A significant problem for a relative newcomer to a large organization (as I am still after under two years at Microsoft) is when you run into undocumented expectations. In my first annual review, my manager at the time wrote, "Aaron met expectations during this review period." That was a surprise to me at the time, as I had no idea what the expectations were or how to meet them, much less exceed them. In fact, my opinion was that if I met expectations without knowing what they were, that should be revised to be "exceeding all reasonable expectations."
I've run afoul of the undocumented expectation many times since coming to Microsoft. Another smaller example is not using the format for status meetings that an attending executive expects. In an attempt to have non-intrusive, efficient, and valuable status meetings, I would send out the status in advance, keep the meeting short, and not merely read aloud the status report to attendees. That reading aloud format is painful to sit through, encourages ridicule by others after the fact, and lets people basically disregard any preparation for the meeting. However, it turns out there is an undocumented expectation to spend at least part of every status meeting doing exactly that.
Another undocumented expectation I've run into multiple times is when presenting a report or slide deck or whatever that turns out to not be in the expected format, layout style, or presentation order. That format is rarely explained ahead of time, even when you ask about it. At best, you may be able to find it out by the tenth time you present to someone, unless they change it, of course, which happens all too often. You can also spend a lot of extra time running around consulting with others to try to figure out what's expected, but I don't consider that documented.
What's even more exciting, and this has happened to me as well, is when the actual content of your presentation in an area where you are supposed to be the expert who has done the research and planning and is going to set forward strategy or policy is not what the recipient expected and it's your fault. There's been a time or two where I realize partway through a presentation that it's going south because it's not what the audience expected and they aren't happy about that. What I want to do is stop, shake them, and demand to know why they didn't just let me know what they wanted to hear in advance and save me a lot of work and them a lot of anguish.
I mentioned strategy, which brings up a related thought. I've had two annual reviews now, and in the first, my manager at the time brought up a criticism that said I was thinking too tactically and needed to think strategically if I wanted to succeed. In my second, my manager brought up a criticism that I was thinking too strategically and not paying enough attention to the tactics. Since my second review resulted in a better score and better accompanying compensation awards, more strategy and less tactics is better, but I still need to adjust. Apparently, the proper mix is another undocumented expectation.
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1 comment:
I assume you are not just griping.
What you describe sounds like part of a corporate culture. You might look underneath to see what the expectation really is. I've seen a few really smart companies and a lot of really dumb ones. I'm a little surprised that MS would have a lot of that kind of thing without some (hidden) agenda since, in my opinion, MS is one of the more savvy companies I've met when it comes to employee development. So what is it that they want to discover or, more likely, what is it that they want you to discover? Look hard. I think you are missing something.
One idea that leaps out at me is that of mentoring. Have you established a relationship with a senior mentor, one who looks out for your career and guides you through the maze of expectations and cultural norms? Finding the right mix of strategic and tactical content seems like a hefty clue that they (some they) are looking for you to take an action that they want you to discover. Maybe building a mentor relationship is part of that.
Meeting management is often one of these cultural things. Sure, you can send out the meeting results in advance. You will get exactly what you described: bored people who offer no input and gripe a lot. Reading the slides puts everyone to sleep, including the presenter. For peer meetings, you might try sending out talking points. Treat the meeting as you might a code review. With the right audience, I've seen what appears to be a another effective strategy. A friend and colleague used to go to meetings with a draft of the final report tucked away. She let everyone babble until things were hopelessly confused before she slyly pulled out a summary of results. If that met with less than united resistance, she then volunteered to write up the results. This, of course, took five minutes, four of which were spent stalling. I watched this over and over. Most people never caught on. Of course I never had any idea what she would say. It's was only coincidence when the outcome was consistent with my views. Since I was the tech manager and she was the user manager, it was at least convenient. It also worked nearly every time.
Annie O'Nonnie
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