I had my review a few months ago.  I sat down in a room with my manager and my manager’s manager.  I was somewhat excited.  I knew a promotion was sure to come.  I’d successfully managed 2 large scale company projects.  I’d developed 3 tools to simplify work for employees across the country.  I had gone far and beyond by aiding my fellow co-workers.

My manager began reading his notes he made in reference to me.  My Strengths…  He read one paragraph.  I thought it was somewhat skimmed in comparison to my actions but I was like hey, can’t say it all.  The he moved to the Weaknesses and Developmental areas.  “Emotion control, Phone, Email responses”.

I was quite perturbed.  I did everything but turn water to wine.  I took over projects my manager couldn’t manage.  I’m a constant resource for answers for the managerial level that is three levels above me, and the best he can tell me is work on my emotion and communication skills.  And this is coming from a man who responds to my emails 3 weeks later.  Was I upset?  Not really.  Was I disappointed?  Hell yeah!

But that put one thing in perspective for me.  I need to control my own career.  If I continue to work year over year and come in this room and listen to my manager give me a random list of soft skills and tell me to work on them, I’ll be stuck here for the next 20 years.  Oddly enough, no one mentioned any of these things to me in the last year.  No developmental meetings, no discussions of growth at all until review time.

So I’m sure you know what my vote is, but what is yours…

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