<p>My friend’s boss is seeing a life/career coach. </p>
<p>She was officially asked to give feedback on her boss as a manager by answering a 30 minute internet questionnaire. She does not know how many of them have been asked but she got sent a pin and it comes up with her name, so she’s registered to complete the survey. There are a LOT of questions about the boss’s competence, management style, ability to admit mistakes etc. She’s scared, even though they guarantee anonymity. She is scared that the boss will get really low scores in some areas and then she’ll know that ALL of them think a certain way (there are several questions where she can imagine that happening). She can refuse to give the feedback, but she will know my friend said no.</p>
<p>My friend had seen some of the answers the boss had been given on her own written questionnaires (lying around her desk in full view) and a lot of them are BS. She doesn’t know if they’re intentional. The boss has the weirdest concept of what she does and doesn’t do and “of course she’s never wrong”.</p>
<p>What should my friend do ?</p>
<p>Her office is small, there are only 12 of them.</p>
<p>Your friend should lie and give her boss a glowing review. There is no guaranteed confidentiality and it can only hurt her to say anything bad about her boss. Gosh, I am so cynical…</p>
<p>My first question would be if the survey was sanctioned by the boss’s boss. One part of your post made me think this was something the boss was doing on her/his own time. If that’s the case I would explain I was uncomfortable using company time to discuss and/or take the survey. </p>
<p>If it was sanctioned by higher ups I would be honest in my answers because I would also wonder why such a small office would hire a life coach for someone unless there is a perceived problem.</p>
<p>munchkin - Your question made my day! OF COURSE your friend should take the survey, and OF COURSE she should offer criticism. How else will the boss improve??? What’s the worst that could happen? The life coach discusses the negatives with the Boss and …</p>
<p>Um, on second thought I think NJRes had it right. G-l-o-w-i-n-g review.</p>
<p>(BTW, I’m still laughing over the assurance of anonymity.)</p>
<p>^ The career coach sessions are requested by the board of directors. Her boss and the chairman of the board do not get along. The board requested both of them work with a career coach, separately. </p>
<p>The boss hired my friend. My friend think her boss put her name down for the survey. As far as she knows there are other two people asked.</p>
<p>These surveys are 360 reviews. They require a certain number of responses to maintain anonymity. If there are not enough responses then the question will not have a response reported. Of course, if everyone cans the person they can figure that out. And if your written comments are too personal they can figure those out, too. </p>
<p>I have gone through several of these both as a reviewer and a reviewee. I think the HR folks put more stock in them than I do for just the reasons you indicate. People game them. Career coaches love them. I tend to be slightly honest in them. Not as harsh as I could be in an answer, but the purpose is to try to help the person be a better boss. There is value in that goal if they use the info right. If they don’t it could be prelude to firing.</p>
<p>We use the 360 review process at my job – with 4 or 5 people (managers, peers, and/or subordinates) tapped to review a colleague’s performance at each annual review – and it is NOT anonymous.</p>
<p>Except for supervisors evaluating their own subordinates’ performance, who actually do fill out the evaluation properly, everyone fills out the form the same way – with a mix of “good” and “excellent” ratings, except for putting in one criticism of something relatively unimportant to show management that we take the process seriously, which of course we don’t.</p>
<p>I suspect that the people in your office who are filling out the survey about your boss will take a similar approach to ours. What other alternative is there?</p>
<p>Agree with the trend here. Fill it out, but perhaps give each area one level higher rating than reality. Something the boss is good at would be rated excellent, something he/she is fair at would be rated good, and if they’re awful at something rate them fair. This would show that some areas could use improvement, without out-and-out bashing the boss.</p>
<p>Let’s see, I filled out a survey truthfully and the supervisors used it against everyone. The next survey, the only truthful answer I gave was on the question that asked something like, do you think this survey will be used against you? I haven’t filled out on truthfully ever since and that for all jobs. That includes surveys that I think are harmless. Alright, I do answer some question truthfully, such as age range, sex, etc.</p>
<p>I would suggest filling it out with above average answers, not outstanding, and don’t elaborate on any written parts (one word answers if possible). Even if it’s truly anonymous, they can go after the group as a whole.</p>
<p>I would refuse because it is not anonymous (the pin connects to your friend’s name.) If the boss asked about my failure to participate, I would first act surprised that my participation, or lack thereof, isn’t anonymous. Then I would admit that I don’t understand life coaching, and am thus unable to participate in the process. No matter the explanation that followed, I would simply repeat that I don’t understand, because I do not understand; I think life coaching is bs.</p>
<p>Agree that there is no such thing as “anonymous” or “confidential” these days. Ask the baseball players who participated in the confidential steriod screening. There’s always the chance that stuff gets out.</p>