Feeding into managers annual review

[mammasmadhouse]

I have recently been seconded into a project manager role and my line managers manager has asked me to feed into my line managers annual review by highlighting areas that my manager can support me in my new role. My line manager has only been in his current post for 3 months and for me this is week 2, so I am not sure whats what at the moment 😁. The team I work with do seem to duplicate tasks, but there are different ways of working and I was slightly miffed when my lm asked me to draw ip an agenda for a 121 in word and he redid it in excel. Any suggestions would be appreciated

So ... they could be more specific in detailing how they require a task completed (e.g. agenda produced in word, then changed to excel).

Regular 121/keep in touch meetings

Whilst I get why @JoyousPinkPeer has said this - please don't do it!

It was pedantic and petty to change an agenda from Word to Excel (and slightly stupid since Word would be the default expectation), but you are a project manager and asking for this degree of specific guidance in a formal management document would look inept and invites micro-management. If you want to comment on the Word/Excel thing, save it for a one-off aside type comment - "I noticed that you are more comfortable with agendas in Excel; are there any other ways in which I can support you in getting the most helpful formatting?" Everyone does have their own way of doing things, and although this sounds kind of odd, there may be a good reason if you ask. I personally prefer my agendas in Word tables, but many people don't. So personal preferences do vary.

I think you might be better saying exactly what you have said here - that you have only been in the position for 2 weeks, haven't got to grips with the manager or the work yet, so a review of this area in (say) three months might be helpful to you both. You could also think about the things that you think might be more challenging - not necessarily to ask for specific help but more highlighting of areas. So, for example "I haven't managed a team before, so some guidance and training in key areas would be helpful - perhaps we could discuss this?" And everyone knows what their weak point(s) are, so, for example "I can find it hard to make time for admin due to the busy demands of the role, so support to make time for this would be helpful". You could also turn it around by asking what your manager thinks they can offer you. And the other things would be to ask about support for formal development opportunities.

Thank you @JoyousPinkPeer the only things I have at the moment are relationship building/comms/flexibility in adapting to different to different ways of working/learning styles