Not meeting expectations at work and work politics

[BourbonSofia]

Hello All,

I've been dealing with work politics and come to find out today that I don't meet performance expectations.

At work, I've been assigned tasks that I work on, but my senior peer invites work friends to join and provide review. Once it gets to the outside world, they change the narrative to  "we helped". I didn't realize this until now. Also, she tends to provide her friends visible work. She is my coach, but when she was asked to provide feedback my manager said she did not give glowing reviews. This is something I haven't heard during our coaching sessions. The issue is that she might get promoted to be my manager soon.

Good about the job: benefits, pay, flexible time.

Not sure if I should start looking for another job, since I'm not in their inner circle or meet the expectations they are going to set - keep my head down and have them take all of the visible work.

[ender]

Do you have a manager who is engaged/involved?

What does "come to find out today that I don't meet performance expectations" mean?

What does "not give glowing reviews" mean? That could mean "BourbonSofia meets expectations" or "BourbonSofia is terrible at their job" and it's not clear which.


The unfortunate reality is that what you do at work matters far less than what people perceive you do at work. If you are facing performance issues you need to either do higher visibility tasks, make your work higher visibility, or document and track what you do.

[BourbonSofia]

Our manager likes a bit of competition so long as her and her friends get a lot of work done. I haven't hear the full feedback yet ( "not give glowing reviews") but she said that she was not happy with the quality of some of the work I've done and her and her friends had to jump in and help. Thus, I showed my manager the changes they made to the document and it was two sentences. His answer, you have to do quality work 🙄.

Thank you for your replies!

[MommyCake]

It is awfully unkind (and maybe even unprofessional) to hear about poor performance for the first time in writing.  Can you talk to your coach, and let her know that you didn't realize she was unhappy with you, and ask her for tips for how to improve?  This will not be an easy conversation, and you may have to fake some enthusiasm.  But if it's her opinion that matters and she's going to get promoted to manager, you will want her on your side. 

[AZDude]

Have an honest look at yourself. Are you doing quality work? Are you working hard? We cannot answer those questions, but they make a huge difference in how you should proceed.

If you are working hard, but just are not getting it done, then it is probably time to look for a different role better suited for your skillset(or to get some training, or even to just listen to the feedback from your coach). If you are not working hard, and turning in low quality work, then its solely on you to turn things around.

If you are working hard, and feel like you are turning in high quality work, then you need to stand up for yourself and a conversation with your coach about expectations, results, and what you are/are not willing to do.

Again though, outside opinions often are based on flawed perceptions. You know whether you are getting the job done or not. Your opinion of your work is the only one that should truly matter(to you).

If you want advice on how to handle a-hole co-workers, the best advice I can give you is to do three things.

1) Ignore their petty drama while putting money into the 'stache.
2) Work hard, do quality work, and always make sure things are document correctly.
3) Do not put up with any shenanigans, and walk away if you have to.

[Chrissy]

Advocate for yourself with your manager, making sure he knows what is your work vs. what is their work.  ALSO start looking for a new job.

[J Boogie]

When it comes time for your performance review, if you have a chance to give your side of the story I'd mention these two things:

You didn't receive any constructive criticism so you assumed your work met/exceeded expectations.

You weren't involved in the decision to bring in any other colleagues and you would've preferred to hear what you needed to better so you could focus on improving in those areas.


If there aren't many other people you hang out with at work, then yeah I'd look for a new job. I am lucky enough to have no adversaries, 4-6 close confidants, and almost an entire dept I am on good terms with.

Anyways, I hope you're able to grow from this and chalk it up as a learning experience in one way or another so you can deal with situations like this easily and stresslessly in the future.

Best of luck to you!

[Padonak]

I would give you some advice, op, but I'm afraid I might get banned for that.

[GuitarStv]

Once you've been branded 'not meeting expectations' it's best to start looking for a new job.

[Schaefer Light]

It's hard to meet expectations if you don't know what the expectations are.