ShouldYouTellYourColleague

Jake asked, "How good of a job did Yvonne Brown do on her last assignment?" Jake is your manager and Yvonne's manager's manager. Yvonne is a colleague and friend whose last assignment was to increase the satisfaction of people at the XYZ, a customer, with WHAM, one of your company's products.

Your company's engineering organization rushed WHAM out the door. And it shows. The people at XYZ believe that the product is "unstable and unusable". But despite their rhetoric, they use and depend on WHAM. If that weren't enough, a different product, your company's flagship product, which until recently has had zero problems, failed several times during Yvonne's assignment. And those failures have had severe impacts on XYZ. The managers at XYZ are angry and they sometimes take it out on people, like Yvonne, who are located in their offices day-to-day.

You have worked with the people at XYZ and they like you. Your role enables you to hear things from the management and employees at XYZ as well as your company's management. For instance, you have heard unflattering comments from Yvonne's manager, Joseph, about her performance at XYZ. You wonder whether Yvonne is about to become the designated scapegoat.

You believe that Yvonne had a 1% chance of being successful with the assignment. WHAM stinks and you doubt whether anyone could fix the level of problems that XYZ is experiencing. Joseph did nothing to set the expectations of people at XYZ about Yvonne and what she was there to do. Yvonne was simply parachuted into the account and expected to perform a miracle.

There is more. You suspect that part of the dissatisfaction that Joseph has with Yvonne comes from her unwillingness to do "whatever it takes," which is considered a virtue at your company. Yvonne works hard to keep her assignments bounded so they don't require her to work weekends or late evening. She has made that fact clear to her Joseph who doesn't like hearing about any limits.

What do you tell Jake?
More importantly, should you tell Yvonne about the inquiry?

SteveSmith 2005.02.11

First of all, I tell Jake that it's her manager's job to tell him that. If he wants me to talk about my perceptions of Yvonne's work, I tell him that I'd be glad to do it with Yvonne present.

I'm not sure what inquiry you mean in the second question. Is it just that Jake asked about her work? - JerryWeinberg 2005.02.11

I tell Jake, "I saw Yvonne do a good job with a poor product in a situation where expectations were all against her."
I don't like the word "should" in the question "should you tell Yvonne about the inquiry?" I may choose to tell Yvonne the exact question that Jake asked about her. I may choose to say nothing to Yvonne.

DwaynePhillips 12 February 2005

Dwayne Phillips writes I don't like the word "should" in the question "should you tell Yvonne about the inquiry?" I may choose to tell Yvonne the exact question that Jake asked about her. I may choose to say nothing to Yvonne.

"Should" was meant to be provocative. You get to choose. Yvonne is your colleague and friend. Rightly or wrongly, I feel the desire to protect my friends more than I do my colleagues. If I'm the person in this situation, I struggle with whether to say anything about what I know. I may choose to say nothing. But I give the alternative more than a passing thought. That's why I am asking others what they would do in this situation.

Jerry Weinberg writes I tell Jake that it's her manager's job to tell him that. If he wants me to talk about my perceptions of Yvonne's work, I tell him that I'd be glad to do it with Yvonne present.

Oh, I like this advice... It's very Weinborgian.

Jerry Weinberg writes I'm not sure what inquiry you mean in the second question. Is it just that Jake asked about her work?

Yes, that's part of it. But you also suspect that Joseph, Yvonne's manager, has made comments to Jake about Yvonne's work that are false.

If Yvonne knows about the inquiry, she may choose to run a vigorous campaign to restore her reputation or she may get paranoid and self destruct.

Triangulation is a bad thing.

SteveSmith 2005.02.12

I agree. So is assuming things. I wouldn't assume that Joseph has made comments. If I wanted to take action based on that assumption, I would first find out if it were true. You could ask Jake, when he asks you. "Oh, has something happened to call Yvonne's work to your attention?" (notice the neutrality, not assuming it was bad or good)

Of course, he might not tell you. And you could ask Joseph, and he might not tell you, either. So, there's no way to check that assumption reliably unless they're willing to tell you. That puts you on slippery ground. You may be raising an issue when there isn't one. - JerryWeinberg 2005.02.12

Jerry Weinberg writes You could ask Jake, when he asks you. "Oh, has something happened to call Yvonne's work to your attention?" (notice the neutrality, not assuming it was bad or good

Yes, I notice the neutrality and like the question, a lot.

Jerry Weinberg writes Of course, he might not tell you. And you could ask Joseph, and he might not tell you, either. So, there's no way to check that assumption reliably unless they're willing to tell you.

I agree. I suspect that the answer, nine out of ten times, would be to a different question rather than the one I asked.

Jerry Weinberg writes That puts you on slippery ground. You may be raising an issue when there isn't one.

So stay out of the middle. Got it.

SteveSmith 2005.02.13

Updated: Sunday, February 13, 2005