Performance Tracking and Feedback

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. My senior employee is a terrible communicator My employee, “Jordan,” has been in a senior role for 15 years. Their job involves communication and coordination across many different teams and with customers; understanding and being understood is one of the most important competencies. Jordan’s communication skills are lacking. I have highlighted this as an area for improvement every year I have been their manager (nearly five years) and in annual goals and performance reviews, as did their previous manager. Jordan has attended trainings and I have provided job aids and feedback, but there has been little improvement. I…

It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on any work-related questions that you want to talk about (that includes school). If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to take your questions to other readers. * If you submitted a question to me recently, please do not repost it here, as it may be in my queue to answer. The post open thread – April 17, 2026 appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on any work-related questions that you want to talk about (that includes school). If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to take your questions to other readers. * If you submitted a question to me recently, please do not repost it here, as it may be in my queue to answer. The post open thread – April 24, 2026 appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My boss is getting rid of everyone’s favorite part of my program for no good reason I manage an educational program that is part of a larger organization. My boss is medium crappy. He’s not abusive, but not a good manager or leader. Thankfully he doesn’t interact with my program more than occasionally. Right now, he is making me get rid of the most popular part of my program. For the sake of anonymity, let’s say it’s a small bouncy house (it’s not). Adults and kids love the bouncy house. People comment on it walking by. It takes minimal money to run. Admittedly it requires some daily labor, but I’m on site anyway and …

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My coworkers’ approach to group work is driving me mad At my workplace, we’re regularly required to give short presentations on how our work is coming along. As we work in teams, the teams need to present together. It seems like every time I come up against the same dynamic, and it’s driving me up a tree: For example, Fergus and I need to do a 5-10 minute presentation on sales in a certain district. We have to make a PowerPoint and a summarizing document to be shared with everyone. We split up the work so that we’re each handling one half of both the PowerPoint and the document, and set up a check-in meeting a few day…

Last month we talked about times when you said the exact wrong thing at work, and here are 20 (!) of my favorite stories you shared. There are also many not included below but which you’ll be seeing in Mortification Week later this year. 1. The insult I once worked as an editor and I told an author that if they tried a certain method to make a certain change to their paper, it “might be worth a shit.” Shot. I meant shot. And I did not catch it before hitting send. 2. The inexplicable sneer I had a phone screening for a job many years ago. There was a particular way of doing a standard task that I used more as a freelancer than in my current job because my boss at my j…

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I’m allergic to my coworker’s perfume, and HR says I have to manage it on my own I work hybrid and am required to be in office a couple days a week. I’m also allergic to certain scents and perfumes. Things like vanilla and citrus don’t bother me, but strong floral scents cause my sinuses to swell up, culminating in a migraine. It’s not pleasant, so I try my best to avoid anything that triggers it. Unfortunately, nobody seems to take scent allergies seriously or know they exist at all. My colleague, Linda, wears a perfume so strong that I can smell where she’s been 10 minutes after she’s been there. There’s an entire q…

Next Wednesday is Administrative Professionals Day, so let’s talk about the weirdest or most ridiculous requests you’ve ever seen made of assistants. To start us off, here are a few that have been shared here in the past: • “In my first job out of college, my boss asked me to dry his shoes, which got wet in the rain. He plunked them down on my desk and said he needed them dry for a meeting in 15 minutes. I’m still not sure what he expected me to do because at a certain point, only time can dry things. The hard -unabsorbent paper towels from the bathroom weren’t going to cut it. I was a receptionist but in no way a personal assistant.” • “I once had an office-assistant…

A reader writes: Something happened to me 15 years ago that I continue to wonder about. When I was a senior in college, I was applying to internships in my field (comms/PR if it matters) in Washington, D.C., with the help of my academic advisor. One in-person interview at one of the big legacy PR firms went really well. When my academic advisor followed up about it, they said the company thought I was a fantastic candidate and they’d absolutely love to hire me, except for one thing: they thought the shirt I was wearing was inappropriate for an interview setting and, particularly, that it had sequins on it. Ultimately, I did not get the fellowship because of it. I found…

A reader writes: Last month I had a video interview with a candidate that caught me off guard. It was a second round interview, and I was tasked with asking some deeper questions and providing some more technical context to the role. It became clear quite quickly, since we were on video, that the candidate was reading from prepared notes on his screen. And not just quick references to projects or previous work, but actually reading it like a script. Even when I tried to ask some follow-up questions that he could not have prepared for, he gave a brief answer before reverting back to the script. I’ve experienced this with candidates before but never to this extent; it fe…

It’s Administrative Professionals Day! Last week we talked about the most ridiculous requests you’ve seen made of assistants, and here are 17 of my favorite stories you shared. 1. The flusher This was when I worked at a toxic doctor’s office. I was admin assistant to his wife, the practice manager, and my desk was closest to the bathroom. She always wore a headset and once took a call while in the bathroom. When she was done with the bathroom part, she came out and motioned for me to flush the toilet for her so her caller didn’t hear it. 2. The astrologist When I was an assistant, my boss made me input every day when Mercury would be in retrograde into her calendar. …

It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes: Luckily no one in my office is biting anyone, but my formerly pretty-good job has devolved into a toxic mess. I found myself pressing my ear against my wall to try and glean basic (not sensitive or confidential) information I needed to do my job by eavesdropping on a conversation next door. My officemate wasn’t ruffled; instead he grabbed a glass to better hear it, because that was a reasonable reaction to the situation we are in. Obviously we need to get the hell out, and we’re working on it. But in the meantime, I’d love to hear readers share their own behavior that made perfect sense in the context of t…

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. How can I politely dodge a coworker’s MLM product party? How do you politely dodge coworkers’ MLM “parties”? I despise multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs). They’re predatory, cult-like organizations, and I refuse to support them in any way. A coworker recently invited me to her cookware-hawking “party.” Putting aside the fact that I rarely cook anything more elaborate than spaghetti, I really just can’t bring myself to support this. The problem is, this is a colleague who I like a lot and collaborate with regularly. I don’t want to lecture her about the toxic nature of these companies but it feels rude to just blow i…

A reader writes: I work at a feminist tech company. Our app is focused on sex and intimacy. We’re a very small team, primarily remote, but every month we have an in-person get-together and workshop. The issue is with the CEO of the company, who also oversees all the engineers. I’m not an engineer and I don’t report to him, but I am in a director role and the nature of my job does mean that I have to talk to him a lot. For the most part, I respect this man professionally. I think he leads the engineers well, and he takes my advice seriously when it’s about something I’m clearly the expert in. However, he’s a chronic over-sharer, discusses things that make me uncomfortabl…

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My manager has been freezing me out since I talked to HR about her Last May, I finished my masters and in September landed a job in my field and specialty. The first few months were great with my boss, Claire. She was super nice, let me know everything that was going on in the department, I got along with my other coworker in my department, and I finally felt like I had found my job and people. I even told Claire I had a disability that I put on my application. She was very understanding and supportive. Then in January, things changed. Claire accused me of trying to do her job anytime I suggested something and said I …

A reader writes: About a year ago, I got prescribed a CPAP machine. Very important for, you know, supplying oxygen to my brain while I sleep, but one doozy of an adjustment period. It took me about a month to adjust to wearing it at night, and during that month I lowkey felt like I was dying. I was getting very little sleep, and that in small bursts. I was exhausted all the time, and exhaustion made me stupid and slow. I work in a compliance-related role. My job involves assessing regulatory liability for my employer and potential misconduct by licensed employees. If I find against an employee, it’s the kind of thing that could follow them for the rest of their career, …

A reader writes: I’m a former attorney from a government office, and I’ve been curious how you’d view something that was framed as positive but felt … off. Each spring, our office held a “Wellness Week” intended to promote work/life balance. We were divided into teams, and each day included a different “wellness challenge” to be completed during the workday. These ranged from things like a scavenger hunt outside, guided meditation sessions, or reading an article about wellness, to more involved activities like donating to charity. During this week, I often had to forgo my actual wellness activities to participate in the one-size-fits-all “wellness” challenges so as not …

A reader writes: After being laid off, I was aggressively applying to everything even remotely in my industry. I landed an interview with a company I recognized and a role I was fully qualified for. In order to move forward in the process, however, they said I needed to “complete an AI screening.” What? I was expecting a phone call with the hiring manager as a first step, but this is the future I guess. So I went with it. Well, it was — perhaps predictably — absolutely awful. Not only did the AI ask me confusing, irrelevant questions about hyper specific bullet points on my resume, but it frequently interrupted my responses and even lost connection three times, forcing …

A reader writes: Some colleagues and I have a question on interview etiquette from the interviewer side that we can’t agree on. If you give someone a job interview, should you give them a way to contact you? My thinking is, yes, if you interview a job candidate, you should give them either your work phone or work email so they can follow up if they need to. For example, what if they need to withdraw their application? Or if they have a change of phone number or email address they need to inform you about? Or if they would just like to send a thank-you/follow-up email after the interview? The other two managers on our team don’t like providing this information. They hav…

It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes: I have a question that might be suitable for “ask the readers.” When has someone reached out to you with a request to network that was compelling and made you actually want to respond? I’ve seen a lot of stories of bad networking on here — people asking vague questions, not seeming to know what they want, or reaching out with a request to “network” that’s obviously a veiled inquiry about a job. What does genuinely good networking look like? I’d love to hear from readers about requests they were happy to respond to or people who actually impressed them in a networking conversation. It’s especially helpful to…

Here’s some coverage of Ask a Manager in the media recently: I talked to Time about communication habits that are annoying your coworkers. I talked to Bloomberg about how managers should discuss pay with employees. I helped MarketWatch advise a letter-writer whose employee told her boss the writer was judgmental and belittling for giving feedback. Huffington Post quoted me about what to say if a coworker is staring at your chest. Also… How to report problem ads We’ve had a rash of ads auto-playing sound recently and are trying to get them all blocked, but if you encounter one (or any kind of problematic ad), the best way to report it is: look for the PubNation logo …

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. How do I fire someone humanely when management ignored years of underperformance? I’m a manager at a small product company and I’m facing a role elimination that’s keeping me up at night. I joined this org a bit less than a year ago and inherited a team, including one person who has been here for eight years — the only job he’s ever had since college. The role has always required strategic thinking, synthesis, and independent problem framing. He has never fully met that bar, but when I arrived, the work happened to be more execution-focused and predefined, so the gap was less visible. Now that the work requires what t…

A reader writes: I have a tendency to have frequent UTI’s. They’re easily treated and not dangerous, but they make my life annoying for 1-2 days before the meds kick in. I am not in pain but I might really, really need to visit the bathroom on a very short notice and very often, at worst every 15 minutes or so. At best, I’m fine an hour after I take the first pill. There’s no way to know beforehand which way it’ll go. I’m looking for advice on dealing with the problems this causes in my work; healthwise, I am fine and am working with my doctor to prevent the UTI’s as much as possible. But it’s a feature my body has had for ~25 years, so “not having them” isn’t a super r…

A reader writes: My manager let me know today that my work group is getting interns this summer, and the plan that makes the most sense is for me to be a peer mentor. I’m fine with this, and I’m kind of excited about it, but I have never supervised or officially mentored or been nominally in charge of helping interns work! Do you have any advice or suggestions on how to approach this role and do it well? Here’s a round-up of a bunch of past advice about working with interns. general advice how to survive your summer interns how to get the most out of your summer interns how much guidance should interns need? how to be an awesome mentor reader advice on managing in…

A reader writes: I have recently made it to the second round of interviews for a role I’m very interested in. The conversation is with the person who is leaving the role I’m interviewing for. I’ve never interviewed with the person who is currently in the job in question, but I take that to mean that she’s leaving the organization on good terms and for her own reasons, and that they trust her to make a recommendation on who will succeed her. Would you agree with that take on the situation, and if so what kinds of questions do you think I should ask or expect? How do I sell myself for the role without coming across as “I’m going to be better at this than you were,” which …