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Ask Slashdot: How To Improve At Work When You're Not Getting Feedback?
An anonymous reader writes: Too many managers avoid giving any kind of feedback, regardless of whether it's positive or negative. If you work for a boss who doesn't provide feedback, it's easy to feel rudderless. It can be especially disorienting if you're new in the role, new to the company, or a recent graduate new to the workforce. In the absence of specific guidance, is there any way to know what the average boss would want you to work on? What would you advise someone who works in IT, engineering, coding, designing or any similar industry?
No it doesn't.
"No feedback," means something different to every relationship at work and is based on the nature of both the superior and the subordinate.
Terrible manager, no feedback could mean that the manager doesn't actually want to do their job. I've seen this firsthand, and the problem lingered for many years. It was made worse because the manager was friends with his boss, so his boss didn't bother to push to uncover what was going on in the section.
Could easily also mean that the manager is scared of repercussions for doing the job, or feels that it's just easier to ignore the problems. This can be the end-result when the previous kind of terrible manager doesn't document or do honest evaluations of employees. It can also play into problems with employees that belong to suspect classes- if the boss doesn't document problems with employees generally, then it's much harder to get rid of problem employees, and it's even harder if the problem employee happens to belong to a suspect class. That documentation on employee performance and a paper-trail of guidance and review is what allows an employer to promote or terminate without having to face accusations of discrimination.
There's only so much an employee can do to get feedback, and the myriad of factors (everything from the nature of the job to the physical layout of the employee work area relative to the boss) determines what that employee can try. I know I can walk over to my boss' office to talk, and I usually do talk a couple of times a week to go over projects and timetables, etc. I also document by-email, we're required to submit status logs of what we've been doing anyway so I just fill mine out stream-of-consciousness as I work and edit down to something usable at the end of the week, keeps him informed so he knows what's going on.
Try to communicate with the boss, but it's as much on the boss as it is on the worker.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
That's the difficult thing. It is all about the relationship and the environment.
In bad environments asking for a raise gets you fired. Asking for training (even if the company says they encourage it) gets you fired. Doing anything ambitious gets you fired, or have the things taken without credit. This type of company also fires people immediately if they make a mistake that has a cost.
In good environments asking for a raise starts a discussion that can get you money. Asking for training (even when the company has never encouraged it) can get one person or even a team of people some training. Being ambitious is rewarded openly and and given cautious praise: that in addition to doing the regular duties you also did the thing on the side. This type of company generally retains people who make costly mistakes who are also contrite and appear to learn the lesson; leaders know the company pays for the learning experience either way, the question is if they will retain the student of life's hard lessons.
The first type of company is the one to flee. The second is the type to cherish. If you don't know what to look for it is easy to miss the signs when finding the job.
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
"Improve" in the sense of working for an employer means better meeting the employer's expectations. If the employer is not providing expectations or feedback, you are trying to be clairvoyant which is not possible. One of my parents was like this. They would expect me to do things a certain way or at certain times but never inform me of that except by severely punishing me for not reading their minds. That's a toxic situation.
My advice, unless your employer doesn't question your performance and you can do whatever you like, leave. During the exit interview tell HR this is the main reason you are leaving. Hopefully they will take the feedback to heart but often employers don't because they are more often than not egotistical and believe they are infallible not open to criticism.
Just so you know, there is a cognitive bias whereby people think that everyone thinks the same and therefore they ought to arrive at the same conclusions, you know the "right" and "only" ones because you know there is a right way and everything is the wrong way (black and white thinking). They can't compute why someone wouldn't arrive at the "right way" independently other than there is something wrong with you and you are defective in some way. These people have the emotional intelligence skills of a rock and you don't want to work for them or be in any kind of dealing with them. They will make you miserable.
We'll make great pets