In our annual appraisal, my manager pointed out a specific area of my job duties where I need to improve. I mostly agree with him on this, but I am worried that if I admit that then it may work against me going forward. So what should I do? The specific area he mentioned is core to our responsibility. Will admitting to falling short of the mark damage my prospect in the team or company?
Falling short of expectations for your role has already damaged your prospects in the team and company. Whether or not you admit it to your manager is irrelevant. Getting defensive about it will intoxicate the relationship with your manager and brand you as somebody lacking 'self-awareness', which is probably not what you need. On the other extreme, taking the blame _beyond_ your contribution won't do you any good either. Think through the instances of where you succeeded during review period, or did better than before, and go into the conversation prepared. Your key points in the your conversation with your manager can be: - There are areas where I need to improve, but there are also areas where I'm efficient and successful (communicate your overall value and contribution) - I'm cognizant of the areas where I need to improve; here's what I've been doing to improve so far, and here are the early results of my effort (communicate self-awareness, ownership and, most importantly, a trend for improvement)
I'm an eng manager. I work for mid size startups. You be the judge whether or not this piece of advice applies to your big corp environment.
Great advice. If your manager has not flip the magical bit in their head to manage you out the just admit to it and follow this advice. A good manager will push you in the direction they expect to go to get promoted. If you have a bad manager or they have flipped the bit to manage you out then no advice will help you and you should start looking.
Thanks for the advice. To be fair to my manager, I don't think he is trying to manage me out of the team.
You never know. They won't tell you if that is their plan. Look at other teams in the company as well as outside the company
As manager it's a big concern to me if somebody doesn't "admit" to a shortcoming I have identified and that I can back up with evidence or data. If you acknowledge it there is a very good chance that you can improve, and I view this as positive. The ones who don't acknowledge their issues and subsequently don't improve are much more likely to be in real trouble. YMMV.
read up on the Dunning Krueger effect. Pretty much only people that suck at their job don't admit to their failing to meet expectations. Competent people do tend to be hard on themselves. Not acknowledging it is gonna make you seem less competent.
At Oracle maybe but not at most places. Just make it a focus of your improvement plan