Put Things in Perspective

One of the issues many African American workers deal with are coworkers, supervisors, managers, etc., who blow small problems or issues out of proportion—sometimes intentionally.

It’s very troubling, when people blow things out of proportion, particularly innocent mistakes that are atypical and do not represent a problem that should cause concern or needs to be monitored.

Someone will take an innocent mistake or human error and make it seem as if something diabolical has happened. They may also use an honest mistake to claim that a person is incompetent. Even a minor mistake can be blown out of proportion and used as the rationale to strip someone of certain assignments or responsibilities.

For instance, a White Vice President once accused me of intentionally leaving a White, male’s promotion off of the monthly promotion announcement list I prepared. After stating that I’d inadvertently left the name off the list and taking responsibility for the oversight, I asked why I was being accused of making the mistake intentionally. The White Vice President responded, “You’ve been doing these lists for two years and you never left anyone off.” I explained that this was why the mistake was an inadvertent omission. But, I was told. “It just seems suspicious to me.”

In my case, a human error was turned into a cause for suspicion. Think about it…what would my motive be for leaving this man’s promotion off the list? He was a stranger to me. Even if he wasn’t, what did I have to gain from the omission? The accusation was just plain stupid, but that didn’t stop the VP from telling others that I intentionally omitted the person from the promotion list! This minor problem was noted in my performance review, 6 months later!

When dealing with false accusations, especially those based on exaggeration of facts (or outright fabrications that are added to a situation in order to escalate an issue), you should definitely make sure to protect your reputation and make sure that the accusation doesn’t come back to haunt you. As I’ve stated, you could hear about an innocent mistake on a mid-year or year-end performance evaluation, even if it wasn’t a costly error.

So, you should address the issue with the person that is doing the exaggerating or misrepresentation. You can talk to them about the issue or you can email them first and ask for a time to discuss what happened and to clarify things. Make it clear that what they believe or are saying is not consistent with your perspective. You don’t have to point fingers. You can simply state the facts as you know them to be.

If you didn't do anything wrong, use facts, copies of procedures/instructions, emails or other written evidence, and/or witnesses to defend yourself.

If you really made an error, then explain how it happened and that it was inadvertent. It’s important to get that clarified, so that you can use your conversation and/or documentation to fight back against any accusations that you are incompetent. It’s fine to apologize for an honest mistake, but don’t let an honest mistake be portrayed as a problem of competence—if it is not.

If you require extra training on something or need clarification of procedures, ask for it. See if a coworker can discreetly assist you in some areas. Try to work through as many issues on your own as possible. If there are procedures you can read or reread, get cracking to improve your knowledge. If there are tutorials in a software program or an online service you work in, use the tutorials. You can come to work early, leave late, train on your lunch break, etc. The onus is on you to get up to speed on your job skills, if you know you are lacking. Be proactive in seeking whatever assistance you need. Don’t sit there knowing that you are unsure about certain parts of your job. Get help. Sometimes that means asking for official training courses, workshops, etc.

If the issue is that you were trained improperly, don’t let someone’s faulty instructions cause you problems at work. Most of us have been trained by someone, who was retiring or resigning (even forced out) or by someone that is the type of person that will intentionally leave out instructions because they don’t want someone doing something as good as they do it or did it. Some people will intentionally sabotage others and some people are just bad at preparing or relaying instructions.

Regardless of the cause, if you were improperly trained and/or given bad instructions, then bring that up and document it because that is a legitimate reason for a problem to surface. It’s fine to explain that you are doing things based on training and/or instructions you were given. Show a copy of those procedures and explain how the procedures were the source of the problem. Ask for a copy of the correct procedures and stick to those. Don’t let someone else’s issue be blown out of proportion and turned into your problem.

Just remember to document any accusations that could be used against you later to claim that you are incompetent and that might be used to justify employment actions against you, such as verbal or written warnings, probation, suspension, termination, etc.

Intersectional Discrimination

Intersectional Discrimination is the discrimination of a person or classification of people because they are a member of two or more protected classes. Equal employment opportunity statutes prohibit this type of discrimination. Intersectional discrimination can involve more than one EEO statute, e.g., discrimination based on age and disability, or based on sex and age, or discrimination based on race and sex, etc.

Intersectional discrimination, harassment, and retaliation were standard operating procedures at my previous job. My employer routinely discriminated against and allowed the race-based harassment of Black, female employees. In fact, my previous employer was found guilty of retaliating against a Black, female manager.

Black women were routinely subjected to race-based name-calling, which was most prominently used during performance evaluation time. It was not uncommon for Black, female employees to receive performance evaluations declaring them to be “snooty,” “mean,” “rude,” “not nice,” “angry,” “defensive,” “pissed off,” and/or “nasty.” These comments were always made by White women. These comments also violated my employer’s performance evaluation guidelines, which stated that personality-based feedback should not be the focus of performance reviews and that reviews should rely on work-related commentary. These personality-based comments (all fraudulent) were used to justify “delineated areas of concern” and were the stated reason why Black, female employees would not be promoted, would receive a poor review and low salary increase, etc. In some cases, Black, female employees were told that they would be promoted “in the next cycle,” if they could show improvement in these alleged areas of concern.

If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you! And, for the record, it is impossible to believe that EVERY Black, female employee behaves in one manner—unless you are a complete racist!

Intersectional discrimination was so rampant at this job that five Black women resigned employment within 2 months time! Interestingly, all of the resignations took place directly before or after the year-end performance evaluations. The common complaint I heard was being blamed for problems caused by White staff (usually White women) and being labeled as a sudden personality/behavioral problem.

The similar allegations against these five Black women give credibility to claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against this employer because the allegations show the mindset at the job to tolerate and, therefore, to encourage a discriminatory environment.

Here’s a tip for you to use in the workplace: Don’t be an as*hole!! One of the good things about being friendly with other staff (read: not being an a**hole) is that you can find out details from other staff regarding the types of feedback they’re getting from managers and supervisors about their performance, you can get information about their salary (and can compare that to other staff of similar education and experience), and you can find out information about other conditions of their employment.

You can use this shared information to see if there are any patterns or blueprints being used against certain staff. You should document any similarities regarding these patterns of criticism, etc. because they can be used to help prove misconduct, racism, discrimination, etc. in the workplace.

Your Supervisor Should Keep You ON TRACK with Performance Expectations!

At most companies, employees sit down with their supervisor/manager and they discuss that employee’s goals and objectives for a specific performance period. This is done so that employees know the company’s expectations for them and so that the employee can be proactive in working towards the agreed upon goals and objectives. Everyone understands that it would be unfair to have someone working blind. In other words, it would be the fault of supervisors or company management, if employees do not understand what the exact expectations are for their performance and behavior or if they don’t understand the criteria that will be used to evaluate their performance during the employee review period.

If you have a supervisor or manager that hasn’t explained the goals and objectives that you will be and are being judged against, you should initiate a meeting to discuss performance expectations and how you are meeting those standards. The last thing you should want is to walk into a performance evaluation and be blind-sided by surprise commentary regarding performance-related issues that you did not know existed or to be surprised by criteria/standards that you did not know would be applied to you in your capacity on the job.

While part of the onus for knowing standards and expectations resides with each employee, clearly the bulk of the responsibility is with supervisors/managers. These are the individuals that are monitoring and guiding many of the day-to-day activities of workers. And, these are often the members of management that will conduct or oversee the performance evaluations for their department, unit, etc.

During the course of a performance review period, supervisors/managers should:

-- Keep employees on track with goals and objectives that have been predefined, discussed, and agreed upon by each employee—based on their individual job;

--Provide employees with assignments that help them work towards the defined goals and objectives;

--Provide employees with opportunities to learn new skills and increase their knowledge in their job/field;

--Keep thorough notes on the performance of each person they supervisor or manage;

--Solicit feedback (positive and negative) from those who work closely with each employee and maintain notes on those comments. Supervisors and managers need to ensure they are KNOWLEDGEABLE INFORMANTS about their subordinates. They should not make assumptions or listen to hearsay. It is their job to have an accurate idea of how each employee is performing their duties;

--Discuss performance goals, objectives, and coworker feedback—formally or informally—several times per year with each subordinate;

--Provide negative feedback to employees with enough time for the employee to show improvement during the performance period. If the negative feedback happens near the end of the performance period, it may be too late for the employee to make adjustments. However, if the behavior is atypical, the supervisor or manager should not write about any negative behaviors or incidents as though they were the standard way the employee performed or behaved during the review period;

--Avoid surprising subordinates with negative comments and accusations that were NEVER made during the review period. Something that was an issue during the first 3 months of the review period, but was never raised as an issue, should not be thrown out during a performance review because the employee was not allowed an opportunity to refute any allegations or to know there was some performance or behavioral deficiency that required adjustments in behavior; and

--Avoid making performance judgments based on the employee’s personality, race, education level, etc.

Many supervisors and managers, even those that give employee goals and objectives, do not keep thorough notes on employee performance throughout the year. Instead, they wait until they must draft/write performance evaluations before they get into deep Q&A sessions with those who have managed or worked alongside their subordinates.

Therefore, it’s important to:

--Maintain your own record of your accomplishments and achievements;

--Keep all congratulatory emails and cards from internal and external clients;

--Outline how you have met each goal and objective agreed upon with your supervisor/manager;

--Keep a log of any publications, awards, presentations, etc. that occurred during the performance period;

--Maintain a list of new skills you’ve added to your repertoire at work; and

--Keep a list showing the impact of your contributions at work (e.g., you brought in new clients, saved money by streamlining procedures, etc.)

You can do a lot to make your performance evaluation truly reflect your contributions to the company. Make your supervisor and manager have huge hurdles to jump, should they decide to give into the temptation of discriminating against you by intentionally marginalizing your contributions to the work force or by making false claims about your performance in order to deliberately stifle your career.

Show that you have been keeping track of your performance and can PROVE you have a strong work ethic, produce high quality work, are professional, and that you are and should be valued as an employee.