Here’s the deal; I’ve only been in my new job a couple of months. There’s a ton of stuff to learn, so I expect to make mistakes and am 100% receptive to having them pointed out so that I can learn from them and eventually get everything internalized so that I can do my work by routine. I’m not the type that gets defensive over constructive criticism; I’m super thick-skinned about it.
But my boss keeps giving me feedback on mistakes that I didn’t make - my coworker made them. This coworker’s a guy that’s been there forever, totally set in his ways, so he makes all sorts of weird little shortcuts and does things his own way. We’re not talking about decisions that cause any problems or cause things to get screwed up, but rather small deviations from the way that things are supposed to be done.
I’ve learned the job really, really quickly and feel pretty confident about “the basics” of what we do, but there are more advanced things that I need to work on and learn more about. But the problem is that my boss keeps giving me this “helpful feedback” on my coworker’s mistakes and shortcuts - I know how to do the stuff right! I think that, since we work on a common pool of projects and I’m “the new guy,” he just assumes that it was me when he sees these simple mistakes. I keep telling my boss (these exchanges are usually done via e-mail), very casually, “oh, Joe did that project, but thanks for the tip!” or “Yeah, Joe did that one - I learned that lesson the hard way a couple weeks ago when I totally bungled a different one!” and so on.
I’m worried that I’m going to sound like a defensive guy that can’t take criticism or pointers, which is the LAST thing that I am and the last thing that I want to look like. I’m totally open to feedback, I just want it to be on the mistakes I actually do make and the things that I actually do need help with. How should I handle it?
I’m thinking your boss doesn’t really think you are screwing up but is venting. And you’re not going to get to choose what you get feedback on. I’m new at my job, too and I have 3 assistants whose mistakes are ultimately my responsibility. I listen to my supervisor’s comments on mistakes I didn’t make and then I ask about things I do need feedback on. Your boss may not know you need help in other areas.
Don’t use the “Joe did that” line again. Keep a private record of these incidents where Joe was the screwup and just accept the criticism. If it comes to the point of you or Joe, you’ll have some documentation, otherwise keep it to yourself.
That’s a tough one - on the one hand, you don’t want to be Mr. Can’t Take Criticism, but on the other hand, if your boss gets it in his head that all you do is make small mistakes, that isn’t healthy for your career either.
I think I would bring it to your boss in a neutral way, something like, “I’m a little concerned that you think I am making all these mistakes and it is reflecting badly on how much I’ve learned here and the job you think I’m doing.” That should open a door to a discussion of who is making the mistakes and if they are a big deal at all.
I ratted out a bad co-worker at a temp job once - the boss was away for a while, and when she came back, she said how everyone said we were doing a really good job. Since my co-worker had been working about four hours out of every eight and I was doing about 80% of the work, I blurted out, “Both of us?” The boss wanted to know the whole story after that, and my co-worker was gone that day. Not that you’re trying to get your co-worker fired or anything, but bosses have a right to know what is actually going on in their office.
The same thing happened to me at my last job (except that things would be occasionally actually bungled due to the other girl’s laziness or shortcuts)
At first, I’d respond with, “sure. Tina did that- I’ll fix it,” or just, “sure, okay,” and then go to Tina later and mention that I was told by the boss to do it THIS way and got yelled at because she did it THAT way.
Eventually, it got to the point where the boss would yell at me for my mistakes and then add, “and tell Tina not to ____!” and I realized that part of the problem was that Tina wasn’t very good with authority and wouldn’t listen when the boss told her to do something. But if I told her I was getting in trouble for things she did or if I just asked her to do something or pointed out that we’re supposed to be doing something, she’d listen.
It sounds like your boss Really hates “joe’s” shortcuts, and miught be trying to tell you “Don’t do it like “Joe”!”
joe’s senoirity/habit pattern and your boss’s managerial weakness might make it impossible to “correct” “Joe”, so s/he is trying to nip such behavoir in the bud, so to speak, in your case.
Wait for a quiet, casual, private moment with your boss, and bring up a few instances, describing how you and “joe” handled similar problems/chalnges. use it as an oportunity to let your boss know you understand and intend to follow the correct methodolgy, and wont be using “Joe’s” shortcuts.
Your boss might just be waiting for you to discuss this / these issue(s)…