Submitted by mizzoupete on
in
Forums
Recently in a O3, I had an a junior employee (not a direct report) ask me how he "rates" compared to others with the same role. He asked for general directional (top half, top quartile, bottom quartile, etc) concerning his performance (his presence, presentations, approach, output, etc) based on the experience I have observed in meetings and other interactions. I was not sure how to respond and informed him that we would discuss in our next 1:1.
My gut says that its not an unreasonable question but I'm not sure if I am not thinking about it from all sides and/or not thinking about a potential poor output from provide a response/answer.
How would the forum approach this question?
Thx!
I would stay away from
I would stay away from answering the question and let his manager know he's looking for some feedback on his performance. If you're not in a position to write his performance reviews, then expressing your opinion of his work -and especially his ranking within his peer group - could cause a lot of heartburn for his manager.
It's very unlikely that you and his manager share exactly the same opinion of this person and his manager is the one who will have to explain the discrepancy. I don't see how anything good could come from it.
I'm also curious about why you're having O3s with someone else's direct. Am I misinterpreting the situation?
Steve
DiSC 7114
Get him to Rephrase the Question
Agree - question is to vague and loaded. Lots of risk on your part by answering.
Ask him what he specifically wants to improve about himself (he obviously has concerns or he wouldn't have asked for feedback), then offer suggestions of how he can improve those areas himself (kind of a mini coaching session). That's more beneficial to him and gives you something to work with.