Broken Promises : Tough Conversations

Amazing, what an incredible performance you’ve put in. You rose to the challenge, moved heaven and earth, and delivered. Everyone is pleased and you’re confident they will honour their promise to you.

You took them at their word when they promised that hitting your performance targets would lead to bonus, promotion or, something else that motivated you to go that extra mile.

But it doesn’t happen. Things have changed:

• • “Your performance has been good, but what you needed to have shown us was…”
  • “Sorry, it’s out of my hands – HR policy I’m afraid.”
  • “You need to be more realistic in your expectations.”
  • “Yes, you did do well on that one, but there’s something else you didn’t do so well.”
  • “I wish I could do more. It’s all about quotas.”
  • “You don’t seem to have made the right impression with senior management.”

These may be legitimate reasons, but why do they only arise at performance review time?

Most likely, they are playing a game to get you performing at your peak, and keep you there, or at best, negligent in their concern for you.

In 21 Dirty Tricks at Work (published by Capstone Wiley, 2005), we called this Jam Tomorrow.

The problem is that when you arrive at the performance review, the odds are stacked against you. Your prospects of actually changing the situation are next to nil. They have boxed you into a corner and to try to negotiate will be tough.

For instance, you cannot get upset and angry, because that gives them further evidence that you are “not ready.” Nor can you accuse them of breaking their promise, for that will send the relationship into a tail-spin.

This is actually a political dilemma, which takes a while to sink into before you realise you are stuck. And, getting out of it may take quite a bit of effort, skill, and in all probability, a very tough conversation.

Cognisant of the other end of this lens, I challenge you to reflect on how you are motivating your team members. Are you being fair to them, open and transparent, and giving them the treatment they deserve. Don’t expose yourself to the nose-dive in motivation by failing to proactively manage the promises you have made.