Anxiety around Performance Improvement Plan

[Scorcher791]

Hi All,

I'm wondering if any of you can relate and/or advise? I left a good, well-paid job in teaching (primary) with great holidays as I hated the environment and didn't particularly like my colleagues . I also felt bored teaching kids and that I needed a change. I've now got another job in university administration and I've been there 4 months now and felt I was getting on pretty well. I really like the lecturers I support, my Line Manager is a decent guy and I get on with my colleagues on the admin team. I was quite happy as I felt I had settled in quite well and liked the place. However, I had my first formal probation yesterday and my Line manager said that my admin skills are not where they should be at this stage and put me on a performance improvement plan. I got quite a shock to be honest as I had felt I was learning at a pace that was appropriate given the length of time I had been there and had been told to ask questions etc if I wasn't sure of something. Now I feel that the goalposts have been moved without my knowledge and that I'm being expected to perform despite having little to no training, apart from what a kind colleague has shown me. I'm also scared to ask questions or say that I don't understand or haven't grasped something in case it reflects poorly on me and they think I'm not competent in the role. It's triggered a huge amount of anxiety and paranoia in me and I'm worried I'm not going to be able to pick up the skills quickly enough and will lose the job.... I suffer quite badly from anxiety in any case and struggle with insomnia and this was also why I left teaching as I felt a huge amount of pressure to be constantly "on" and "perform" and was often drained and exhausted. I'm 45 and not sure what else I could do if this job doesn't work out...I'm creative and enjoy researching ideas and writing and have had a few articles published but it's been exceptionally difficult to get paid and in the age of AI, I'm not sure writing full-time is a viable career option for me....it seems a lot of work for little to no reward. I would be very grateful if anyone had any thoughts or advice as to how to handle this situation and/or any general tips for careers in general.... Many Thanks!

Ex long term uni admin here. Is the problem with IT systems, in which case there should be training your manager should have put you on, do ask if so as it looks proactive. Or is it more organisational I.e. prioritising, accuracy?

What does the Performance improvement plan say? It should have clear SMART goals so that you know exactly where you stand. If the line manager has not given you this, you need to ask for it. Have they suggested/arranged any training in these specific skills? Have they arranged a specific colleague buddy for you?

University professional service roles can be very sink or swim unfortunately.

I assume this was an interim probation meeting rather than confirmation in post, as these things shouldn't come as a surprise. Really they should be having regular meetings with you so things that need work are picked up before needing a PIP.

Also a probationary review meeting should not be the first place you hear about concerns, that's poor management. There should never be surprises in probation or PDR meetings.

Exactly @Floopani . The manager may be a decent guy, but I'm not sure he's a good manager.

Seen so many of them, so exactly this!

I'm also scared to ask questions or say that I don't understand or haven't grasped something in case it reflects poorly on me and they think I'm not competent in the role.

This stood out to me as being a huge issue. If you aren't telling people that you don't understand something then presumably you are doing work that you don't understand? 🫤 That would worry me far more than someone asking for extra help. Was this covered in the PIP?

Ask for a mentor/buddy asap. You should have someone you can ask any questions to without any fear. If you feel uncomfortable asking for this or they don’t provide it - then this role is not for you.

Your union would definitely query the process if you weren't line managed properly, are you a member? Not that I'd involve them at this point if so, but would bear it in mind depending on how the PIP goes. But you do need SMART objectives as said above so you know clearly what you need to do to improve.

One thought, how much have you been wfh? At the start, sitting with the team is invaluable, it's easier (for me) psychologically to ask a question in person than to arrange a teams call.

Thanks murasaki for your reply- it's more to do with the Systems in use in the college. We have to use a software called 'Oracle' which I'd never come across for iProcurement and another system called SITs for processing student applications, entering grades etc. Also Blackboard for modules and results....so 3 new systems that I've had little to no training on....

Thanks Floopani also- I haven't actually received the PIP in writing yet and my Line Manager didn't specify during the meetiing how and when I would be able to access training- just that it might have to be "in house" or externally via LinkedIn (that's not even an option as there's no LinkedIn training for these systems!)

DeepDarkBlue I find the systems in use in the college very clunky, unwieldy and cumbersome. I expressed this to my manager when I started as well as yesterday when I had the review and he agreed but said that these were the systems we had and that was what we had to work with. Previously I had been regularly asking questions and expressing my difficulties but as a result of this PIP I now feel like I would be reluctant to do that.... Not sure I have the head for systems and processes and the 'training' that I had on iProcurement consisted of a 2 hour block of time on MS Teams where a Chinese lady whizzed through the procedure to purchase an item on iProcurement and that was it.... Other than that there's several online manuals that we are supposed to read through when using these systems but I find the manuals cumbersome and that's not how I learn!

OK, sounds like ours. There should be SITS training, can you ask for in person? We used that and familiarity helps so the more you do the better you get
Same with Blackboard, we used Moodles but they are all similar. And Oracle is quite common i think.

I don't like online manuals either, but printed out the info for the tasks I did most often and kept them in a folder so I could read on paper, is that worth tryng? When I was ok with those, I subbed them in for the infrequent ones that I'd always forget as I didn't do them often. It's about knowing how you work and setting that up to operate best.

I do think in person training where you all sit at a computer and try it is best for new starters and that should have been offered.

I do think your manager needs to be more supportive in offering the training you ask for though, so you need to have that conversation, ideally so attending it is written in the PIP.

Op you’re going to need to decide if you want this to work out. If so you’re going to need to do your part. It sounds like you have been given training and manuals but it hasn’t worked for you.

Tonally you talk about “regularly … expressing my difficulties” - do you think you’re coming over as negative rather than a positive attitude? PIPs I find are often a mix of line manager being frustrated with progress and attitude. And as a manager it can be frustrating when people complain (even with cause) a lot about a system you’re all stuck with given they can’t change it.

Oracle in particular is a very common iprocurement system - google and you’ll find lots of videos and guidance. I would spend a bit of time one evening looking at some and finding ones you find helpful.

You really can do this OP. It is clunky IT, not neurosurgery or rocket science. In your old job what did you say to kids (significant SEN aside) who said “I just can’t do it” on phonics, fractions or whatever? You’d didn’t just say “ok that’s fine”, you’d want to I still the culture of “I can’t do it YET, but I will”. That’s you now.

Be kind to yourself @Scorcher791 , SITS can take some time to get your head around, and oracle/blackboard are usual Uni systems too. There should be in house training for SITS definitely. Try searching the uni webpages for training, I know at ours your can access all the available training sessions and book yourself on.

Whatever you do, dont stop asking questions!

Line manager should have definitely explained the written pip in that meeting. He isn't not handling this well, or likely within process. I would be minded to write an email to him summarising your understanding of the meeting and asking for next steps.

It's actually quite hard to not pass probation at a uni. Believe me, I have had probationers not turn up for days, go AWOL on WFH...

Yes, I tried to fail one probationer and HR swooped in and stopped me. She is now someone else's problem, and they realised it wasn't me but are also stuck....

are you mainly remote working? it has been a massive benefit in many ways, but one thing it does not support is on the job learning.

clunky systems like this are best taught by having a session like the one you had re procurement, al bit face to face, having instruction notes (i always encourage my team to make their own) and then having a go. if you sat next to someone it is easier to ask questions and observe what they do.

i work in HE admin and find most people pick the systems up this way - and those that struggle need a little bit more support. it's easy to see this when sat in a room together, harder remotely .

for the first month i ask my new starters to come in every day and ensure appropriate team members are in also. after this, dynamic working is phased in.

if you are working remotely, could you ask for this f2f support as part of your pip plan?

btw i have seen a number of pip plans that have been successful - both sides have to approach it in terms of "this gives structure to ensure improvements" - make sure that you feel that the support being offered is going to work.

it's difficult changing career, and admin can be more complex than it seems to get the hang of it, but you will get there. don't be afraid to speak up about the things you struggle with - if you try to hide it you may find that
you end up with a worse situation.

I have mentored many new starter for my role and this stood out to me too
I'm also scared to ask questions or say that I don't understand or haven't grasped something in case it reflects poorly on me and they think I'm not competent in the role.

You need to have the initiative to ask question and clarify tasks being assigned to you. It frustrates the team if you don't raise the issue. It feels you are just hiding away from what you need to do. I find this is the biggest difference between having an experienced person joining the team as opposed to a new graduate.

We are 4 days a week remote so don't let that be a problem for you to ask questions. Are there a mentor assigned to you and is there a team chat? We use microsoft teams and everyone in the team jumps in to help new starters if they raise issues or ask questions.

OP I think that the issue comes from the fact that people think they’ll get a nice easy admin job and have no stress. Admin isn’t easy, I am a senior manager and I would be an utterly dreadful administrator.

You have come from teaching so presumably working in an office is new to you and you don’t have a lot of experience. It is a massive learning curve and certainly, for the first year or so you need to actively seek out how to train yourself on these systems. The oracle procurement system is an utter pain the neck, luckily i can avoid it by getting other people to use it, but it takes time. You need to actively go out of your way to find training and not rely on people giving it to you. Oracle certainly has plenty online.

The fact that the sysytems are clunky is neither here nor there, it’s not going to change.
A career change is hard, and I imagine going from teaching to admin is a really big change as you won’t have used lots of CRM systems.

My advice is think about how you’re framing things and frame them positively such as : I am in the process of putting in a procurement request, I’ve done xyz but I can’t quite get a to work even though I’ve put such and such in, do you have any suggestions of what i could try?

I do think it would be helpful to reframe the PIP in your mind not as a disciplinary measure but as a structured way for you to improve, and therefore helpful. But that will require clarification from your manager on what's needed and access to training as said with input from you showing you've thought about it. But if you address it positively they will respond to that, and if you decide it's not working, at least you will have learnt some new skills etc.

Thanks @NowYouSee , there's some great food for thought there. I certainly didn't think I was coming across as negative, I thought I was simply honestly pointing out some difficulties I was having with the systems but I see what you're saying about complaining about systems that can't be changed.... I will try to reframe this as you suggest and as others have suggested and see if I can proactively upskill myself. I think that part of the issue as you pointed out is that it's not brain surgery which is why I'm frustrated that I'm finding it so difficult....

@Floopani thanks for the kind message. It's much appreciated!