Preview to Thursday

Thursday is going to be a tough day. Let me explain why: I am giving a performance evaluation, and it is not going to be pretty. It is also not going to be biased, personal, or untrue. This person has lost customers, blamed mistakes on his co-workers, gossiped about many of his co-workers (and about me as well), and despite many meetings and retraining sessions, he continues to make the same mistakes over and over again. He is getting a 2.17 out of 5.

He is going to think that my assessment of his performance is based on my personal opinion of him. He is wrong. I worked very hard to make sure my assessment is fair and honest. My director read it and approved. The person who I am training to take over my job has read it and agrees with what I wrote. None of this will matter. He will accuse me of being unfair. He will complain to my boss, and then he will go to Human Resources.

None of this will help him. The only thing that will help him improve his work performance is himself. And now that he does not report to me, he will no longer have the "excuse" that my assessment was unfair and personal.

I have lost no sleep over this.