To send my boss feedback

[keeponkeepingom]

I recently failed to get an internal promotion. My boss said it was due to one issue with my work which he (helpfully) had never raised before. I’m keen to get a promotion, so have spent the last month working on this issue and feel I’ve made great strides towards resolving it. However, my boss is not the sort who organises feedback or progress meetings so there’s no way of letting him know this (other than hoping he just happens to notice, which is unlikely).

Since I know he won’t be proactive, would it be unreasonable to email him out of the blue with a summary of how I addressed the problem he raised and positive feedback I’ve had for my work? Or does it look too pushy?

I'd probably save it for your next performance meeting really.

The problem is we don’t really get performance meetings (it’s a relatively small company).

I would ask for an interim performance catch up/ one-to-one. Say you have been working to address recent feedback and you want to share your progress, and ask for support on next steps.

I’d ask for a 1-1 meeting and take the lead. Nothing to lose

I feel like if he’s raised this criticism then I’m entitled to work on it and come back with a response as to how I’ve done that. But maybe that’s overstepping the mark. I genuinely don’t know.

Do you think a meeting is better than putting it in an email?

My thinking is it’s good to have these things in writing, but I may be wrong…

Absolutely you should raise it with him. You should also get it confirmed that he has agreed you met the performance target set for you and that there’s no other performance criteria that would prevent you from being promoted in the future, or if there is to let you know now so you can work on improving them in a similar way that you have on this task.

Then confirm everything that was discussed and agreed on an email afterwards.

Leave no wiggle room for them to bypass you on a future promotion, and well done on taking the feedback on board and using it to enhance your performance.

@RogerR4bbit thank you. Should I set out in an email how I’ve addressed the feedback do you think? Or would face to face be better? I’m just thinking that it would be good to have something in writing.

You have the email to say you have taken on the feedback. The meeting to discuss more. Then the follow-up email to demonstrate what you discussed (and any additional points) after the meeting. Paper trail AND discussion.

Ideally I’d like to just put it in email because in all honesty, my boss is a prickly character and not easy to pin down for a meeting or talk to! Is an email alone not enough?

You’re making every excuse there is to not do the mature, sensible thing and have a face to face discussion so you might as well take the easy way out and send the email.

I’m still not clear on why there has to be face to face discussion?

On its own. Probably not. You need to at least ask for the meeting. You can include a quick agenda that touches on what you have done to address his feedback.

Because you’re already worried about coming across as pushy and the written word can be so open to interpretation sometimes, especially when it comes to navigating prickly characters. Plus it’s the professional thing to do.

I feel the opposite - asking for a meeting is more pushy as it’s taking up more of their time. And I think the written word is less open to interpretation than an undocumented chat. But I may be wrong.

You seem to think it’s one or the other, when actually your best bet is to do both. In your shoes I’d send an email to briefly say you’ve taken onboard their feedback, implemented x, y, z to address it and would like some time to discuss your progress and any next steps.

That way you’re not springing a surprise meeting on them, are clearly setting the agenda, and have a paper trail. You could then double down on the paper trail after the meeting by following up to thank them for their time and document the discussion points and any ongoing actions so you have it all in writing.

This approach creates a two-way conversation about your development so you can ensure the steps you’ve taken actually resolves the issue in your manager’s eyes, as well as enabling you to address any other perceived issues in the moment rather than being blindsided by them at the point of possible promotion. Ultimately you want to use this time to clear the deck of any reservations your manager might have about promoting you in the future.

Frankly the kind of manager that doesn’t do regular 121s, raise issues in the moment or follow up on performance discussions is unlikely to care a jot about you emailing them with an update. At best they might file it to refer back to at a later date (unlikely if your company doesn’t do performance reviews), at worst I fear it’ll just get lost in the ether of their inbox. Whilst I’m all for keeping a paper trail in situations like this, I feel keeping an open dialogue will be far more beneficial to you in the long run.