Challenging a bad performance review

I do. Just a year ago.

Working on a project during 3 years. The company change a $200000 loss into a $75000 profit in that time.
Then the son of the boss came into the company and we couldn?t make a single good thing anymore.

I think there are two things to do :

When you received an unexpected negative evaluation, don?t go into the discussion right away.
Lay back for a while, let the (your) ?anger? blow over, overlook the situation.

1. It?s worth the effort and the discussion, andthen you can go for it.

2. It?s not worth the effort, say thank you and leave, but don?t burn bridges or speak badly (even when other clients ask about it).
Act expediently, your other business acquaintances know what you?re made of.
Use your energy to improve your mind and use this ?incident? to improve your skills and knowledge.
Use it as an enrichment in your daily business.

JW

I too have had that experience. I once worked for a small business and unfortunately they had certain uninformed expectations that the budget did not agree with. When my project was done. There was animocity regarding how much money it took to getdone what they wanted. There was also an unclear expectation of what work was to be done. I thought I had done exactly what they wanted in supporting their network, servers, developing a training center and also overseeing a complete network move and also network ISP vendor package change. For them this was not thier primary focus. I also came to find out that they were not very well funded. I should have inquired more.

Looking back I learned the following:

Always understand the expectations of the client and what thier desired outcome is.

Pay attention to how much your client actually knows about technology so if they have limited understanding of what they are asking from a project, you can provide them with a clear understanding of what the job will entail and how much time and money they will need to invest.

You need to set the expectation and be very clear about what you will and will not do and what can and cannot be done with thier budget.

I learned a lot inthe experience and will never make the same mistakes again.

Keep your head up high, take the situation as a learning experience and continue learning and growing.

ES

Companies hire consultants for many reasons:
- tell them what they already know, but does't want the "board" to see it coming from them.
- select and implement enterprise software/hardware and do not want to take responsibility for making the decision (push bad choices off on a consultant)
- embarrassed to admit they "don't know what they don't know"
- need a scapegoat when the costs exceed immediate value

There's really no good reason for getting a bad "report card" if:
- the consultant has complied with the scope of work.
- the enterprise sponsor and consultant have level set the expectations and established assumptions.
- the consultant has a realistic and approved project plan in place.

If executive oversight hats have changed, and an unwarranted bad report is received from the client, then take it to the enterprise steering committed and lay the "facts" out on the table and give them the opportunity to retract the bad report.

But, if the shoe fits... wear it, and move on; this is a lessons learned experience and don't repeat it.

The first time it happened I was shocked. Then during the performance review I found out my manager used a customer feedback to "substantiate" the rating. Unfortunately the customer was venting and used my name as I was the customer rep...and was only implementing my manager's directives! Obviously the manager let this one slip to me and slid out from under the feedback by laying it on me.
My recommendation? Do what I did. Get a new boss. I did and got a superior rating the next time around to help "dilute" the previous bad rating. All in all, the one rating in the middle of all good ratings looks suspicious. Let the reviewers figure it out. Besides, you don't have to show your performance reviews to prospective bosses.

The second time it happened I was totally surprised. This was at a different company. But the circumstances were quite the same. So now I really get the feeling the PM is the scapegoat.

What have I learned? Well, I'm much more attuned to the customer. Its the only way to protect yourself. A person has got to protect the manager by doing what's right - regardless of what they tell you to do...keeping the customer happy is top priority - and keeping the manager out of hot water regardless ofhis ineptitude is also top priority.

The customer is always right. So its up to the PM to make it right with his manager and cover his manager's back end (and get the job done on time and within budget).

With every situation also comes an opportunity:
calm down and be honest with yourself. Check, may be there is a grain of truth in a negative evaluation? You may even ask your client for details/clarifications. May be he/she is right (at least, partually) in his/her opinion? If so - you may wish to think over (or even to ask your client) how to work on your shortcomings and how to improve your professional skills. Putting aside other things, such approach guarantees that your client will change his/her opinion about you, to the better.

But if you 100% sure the evaluation is biased - just forget about it. Going into debates with your client would not do any better: chances that you may change your client's opinion of you are close to 0;chances that your reputation would be damaged ("he/she is trouble-maker") are high.

If a consultant does not have a good idea of how the relationship is going, they need to figure out why and quick! Otherwise their days as a consultant will be short. In an ideal situation, the consultant should pick milestones in the project and have a progress review with the client. If it is honest (and sometimes clients are far from that) you should have good idea of what their final impression will be as long as the agreed upon product is delivered. As simple as this sounds, the client's, or indeed your own organization's, culture may not accomodate these reviews. In that case you may be prey to internal politics and personal preferences and with no real recourse.

When I worked for a big faceless company my fellow Help Desk worker got a bad, real bad review. Three weeks before this bad review our local help desk was rated #2 in the nation for help desk suport by our clients. This was out of more than 120 offices.

If he was doing soo bad of a job how was his office(there were only 3 of us so he was doing a 1/3 of the work) picked as second best in the nation? When he asked supervisor and her boss this he was threatened with termination.

His solutionto his delema was to find a new job asap. If you have got someone in corporate with an agenda the best thing to do is leave. Your not going to change there minds by being the best you can. This will only bring down greater retribution. Get out whileyou can.

The "all contractors must die" was a banner on a factory wall. Always blame the contractor.

My experience has shown me that people are envious of your technical expertise and the negative review is indicative of their personal impotency technically and they try to shoot you down a peg or two, un-justifiably.

To safeguard yourself in case this review potentially reappears in the future to haunt you, ensure that you document any responses you may have concerning the negative feedback - and, if you are representing a Consulting Company, ensure that you speak about it with the Sales Manager/VP and that your responses are filed in your personnel folder.

In my experience, one main cause of negative feedback occurs when there is a discrepancy between the client's objectives and expectations and what you perceive those two things to be. Sometimes this can happen because the client doesn't fully explain or express their true expectations, and sometimes this can happen when we as consultants just plain don't ask the right questions.

In my experience, negative feedback usually means that I go back to the client and have a candid discussion with them about what happened and where the breakdown in communication occured during the consulting process. This usually leads to either my doing more work for them (so that their expectations are met) or my walking away with a better understanding of what happened and being able to use that experience with future client/consultant relationships. In many cases these conversations can leave a better feeling with the client.

As with the other consultants that have posted here, I agree that your best judgement prevails. I've been in various situations, one being where the client says, "it's just what I asked for, but not what I want." In other instances, the sales representative has had personality conflicts with the client, and I was left "holding-the-bag." In this situation, the client was gracious enough to expressly state that they were very happy with my work. This is not always the case. Just like any relationship, communication is the key. I now make sure projects are broken up into milestones, and each is discussed in length with the client before signing. Each milestone is reviewed by the client when accomplished. I haven't had a bad review yet...

In 16 years of Software Experience with large companies (never done any consulting), I've had my share of bad performance reviews. It seems like most managers are required to put both positive and negative statements on your review. The negative ones usually come with recommendations on how to improve, and they expect you to prior to the next review.
But what one manager thinks is good, another may think of as needing improvement. In preparing for this year's review, I read some from previous years and other companies. I found one where I was sited as a team player who was technically incompetant. (I was terminated within 6 months.) Another implied that I was a techno-wizard, but not a team player.
Same person, different circumstances: different assignments, different companies, different teams, different management.
Cindy.

I have been consulting for over 20 years. The basic requirements in my view for a successful relationship are: create a written contract with the client's input, including measurable goals with specific dates for each, specific general review dates, specific chain of command. In addition, in the every-day work place, make sure the contract manager knows immediately when something is going wrong; do not get involved with office politics, while at the same time being polite and friendly to everybody; do not make personal telephone calls on the client's phone or during the client's time.

"Talking to the client like children", noted in a comment from someone else in this discussion, is condescending and can create nothing but distrust and irritation, I believe.

Climb a mountain and you can see (perceive) the curve of the Earth. The flat Earth myth is simply a case of limited perception, and (all together) Perception Is Reality.

Your perception is that the review is undeservedly bad, the customers is that you deserved a bad review... WHO PAYS THE BILLS, WHO IS THE CUSTOMER???

Having said that, you're very correct in offering to make it right, just don't go in as though you are doing the Customer a favour. Right or wrong, the Customer is right.