The Workplace Therapist

Years ago, I was a young manager working for a large global financial services company. During my time there, the economy plummeted into a recession (sound familiar?). As a result, raises were few and far between. As a youthful and naive manager I had plenty of ambition and more than my fair share of luck. In fact, during my tenure, the organization went through several rounds of layoffs.  Somehow I survived, but in the midst of all of … Read entire article »

When it comes to performance reviews, perhaps nothing can be more frustrating than to be “surprised” during the conversation. However, before we go much further down the path, it is only fair that I share  my personal bias against virtually all surprises. Admittedly, I’m not a lover of surprises, and if you don’t believe me, you can ask my wife. She’s learned the hard way that “surprise birthday parties” are my own version of a personal … Read entire article »

It has been my experience that when performance reviews turn dysfunctional, 50% of the time the issue lies with the content itself (its inaccurate, vague, political, etc…). However, for the other 50% of the time it has to do with how the feedback was delivered. Sometimes the feedback comes across as a personal attack. It’s as if our manager simply doesn’t like us. Other times the feedback comes across as a cold and callous assault. It’s … Read entire article »

More often than not, workplace dysfunction is a sneaky and unpredictable thing. Your boss flips out without warning simply because your report is an hour late. Your co-worker smiles at you in the break room only to be secretly plotting to get you fired the first chance they get. However, there is one time of year that dysfunction can be anticipated – performance review time. This season is particularly ripe with dysfunction, headaches, heartbreaks and … Read entire article »