Ask the Geezers

Frustrating Results from the ME Survey

Question: I just became a manager this year and I recently got back my results from Sun's annual Management Excellence Survey (a survey in which employees can give anonymous feedback to their manager). I thought I was doing a pretty good job and my employees, my manager and my peers gave me good feedback in person, however the survey results were not that good. I thought I was an A- or B+ manager but the survey results say I'm closer to a C- (in the lower 70th percentile)... I have been putting a lot of energy into my job as a manager and now I feel so disappointed that apparently I'm not doing as well as I thought.

How can I put this survey feedback into perspective? How can I use it to make myself a better manager next year?

Mike: First, read the interpretation on MyHR @ Sun Web (an internal HR website at Sun) about how to interpret your results and present them to your team. Re-read it a couple of times to make sure you have a thorough understanding.

The survey is a way for employees to send anonymous feedback. It is also a tool for managers to get feedback and look for ways to improve whatever needs to be improved. So it is especially important for new managers to embrace the process as an opportunity to listen, and engage in open dialogue.

Second, remember that the percentile scores are based on a heterogeneous population of managers from all kinds of jobs, such as HR, Finance etc. You are compared against every job type of people managers at all kinds of level and experience. That's important to understand because different job functions have different strengths. For example, Sales & Services people tend to spend a lot of time on setting clear steps against their quarterly goals. Engineering managers might not do that so engineering managers as a group could have a lower percentile score in setting expectations when compared to other groups. On the other hand, the people that give the ratings are also a heterogeneous set. How they interpret the question as well as the choices for the answers could also be different.

In summary, it's better not to focus on the exact percentile score, but to look for trends/things where your expectations are different from what you are given and share that with your group in a matter-of-fact manner. You can start with “Here is what I think. Tell me what your thoughts are.” The absolute wrong thing to do is to look at the score and think “these people hate me so I won't work with them.” Remember that we learn how to become good managers from the people in the groups we manage.

Amiram: This situation is a lot more common than you might think. You have some excellent opportunities here. You have an opportunity for learning a lesson or two, and another for improving yourself. The lessons are simple. First, personal feedback is very general and is not to be taken literally. "Good job!", "Well done!", "Keep up the good work!" are nice to hear, but one should not draw his or her career conclusions based on these comments. Surveys are more focused and are directed at specific characteristics of your job, ie your personality, your management style. Surveys are also statistically sound. They are based on a reasonable sample of people, and the questions are made up and reviewed by professionals. It's quite expected that hallway feedback will be great but general, while focused, even scientific feedback will be closer to the truth. People who are more critical of themselves and their performance, usually don't take the general comments into account when they have to assess their own performance. A better sense of self, along with some self reflection capabilities, and a little self criticism will do the job. You should probably put less weight on general compliments in the future, and pay more attention to the scientific ones.

As for the other opportunity: the survey gave you some very specific items to work on. Don't try to change everything at once. Chances are it won't work. Select up to three items that need the most improvement. Read about them, ask for help, direction, coaching. Try to set up some metric for success. Re-visit in a few months, and adjust the plan as needed.

Keep in mind: first line manager positions are not as easy as they seem. You are the face that the employees associate with the company. Did you know that people leave their manager far more than they leave a company? So my advice to you is: don't be too judgmental about yourself, be more accepting to criticism, devise a plan, follow it, become better. It's not the end of the world - with some good will and directed effort - you will recover.

Sin-Yaw: If you have learned piano for less than a year, proud as you may be of your achievements, would anyone really rate you as a good pianist? If you are a medical doctor who just graduated from school a year ago, would you believe you are likely to be an "A-" doctor? Why would you expect that as a professional engineering manager? (And if you are truly one of these geniuses, you won't be asking this question.)

Come on! Give yourself a break. You are a novice in this management thing. Keep your spirits up, learn from everyone (including those who gave you a bad score), make sure that you do not stop improving. Don't fret over this. Before you know it, you could be the best manager your staff have ever worked for.

By the way, a good manager makes unpopular decisions from time to time. Placating the staff to get good scores is not a good idea.

Posted at 07:19PM Jun 21, 2007 by Wen Michelle Lei in General  |  Comments[2]