative consequence (an incompetent manager hired after the truth told. Their first time managing a department. The department did not previously exist in the enterprise. The department is specifically to roll out a technology they have never worked with before throughout a large company. Lets say you were in charge of the project, are intimately familiar with the technology, and had a clear plan that would lead to success but upper management wasn't happy with the timeline. Their goal seems to be to quickly complete this project to display it as a "win". Now the new manager was brought in, does not understand or care to understand the complexity of the project, and just keeps asking "when will it be done". Then got tired of that and changed to have it done in 2 weeks which is unreasonable, and then gave you an entirely false, negative performance review based on information they apparently forgot to actually verify or they would have known it was already complete and the people who were on the receiving end of the product are incredibly happy. HR is asking for a meeting to discuss, what do you do? Tell HR about the depth of the incompetence Tell HR you weren't getting support from upper management Tell HR to look into what on earth was the reason this specific manager was selected. or GTFO? This is a real life circumstance I am dealing with. I believe in the technology but unless changes are made it will be a guaranteed failure. Upper management likes the technology and really wants success here, but I know it wont happen unless then changes are made, and the people between the senior executives and me are making it impossible to be a success.
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 8y ago
  If you're being made into a fall-guy, then GTFO is likely your only solution. Be careful with the 'depths of incompetence' stuff. It's assigning judgement and value to the people you're working with. That may be valid (or it may not!), but it doesn't help you professionally. Try not to assume you know why they do what they do, just deal with situation as it is. Telling HR about how bad everyone else is simply won't help you at all. Your strongest arguments would be: * The well-documented original plan vs. what has actually happened. * The factual discrepancy between your performance review and reality. Emphasize positive feedback, and get them to advocate on your behalf if possible. If someone cares enough to sift through all this, they might figure it out and save you, but chances are good that it won't happen. Having a plan B seems quite prudent.
- badloginagain 8y ago
  If its gone to HR its already gone pear-shaped. Lay down the facts as you see them, let them know exactly what happened, tell the truth. If they take it out on you, you know its time to go, but maybe this guy has been pissing other people off and you have no idea about it. Maybe its HR doing due diligence to fire. Don't make accusations or shit on anyone, you don't know the whole story. Play to your strengths, which is knowing the tech and what it takes to get it to where it needs to be. Make sure you point out your attempts to communicate this fact. Provide any evidence of this- emails, etc. where you're communicating the state of the project and your projections for it. Let them know you've been frustrated with the miscommunication, but make sure that the miscommunication has started with you. Again, don't shit on anyone. Stick the facts, so that if it blows up in your face it says more about them than it did about you. Its also the kind of resolution I'd I want to see on the interviewer side of "How did you resolve a difficult situation".
  - borkt 8y ago
    Thanks, it is progressing as expected. The only shitting on that was done involved providing repeated examples of attempts to get clarity or schedule meetings that were repeatedly ignored or cancelled at the last minute (which the supervisor for some reason told HR I was the one cancelling). Didn't call into question their competence, just provided support for my side from others, and examples of where the review was completely falsified. Spoke with CLO prior to all of this who is a mentor of mine and is incredibly upset with the treatment I received and says company will provide severance and recommendations if they can't find a suitable location in another department internally.

borkt 8y ago

Once you realize you are at a company where telling the truth leads to a negative consequence (an incompetent manager hired after the truth told. Their first time managing a department. The department did not previously exist in the enterprise. The department is specifically to roll out a technology they have never worked with before throughout a large company. Lets say you were in charge of the project, are intimately familiar with the technology, and had a clear plan that would lead to success but upper management wasn't happy with the timeline. Their goal seems to be to quickly complete this project to display it as a "win". Now the new manager was brought in, does not understand or care to understand the complexity of the project, and just keeps asking "when will it be done". Then got tired of that and changed to have it done in 2 weeks which is unreasonable, and then gave you an entirely false, negative performance review based on information they apparently forgot to actually verify or they would have known it was already complete and the people who were on the receiving end of the product are incredibly happy. HR is asking for a meeting to discuss, what do you do? Tell HR about the depth of the incompetence Tell HR you weren't getting support from upper management Tell HR to look into what on earth was the reason this specific manager was selected. or GTFO? This is a real life circumstance I am dealing with. I believe in the technology but unless changes are made it will be a guaranteed failure. Upper management likes the technology and really wants success here, but I know it wont happen unless then changes are made, and the people between the senior executives and me are making it impossible to be a success.

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 8y ago
If you're being made into a fall-guy, then GTFO is likely your only solution. Be careful with the 'depths of incompetence' stuff. It's assigning judgement and value to the people you're working with. That may be valid (or it may not!), but it doesn't help you professionally. Try not to assume you know why they do what they do, just deal with situation as it is. Telling HR about how bad everyone else is simply won't help you at all. Your strongest arguments would be: * The well-documented original plan vs. what has actually happened. * The factual discrepancy between your performance review and reality. Emphasize positive feedback, and get them to advocate on your behalf if possible. If someone cares enough to sift through all this, they might figure it out and save you, but chances are good that it won't happen. Having a plan B seems quite prudent.
badloginagain 8y ago
If its gone to HR its already gone pear-shaped. Lay down the facts as you see them, let them know exactly what happened, tell the truth. If they take it out on you, you know its time to go, but maybe this guy has been pissing other people off and you have no idea about it. Maybe its HR doing due diligence to fire. Don't make accusations or shit on anyone, you don't know the whole story. Play to your strengths, which is knowing the tech and what it takes to get it to where it needs to be. Make sure you point out your attempts to communicate this fact. Provide any evidence of this- emails, etc. where you're communicating the state of the project and your projections for it. Let them know you've been frustrated with the miscommunication, but make sure that the miscommunication has started with you. Again, don't shit on anyone. Stick the facts, so that if it blows up in your face it says more about them than it did about you. Its also the kind of resolution I'd I want to see on the interviewer side of "How did you resolve a difficult situation".
- borkt 8y ago
  Thanks, it is progressing as expected. The only shitting on that was done involved providing repeated examples of attempts to get clarity or schedule meetings that were repeatedly ignored or cancelled at the last minute (which the supervisor for some reason told HR I was the one cancelling). Didn't call into question their competence, just provided support for my side from others, and examples of where the review was completely falsified. Spoke with CLO prior to all of this who is a mentor of mine and is incredibly upset with the treatment I received and says company will provide severance and recommendations if they can't find a suitable location in another department internally.