ex Line Manager about to trash me in 'transfer' appraisal report - what to do?

[Lexilicious]

(previewed - waening this is long!)

I have just moved jobs within a large civil service organisation. The way it works is that you can't progress and promote by staying in one team, you have to move around to different functions. I was a little overdue to move, mainly because there wasn't anything 'different' opening up in the location I was based, but what really triggered me to look seriously at anything going was the new line manager who came in above me seven months ago.

So I looked for, and won, this new job. Normal appraisal process has a 'mid year review' point which is end Sept, and the assessment has to be on the system by end Nov. However if moving elsewhere, a Transfer report goes on the system. Near the end of October, we had what I thought was the MYR meeting, and when offered sight of the text of the appraisal entries for each of my objectives I said I didn't feel we needed to add that extra step in the process, so go ahead and just put them online. I now regret saying that but at the time I thought it would speed things up. The other element of the MYR is a set of 'scores' for each of the current corporate Behaviours. LM said that he would be putting an average grade i.e. threes and fours (out of five) for all of them.

My problem today is that I have now been out of that job for a week, I looked online and all he has done is put in scores (2s and 3s). No text in the Mid Year box for any of my objectives. I believe I know what is coming and I am concerned that it's not going to be pretty. I don't know whether my comments also have to go in on the deadline of 30 Nov, so if he's delaying it cuts down the time I have to respond. I have tried to think of this as "so what - I'm shot of him", etc etc. In a normal year an appraisal is only seen by the manager and the next one up. However, because of transferring, my new line management have to take it into account when they do the end of year assessment.

Because there's nothing been actually submitted online yet, and the 2/3 scores I'm seeing are just in draft, I have options (and therefore a dilemma!). Do I wait for it to be submitted and then use the "subject's comments" box to set out how I disagree, or do I drop a line to my ex-LM's LM (my 'next one up') to tell him my concerns and ask him if he can head off any particularly excessively harsh comments. I have a pretty good relationship with him so I think I could do that without looking like an arse, whereas if I wait for the damage to be done, I will have to explain and deny it to more people, at quite an early stage in them getting to know me in this new job.

Other options: 1. casually drop ex-LM himself a line to say I haven't seen anything, hurry up; 2. call local HR rep to give him a kick up the arse for me.

Contact ex-manager first. Escalating it without giving him the chance to explain is a bad idea and will generate bad feeling.

Say you've seen the draft grades and they don't look like what you discussed. It may be that he's just put something in, anything to get it on the system and will be going back to it later.

However, is it possible you misunderstood? If he said an average grade that could be 2 or 3 out of 5 but it would depend on the organisation. Nowhere I have ever worked has seen 4 out of 5 as average.

I would add that you should always review anything to do with appraisals thoroughly but you already know that don't you

Thanks Katie. I have just re-checked the process and it looks like the scoring behaviours is done only at the end of year point anyway, even if transferring the employee.

So it's incidental in reality, but he definitely said threes in the meeting (3=satisfactory for grade. 2= Needs improvement). What rankles is that one of the behaviours he has put as a 2 is "team player", which means he is blaming me for our personality clash (we are the only two in the 'team') rather than looking at the multiple cross-functional teams I worked very well with on actual job outputs. Literally everyone else thought I was well above average but he came in with a downer on me from the word go.

So I think I will go back and say 'you don't need to do grades at the mid year point fascinating though your assessments are but you do need to put in the comments per objective with enough time for me to respond before the deadline'.

That sounds like a good idea. Good luck

Lexi - I'm in a similar org, and everything needs to be evidence based - so you can provide evidence of your own in relation to the other teams.

HA! both good and bad news... I re-checked again with a Personnel adviser and in my situation the report should have been done before the date I transferred (he had 6 weeks notice of this!) and it's not a mid year at all, it should be a complete report, i.e. including the scoring.

However, my concern that it would taint my relationship/reputation with my new management is probably unfounded because the only reason they would have to see it would be if there was a performance award process this year. Which there won't be.

This is definitely not going to get done in the next few days so I might as well sit back and let him leave it horrendously overdue or incorrectly do only a mid year version, while putting together my own pitch for where I think I should be graded/assessed.