Looking for advice on how to deal with this.
I had a meeting today where I had the unfortunate task of giving a presentation that evaluated the (failing) performance of a particular process.
The senior level VP that oversees that process took this as someone of a lower level (i.e. - me) not questioning the process, but him, as if I was attacking him directly. And in a sudden outburst, got up and walked out of the meeting. Leaving the VP's boss, my boss, one of my directs and me to try and salvage things and continue the meeting.
This is the third time this has happened with this VP, the other two times it was not done to me personally, but to peers of mine. Recently we went through a restructuring wherein the VP in question was able to secure and continue in his position, so any thoughts I might have had about him being taken to task over this is all but gone.
I find his behavior disrespectful and unprofessional to say the least and I have no confidence that his management is dealing with his behavior.
Questions:
Do I have any recourse?
Should I bring this to the attention of HR?
My direct is seriously demoralized due to this event, what advice do I give them?
Prewired?
Ouch. Yes, naturally, the senior level person took it personally. It failed on his watch; of course it reflects on him. There is almost no way this could have ended well for you.
Your only chance was to prewire the meeting: http://www.manager-tools.com/2007/11/how-to-prewire-a-meeting
Something else is fishy here: Why do you think your bosses set you up? Why isn't this evaluation being presented by someone at his level or higher? Why is someone below his grade level asked to give him a public performance review?
But what to do? First, apologize. The key to success here is to remember that an apology isn't about who's right or wrong: it's a way to repair a relationship. That's what you need to do: http://www.manager-tools.com/2006/10/do-you-need-to-apologize You should have worked with him on this, and you didn't. That's the basis of your apology.
HR is unlikely to help you. Is there an outcome within their control that would make a difference now?
As for your direct, share the "prewire" cast with him, and talk about how some lessons are learned the hard way.
John Hack
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Thanks for your reply.
I do have a couple of questions about your advice.
1. pre-wires :
I listened to the "pre-wire" cast about 2 weeks before this meeting and it left me having a more questions than solutions, let me explain.
The business where I work is odd in the way it treats (senior) management; access to them is, for all purposes, impossible. How do you pre-wires when you are not allowed time to get feedback from the key players involved?
Also, in regards to the "your bosses set you up".
Perhaps I should have stated this before, my manager didn't set me up, one of the people that asked that I create and give the presentation was the VP in question as well as several of his peers.
Thanks again for your attention
Not adding up
Maybe, you could have pre-wired this meeting, and insisted he meet with you before the presentation. Maybe your boss was completely surprised and knew nothing of this guy's history. Maybe this is how things are done at your company.
One way or another, you were put in a no-win situation, knowingly, by your manager (and/or his manager).
There are too many aspects of this situation that smell funny. A senior VP asks you to evaluate his process, at a public meeting, but refuses to meet with you beforehand to review your findings?
Your boss, knowing this has happened before, just lets you walk into the lion's den?
And this VP's boss was in the room, lost control of the meeting, and was left trying to "salvage things"?
If this is really what happened, you should make sure your resume is up to date, and that your network is strong.
John Hack
Let it lie
Overall, I like John''s perspective on this. Here is some more thoughts.
Replies to your 3 questions:
1) You do not have recourse, and I do no think it is healthy to pursue it or wish it.
2) Definitely do not bring in HR. This is not a HR issue. You were not harassed, he was just rude.
3) Talk about the event with your direct in the O3. Your direct gets her job satisfaction primarily from you. Your relationship with her is more powerful than a one-off grumpy SVP, so I would not worry too much about this.
As to the pre-wire:
You could have pre-wired with your boss (maybe you did). In this conversation you could have asked for input on how they thought the information would be received, etc. You could have sent the presentation or a summary of the findings to the SVP in e-mail, followed by an attempt at a meeting. At least there would have been no surprises by the SVP. I would not have pre-wired the SVP's boss.
As to the apology:
This is a great idea if it fits your culture. Based on your second post, I am not sure it does. I am also not sure if the SVP cares about their relationship with you (no offense taken I hope). Still, it is a nice idea if you want to ever have a good relationship with them.
Overall:
Unless your boss shares a lot of info about the politics and relationships of folks at the VP+ tier, you have to assume there is a lot more to what went down than your part. Maybe you were a pawn set up to play a role, maybe it was all on the up an up and the SVP was just grumpy, who knows. What is certain is that it is out of your hands so let it go. Focus on your role and your contribution. That you can control.
my .02
-Mike
Prewiring Outside Your Team
I also work in an organization that doesn't really permit direct access to senior executives. The key is to find someone at that level that you work for who can help with the prewire. If the senior executives asked for this, and you work for a senior executive - even if a couple of layers up - I would think that person would be the person to do the prewiring. I would talk to your boss before any report is coming and, particularly if it is going to be negative, ask for help in prewiring.
Another option is to find someone who works for the SVP but at your level, but has better access because he or she is in the same organization. Enlist that person's help in prewiring. Hopefully, they will benefit from their efforts to prevent the boss from getting embarrassed. In fact, bad news should come from below first, rather than from across the organization, so the SVP's direct who is responsible for the parts of the report that are negative should be even more interested in prewiring than you.
In general, senior folks only get this upset when they are embarrassed in front of their boss and/or peers. The SVP wasn't given the opportunity to prewire with those people, and that is probably what set him off. He should have gotten news of an upcoming negative assessment at least from his direct, AND ALSO from your organization. An apology may be in order, but again, depending on the culture, perhaps not from you. The relationships that were damaged here were not just the one between you and the SVP, but also the one between your boss and the SVP, the one between your supervising SVP and this SVP, the one between the SVP and his boss, and the one between the SVP and his directs.
You must find a way to share the information before the meeting, preferably BOTH through your boss and boss's boss and through the other SVP's directs. If the boss is unable or unwilling to give you top cover, it will only get more difficult for you to complete honest assessments on anyone in the future.