[SchruteBeet]

I apologize in advance for the long post. I am finishing up my first year at an accounting firm and have been traveling for more than half of my time with the firm on this project, let’s call it project ABC. The entire team on ABC is based locally and I am the only visiting team member which means I had to adjust quite a bit to the culture of the team considering they had been working on the project/known each other for longer. When I discussed my performance assessment with the team, they gave me “at level” and “slightly at next level” ratings until it came time to discuss with my partner. So when I sat down with my partner, she told me how concerned she was about my performance reviews from team ABC although she was surprised too since every other team I had worked with gave me good reviews. But because I worked on ABC the longest, it carried more weightage on my final year end assessment. When my partner learned I wasn’t aware of any of this, she asked me to go talk to the team. I was so worried, I talked to my performance manager for an hour and he told me it was not the end of the world but I should look into it and talk to my team which I did and was told this time that you’re not vocal (we sit for 10 hours in a conference room and there’s people across all staff level in the room, so I try to limit my questions and direct them to the specific person via instant messaging) and we don’t see you take initiatives, which when I asked professionally w/o sounding defensive to give examples for, they said they’re not aware but I should ask the seniors. I asked the senior who told me I have been “outstanding” and was performing at the level I should be. I don’t understand, what is going on here? I was thinking i will have him fill out another performance assessment to be able to show my partner what he actually thinks of my performance. I even made endless coffee runs, meal pickups, happy hour reservation for their office and what not. It’s been frustrating that in spite of putting in all these travel hours nonstop for more than 6 months now (with no signs of rolling off this project), and trying to balance CPA and personal life, I got bad reviews. My partner even told me this performance review put me on the low end of my associate class and I lost my bonus (ok, I got a raise and the lost bonus was minimal but still) Where am I going wrong here?

[SchruteBeet]

Anyone?

[MaLoTu]

I think it is bull crap that no one have you a heads up that you were no longer meeting their expectations.
I think a lot of it has to do with the culture, as you pointed out. If they do not feel that you are a good fit they are not going to work as hard to advocate for you. My guess is that towards the time that reviews were submitted you may have made some errors or did something that they did not like and it unfortunately outweighed any good that you did previously.
Is there an appeals process where you are? Also, have you brought this travel arrangement up previously? I vaguely remember you trying to get off this engagement because of the distance from your home and you didn't click with the team? If you are the same person then I definitely feel they kind of set you up for failure. Do you like your coach? because it doesn't seem like they are advocating for you either.

[SchruteBeet]

@MaLoTu yes, your memory is great – I did post earlier about the travel issues with this project. I am on great terms with my coach and he did bring up during my chat with him that he and my partner both tried hard to advocate for me by bringing up points such as the project has been ongoing for over a year now and she joined at a later stage or that maybe the team has set unrealistic expectations but he said the team kept resisting and said “she's not quite where we'd like to see her” when I asked my senior if he saw any areas of improvement, he said “no, they set high expectations because they know you are capable of achieving them. You've been a great asset to the team and worked hard and had some long nights without any complaints. You're handle pressure very well and have an amazing attitude. I cannot imagine working with anyone else on an intense project like this one.”I am so confused with these contradicting opinions. My coach also told me that since I am more than 6 months into the project, I should ask them to either roll me off the project or have me work remotely. I brought that up to the team and the manager said we're very flexible so we can have you come down 3 days instead of 4. How is that any different?! I mean I don't know what to do anymore.

[MaLoTu]

I would demand to roll off the engagement. mainly because you have a lack of trust in your team now. Furthermore, the second year comes with heightened expectations and you do not have the knowledge to meet or exceed their expectations (not from a technical perspective but from a I don't know what you guys want from me perspective). If you do not meet expectations this year you are going to get let go. Roll off of this team if you can.

[Anonymous]

Here's my opinion: I don't think one engagement and year will define you, but trends will. So keep your head up and focus on every performance review in the upcoming year. Look at your metrics – study them. Make an effort everyday to do one thing related to them (over the course of 30, 60, 90 days etc you then find yourself filling it up). Everyday. Next – ask questions in person. I do online chat a lot for the same reason, politeness, but it does to the 3rd parties make it seem like you could be unengaged (outside of the single person you ask questions to). It can shoot yourself in the foot while it leaves you wondering what's going on with this wide array of opinions from others around you. Do a lot more of the speaking verbally. While small, I think it will help. Next, regardless of whether you have or have not been already, ask for feedback, do it everyother week. If you have the opportunity to do it even more, do it more. Ask multiple people. It can be casual – done over chat discussing notes on a deliverable. But 1) ask (frequently and multiple people) and 2) even if you get positive feedback – say you want negatives for growth. Meaningful growth comes from reacting in a beneficial way – in an area you can develop (i.e. Change) – which is not as good as it can otherwise be. It's the negative feedback that allows us to grow. Unfortunately, sometimes people can struggle to provide it, and you must be diplomatic in how you retrieve it, and effective in how you retrieve it, so you have the opportunity to satisfy (regardless of what those things are). If people around you are slow to give feedback like that, your going to have pull it out of them “How do you think I did on X specifically with regard to y?,” It's the cards you are dealt. Lastly, if you ask and ask and ask for feedback, again diplomatically, and it is a notorious thing you do, and you take noticeable action with it…If you find yourself in a scenario again where you didn't know of a development point that surfaced – you can say “oh I didn't know that, thank you I appreciate the feedback” and it becomes known this had not been earlier told to you standing among your reputation that if it was made available you would have got it.

[Son]

SchruteBeet, two points I wanted to make.

First, being a foreigner myself I found it challenging to adjust to the Big4 corporate culture in America primarily for the reason you've outlined. People highlight your achievements, but are reluctant to give you honest feedback on your weaknesses. I've observed situations similar to yours in the past, due to some personal mismatches people would give others low ratings – while insisting on keeping that person on their team for some reason. It unfortunately rarely ends well for the staff as they have less power to influence the situation and have the partner's ear.

Second point, I agree with MaLoTu. It is time you take your career in your own hands. Give your counselor a heads-up (I understand he/she in only a senior?) and take your partner out for a coffee. Lay it out for the partner the way you did for us, explain that the current project may inhibit your entire career if things keep going the way they are going. Agree on specific action items both of you are going to take. I see no reason for you to stay on this project if you can spend your time on other things where you appear to strive.

AUD - passed
REG - passed
BEC - passed
FAR - passed

[Author]

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