Communicate or Not to Communicate?
Do you feel that giving feedback to your manager would be considered incorrect? Or the organization just ask for namesake feedback and belittle you on an honest one?
Today, I want to narrate you a short story!
A girl who has a fresh MBA graduate and has recently joined a Consulting firm with a learning spirit. As time sways and she starts understanding the nitty-gritty of her role, a new manager joins the team. Like every other team member, she tries to build good repo with him and looks forward to much more knowledge-gaining sessions and insights into the job.
But soon enough, she starts getting neglected by the team lead and just delegated the work. Is something fishy? No, but just the behavioral expectations didn’t match. She thought to take a step and resolve this gap initially by fixing a discussion with her lead. But somehow gets dismissed in the run and started to feel secluded from the team meetings and conferences. She started feeling a burden without a hint to anyone, and the happy spirit gets lost in work.
Now she is faced with a more significant dilemma. Should she talk to the mentor (lead's boss) or continue working in the hope of things to get better or quit the job and look for something else?
Take a moment and think about what would you do in such a condition?
Well, I am sure you all would have a list of pros and cons to weigh before you conclude. But this girl showed some courage and took a plunge to take maximum possible efforts before making a decision. And yes! she went up and discussed her experience with the mentor.
Now, most of you would be thinking that earlier, she had acidic relations with the lead, and now her mentor is also added to the list. You are not wrong because the current Indian corporate culture is such that we don’t provide due respect to the employee's words. And communicating honest feedback turns the bad situation into worse, and a trap is laid.
Yet, this girl showed up, and communicating her experience turned out to be the best decision of her life. She heard, but the team head and mentor together discussed the matter in detail and helped her cope with the situation. They laid out various options and held her trembling hand to the right path, ensuring that her zeal for building a career isn’t lost and the right corporate picture is painted.
Moral: Communication is the key, and you have to gather the courage to deal with a challenging situation. Sometimes the journey is arduous, but the outcome is worth taking a risk…
“When we make progress and get better at something, it is inherently motivating. For people to make progress, they have to get feedback and information on how they're doing.” ~ Daniel H.Pink