My Boss's warped viewpoint, Part One
Let's start with my Appraisal last year:

Mad Boss: 'I've marked you 'below target' on client service...
Me: 'Oh, right, I'm a bit surprised by that, as I felt I had a really good relationship with the clients'
Mad Boss: 'Well, I'm basing this on feedback from clients, so obviously there's some issues to work on.'
Me: 'OK, what are the issues.'
Mad Boss: 'Well, let me read you a few quotes...'

So she did. The feedback pretty much all followed the same sort of flow. 'Snowy is doing an excellent job, but there should be more senior representation on the account....'. 'We really appreciate the work Snowy does, but we'd like to see more of Mad Boss'. 'Snowy has done a really competent job considering he's expected to pretty much run the account alone', etc.

Me: 'Erm... seems really positive about me, and bad about you. What's the issue for me?'
Mad Boss: 'Well, clearly, you're going to meetings and not making it clear enough that I'm behind the scenes pulling the strings and that I do loads of work on the account'
Me: 'Erm.. well you aren't behind the scenes on most of the work I do, and secondly, I could tell them what you like but they're obviously not going to buy it when they go months at a time without seeing or hearing from you.'
Mad Boss: 'That's out of order, you don't understand the burden of responsibility I have. I have more important things to do than just work on your accounts and go to your meetings.' (Which is a bit rich considering my accounts were 50% of her responsibility)
Me: 'OK, so how do you suggest I get an 'on' or 'above target' score in six months?'
Mad Boss: 'Your target for the next six months is to make your clients think I'm the person behind the quality of work they receive, and to make it clear at each point that I am the driving force on this account'
Me: So, my target under 'Client Relationships' is to denigrate my own input in order to big you up?'
Mad Boss: (Pause) 'Yes.'
Me: 'I want to move accounts...'
Mad Boss: 'Oh, God, you're so childish sometimes...'

Arrrrgggggggggghhhhhh!

Luckily, no longer work with her and have a nice boss who I get on with much better.
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Thu 18 Jun 2009, 14:34, Reply)