Was I wrong for speaking out at staff meeting today

[Safarigiraffe]

Had a staff meeting today after work, boss goes round asking everyone at the end of the meeting if any of us had any questions or anything to say so I said that staff in a particular room are not doing their part in what they have to do to help us out so then both my bosses tell me to watch my tone of voice & not to mention names (I mentioned no names only mentioned the room in particular) made me feel uncomfortable, guilty & awkward after for saying something. So should I of kept quiet or were my bosses being unreasonable for telling me to watch my tone of voice & not to mention names

that’s why I think people can struggle with this, as there isn’t necessarily a culture of mentoring and teaching staff about unwritten rules of the workplace (although some of it is common sense)

I do a lot more of that than I used to.

The job market is so competitive these days that I used to be almost in awe of our more recent staff.

I still admire and respect them, but I've realised how much it can help them to have explicit conversations about how things work here - without suggesting it's all perfect and we can never change anything. Helps them, helps me.

So what was your tone of voice? I imagine it was such that the occupants of room X were immediately angered, put on the defensive and are now wondering what else has been said about them behind their back and by whom.

Your manager was right to pull you up, what you said in the meeting was quite inappropriate as to time and place. You have started a resentment that will have repercussions for months to come. If you are unable to understand how organisations work, and how to enact change , however necessary you perceive it to be, then I suggest you keep your mouth firmly closed in further meetings.

When a boss asks, any questions. It's normally a way to conclude a meeting and generally they don't want any unless it's a rehearsed question. Think you made some enemies that you can be sure of.

You should have pulled your manager to the side after the meeting and had a quiet word,not ridiculed people in front of everyone, if I were them I would be pissed off and embarrassed

This is something you should have raised with your line manager at the appropriate time so the manager could see what the problem was, not at a staff meeting where everyone is just wanting it to end.

I think the mistake was in the way you phrased your point. Would have been better to say something along the lines “I’m not sure what the appropriate forum to raise this is, but can we at some point have a discussion about improving communication/timelines between X room and us?”
I also think your manager’s response was unprofessional. He could easily have rephrased your point to this and tabled it for future discussion.

Could you not have said something like can we please ask everyone to ensure deadlines are met when passing us work to ensure a timely return thanks

General overall request to not throw people under the bus

Ouch. No wonder you were pulled up about it. That's a very direct criticism expressed in a very blunt manner. Obviously I can't hear your tone of voice - but I can imagine the anger behind it. Not good, OP.

A staff meeting is not the time for discussions of that sort OP. You should have spoken to your manager, away from other staff.

Criticising other colleagues should be done privately, not aired out in front of others. No wonder you were taken to task. What you did was unprofessional even if it was true.

I am both a manager and a parent of a ND Child who I can imagine answrlering very similarly in the future.

While.i agree the OP was inappropriate to bring this up, I think the managers need training on addressing a diverse group of employees as well.

With training and experience. I have learnt to set both ground rules and be precise about my questions. I would for example say, *does anyone have any questions about presentation /topics discussed today? ' rather than a blanket any questions.

When a situation does arise like the Ops question, I would. quickly respond by saying. I understand they are frustrated but there are many factors at play. I would emphasise this isn't the forum and ask them to speak to me after the meeting

Deeply unprofessional of you. This should have either been done in private with your manager or phrased in a much better way. Eg. We've had a number of requests for xyz late in the day, could I remind everyone the cut off for these requests is 3:00.

I'll go against the grain and say all feedback is golden and in this climate of recruitment crisis it gives management a chance to see an issue and deal with it. If you were emotional then likewise they could've said we see this is important to you so let's talk after with whoever. Watch your tone is a bit parental and just gets folk to shut up. Suppressing people is more toxic imo.

Next time watch your tone 😊 and play the game 😋.

I would’ve approached the manager at the end and asked for a quick word. Accusing other employees of not pulling their weight publicly isn’t a good move. Lots of (admittedly, bad) managers would react negatively to this too as it puts them on the back foot and in aggressive damage control mode.

If you HAD to say something then and there, you could’ve phrased it like “can I just ask what the procedure is for doing x work, or passing work between rooms?” but really this should be a private word with the manager.

My team have meetings like this and the only things I raise are general, like does the manager know when repairs to one of the meeting rooms are due to complete, reminding everyone that we have x event coming up if it’s not been mentioned in the meeting, thanking someone for helping me out, etc.

No one’s saying OP shouldn’t have raised an issue; but they definitely shouldn’t have raised it in a public forum and phrased the way they did.

What OP said was hostile and publically throwing an entire team under the bus.

What she should have done is have a word with the manager privately about any performance issues with the team in question.

Better to talk the detail through in private but I bet there were several others who were glad you said it publically. I get rather fed up of meetings where there is an elephant in the room, or brushing things under the carpet and managers who can't deal with confrontation or potentially upsetting people by saying anything remotely negative. So what if it made others feel uncomfortable? Good. Sometimes things need saying, particularly if you feel someone is papering over the cracks.

Yes but people aren't machines. She's felt strongly about something, given feedback and hopefully they'll act on it. It's just honest. I'm not reading it as outright hostility - just someone tired pissed off or whatever. You know - like human

Receptive and skilled managers can smooth this out in a minute. Channel her passion blah blah.

Well, they're kind of expecting questions like "so have I understood point 2 correctly" I suppose, not "Brian and Audrey in room 8 aren't doing their job what are you going to do about that eh eh?"

Aside from it being inappropriate to raise this in front of other staff members, what did you think the reaction would be?

It's the end of a meeting about something else. Did you really think the response would be along the lines of "excellent input XX, dont take any shit off them and talk to me of it happens again"?

Genuinely what response did you expect?

Just...WOW!! 😱

How old are you OP? Do you have very much experience in the 'adult world ie work'???

What you did was completely unprofessional!! Utterly, completely baffling that you don't appear to have any concept that what you said was wrong! 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Wasn’t the right time or place op: are you new to work?

Read your post and tbh I cringed. It was inappropriate of you to say this at a time when a meeting was being wrapped up. Any questions or comments does not open the floor for complaints, it’s closes a meeting and ensures everyone is on the same page. I’m sorry but you were out of line and the comment back was fair.

I would not ask a question public like that I would not want asked of me, there are questions that should be more private

I take generic 'any questions' to be about general questions

You keep trying to rationalize your behavior and seem to want validation that they "were mean to you" when they corrected you.

That was NOT the time or the place for what you brought up. At all.