Submitted by K_Y_R on
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I'm a consultant. My manager works for our client. I rarely report to anyone within my company. My company's site lead for this client, "Becky", informed me that she will not be able to write my annual review. Becky offered me the choice of having my review written by either "Luke" or "Ian" which she would then approve. Luke and Ian are both significantly more senior at my company than I, but interact with me on a peer level w.r.t. this client engagement.
I'm leaning towards choosing Luke to write my review. I would characterize my relationship with Luke as excellent and know that he holds my work in high regard. Luke also has better awareness of my specific activities due to the proximity of our work.
I do have concerns about choosing Luke. Luke has never written a performance review before and may face a steep learning curve. I am concerned that Luke writing my review would damage our relationship as peers and could put me in a difficult spot if Luke and my manager made conflicting requests. Ian has written reviews before and may have more weight during performance reviews due to being slightly senior to Luke.
Regardless of who I choose, how do I strike the right tone so it is clear they are writing my review and not managing my day-to-day priorities?
Any advice on how to approach this decision would be greatly appreciated.
Choose my annual reviewer?
I'm having trouble understanding how you do not have a manager. Who is the person who directs your work and supervises you? Is it Becky? What is Becky's reason for not doing her job if that is the case?
How can someone do your review if they did not set your objectives and have not been meeting with you regularly to give feedback on your progress toward those objectives?
Our situations may be very different, but I am very uncomfortable with the idea that a peer would write my annual review. You are correct that this will damage your friend/peer relationship. Whoever writes your review is your boss. If he writes it, he becomes your boss, and you now have a boss/direct relationship - not a peer relationship.
If I were a consultant, I would rather work with the client supervisor who has been directing my work than I would have my own boss chicken out and dump it on my peer and me to solve by ourselves.
I have consultants in my department, and I have written their reviews for them when their own companies have bailed like this. But I also bend the rules and set their objectives for them and meet with them as if they are employees using the O3 model anyway. It comes in handy both to ensure I am getting what I want, they know what they need to do for me, and they know exactly how well they are doing it.
When I have done it, I have also delivered a sound feedbacking to the people at the vendor company for abandoning their duty as managers and have warned them that failing to support their people ticks me off and will result in my failure to consider them for services in the future.
Choose my annual reviewer?
The choice is D) None of the above.
Your manager should write and deliver your review, even if they haven't worked with you one bit. Obviously they need to get input from Becky, Luke and Ian as well as your customer. Of course, this doesn't help your immediate problem.
In your situation, the problem isn't so much who does your performance review as it is a political situation of how do you avoid a dotted report relationship to Luke, who you view as your peer.
I don't have much advice for you other than defining the problem better. Becky already views that seniority relationship as existing between Luke and you. If you're looking to avoid this, you should talk it over with your manager about how this could hurt your ability to provide service if you're politically forced into a subservient position under other peers. Ask your manager outright to write your review...or suggest that you write it and he get input from Becky, Luke and Ian to confirm or add to what your write. Alternately, suggest the same to Becky.
Hope it helps spark some thought. As with most consulting problems, the answer is "take charge of it yourself when you can".
Brian
Choose my annual reviewer?
41/Brian - Thanks for your responses! Your advice coupled with a good night's sleep have really helped me see this situation much clearer.
I've decided to ask my manager to write my review despite our client/contractor relationship . Asking my manager to accept work that my company traditionally handles may be a hard sell but I should be able to explain how the benefits more than justify the time commitment. I'm going to give Becky a heads up that I am exploring this option in case she feels I am reversing a decision she has already made.
If things don't work out my way, I'm just going to have to accept the reality that my superiors do not regard Luke and myself as peers.
Never a dull moment when you work in a matrix :D
Choose my annual reviewer?
Wait - are you a contractor? As in 1099? If so, then the answer really is "None of the Above". Nobody writes your review because nobody is your boss.
Brian