I think the function head is a bully

[RuedeRivoli]

Hi all, 

I was in bits yesterday, but decided to seek some advice today as I have a feeling my team lead's manager is out to get me for whatever reason. 

We were on a team call yesterday and she decided to share the unofficial findings of an internal audit that was conducted on a few projects. Not the final results, the initial findings which internal audit had communicated only to the intended stakeholders involved in these projects. Nevertheless, she went ahead and shared them to the whole team during this call, even to those whose projects were not part of the audit sample. As the sample for the audit was poorly put together, they picked an ongoing project of mine (which goes against procedure as they should only audit closed projects). The remarks raised by internal audit were remarks I had already addressed with my team lead and had highlighted as illegitimate as I had written evidence that every task in the internal audit observations were performed according to procedure. It was simply a case of some documentation not having been uploaded into the system yet because the project is still open. Yet, internal audit decided to come to the conclusion something wasn't done because they didn't see it in the system instead of inquiring about it first and marked it as such in their report. 

During said call, the team lead's manager highlighted the deficiencies and my name in bold red as example of where deficiencies were found. The whole team saw my name in bold red during the call and assumed I didn't do my work because the spreadsheet stated: "XYZ not done", which is not the case at all. She pointed at this example (with my name next to it) and said: "For instance, this wasn't done" (not the case at all, again I have written evidence it was done and even highlighted the inconsistency of the audit observation to my team lead). 

Instead of doing what a manager should do - get some background information with the concerned staff and wait until the official audit results are released before broadcasting the results to the whole team, she took internal audit's observations as final and broadcasted them. It's a complete breach of compliance to broadcast this at an individual name level and made me look bad in the process because I did the work and internal audit did not conduct a clean audit.

She humiliated me in front of everyone and made me lose credibility even in front of the most incompetent people in my team, meaning no one will want me on their project and won't help me on mine anymore. The worst part is I had raised my concerns to my team lead about the audit being conducted outside of the regular procedure. He said he'd discuss it with his manager (the person who presented the findings), but it turns out he did nothing or she wasn't receptive. 

I have a feeling she did it on purpose and have never been humiliated like this in 7 years of career. 

I have a call with her on Monday to address my concerns on the audit, but I wonder if I should politely advise her she made me feel highly uncomfortable?

Thanks. 
 

[Rose Mosse]

No, I would not do that. Is the issue fixed? You need to show your work where it's required so there's a trail. Everything must be traced. In the meeting on Monday make the corrections and don't let it happen again. You're not there to change the way the company does things (you're not hired for that). I would not make any complaints on one issue. 

Keep a diary or log book or spread sheet even privately and document instances that are unprofessional. These are for your records only and should help you determine whether it's time to move on to a new employer or position.

[RuedeRivoli]

15 minutes ago, Rose Mosse said:

No, I would not do that. Is the issue fixed? You need to show your work where it's required so there's a trail. Everything must be traced. In the meeting on Monday make the corrections and don't let it happen again. You're not there to change the way the company does things (you're not hired for that). I would not make any complaints on one issue. 

Keep a diary or log book or spread sheet even privately and document instances that are unprofessional. These are for your records only and should help you determine whether it's time to move on to a new employer or position.

The issue is not yet fixed. 

The issue isn't that I did not show my work or didn't upload it on time. It's not an oversight in any way shape or form. I can acknowledge an oversight, no issues. Your comment seems to point to the fact that this may have been one, which it wasn't. The work was done, but technically, the upload into the system can be done at any point during the project until the last day before the relevant project file is closed in the system. Internal audit picked an ongoing project at a point in time where we were still uploading documentation and automatically claimed the work wasn't done because it wasn't in the system yet. Again, we still had a good 3 months to upload into the system as there is no specific deadline for this. Additionally, I'm not even in charge of the upload - it falls within the remit of someone more senior. Where there were deadlines, we met them all.  It's a case where internal audit prematurely came to conclusions without even cross-checking with us and try to get an offline copy of the work instead. 

Internal procedure was not abided by as they should not audit open projects because of this specific issue. 

Additionally, this manager knows the work was done. I had all email trails and written evidence it was done. This was communicated to my team lead and this manager before this call. 

I might not be there to change the process, but I am there to escalate an issue when there is a deviation to a policy (which in this case, it was confirmed by various parties before I even escalated on my end). 

[Kwothe28]

59 minutes ago, RuedeRivoli said:

I have a call with her on Monday to address my concerns on the audit, but I wonder if I should politely advise her she made me feel highly uncomfortable?

 

To your superior? You want to politely advise your superior that she made you uncomfortable? Yeah, please dont do that, she probably wouldnt care at all.

Present your case and explain yourself. That is the best you can do in this situation and you got your shot for it. Anything else like telling her how she wronged you while your name was in red after audit would just make your situation there even worse.

[Rose Mosse]

2 minutes ago, RuedeRivoli said:

The issue is not yet fixed. 

The issue isn't that I did not show my work or didn't upload it on time. The work was done, but technically, the upload into the system can be done at any point during the project until the last day before the relevant folder is closed. Internal audit picked an ongoing project at a point in time where we were still uploading documentation and automatically claimed the work wasn't done because it wasn't in the system yet. Again, we still had a good 3 months to upload into the system and I'm not even in charge of the upload. Where there were deadlines, we met them all. It's not an oversight in any way shape or form. It's a case where internal audit prematurely came to conclusions. 

Internal audit went against procedure as they should not audit open projects for this specific issue. 

Additionally, this manager knows the work was done. I had all email trails and written evidence it was done. 

Thanks for explaining. I would confirm the bold parts above in the Monday meeting. 

The problem with calling out your manager on bad management is that she is not going to change because of you. As soon as you recognize that be smart about the way you handle your work in future and make sure any details are uploaded the same day of completion. If you are not in charge of uploading your own work for example, who is? Perhaps that is a detail that you might want to take over to ensure that it is done promptly. I would clarify with her what is expected of you in terms of uploading as the problem seems to be the info not being available regardless of deadlines. 

I would resist any form of argument or confrontation about her management or the way she went about things. Instead try to find out what should have been done instead. Don't assume anything. Find out what she wants from you going forward.

[RuedeRivoli]

1 minute ago, Kwothe28 said:

To your superior? You want to politely advise your superior that she made you uncomfortable? Yeah, please dont do that, she probably wouldnt care at all.

Present your case and explain yourself. That is the best you can do in this situation and you got your shot for it. Anything else like telling her how she wronged you while your name was in red after audit would just make your situation there even worse.

I think you're not understanding the issue here.

The problem isn't the fact my name was in red. It's the way she presented the results without getting background information first and the fact that she pointed out an incorrect observation under my in front of my whole team without addressing it with me first. It's one thing to present results, it's another to "accuse" someone of not having done the work on the basis of mere observations that were not cross-checked adequately.

[RuedeRivoli]

10 minutes ago, Rose Mosse said:

Thanks for explaining. I would confirm the bold parts above in the Monday meeting. 

The problem with calling out your manager on bad management is that she is not going to change because of you. As soon as you recognize that be smart about the way you handle your work in future and make sure any details are uploaded the same day of completion. If you are not in charge of uploading your own work for example, who is? Perhaps that is a detail that you might want to take over to ensure that it is done promptly. I would clarify with her what is expected of you in terms of uploading as the problem seems to be the info not being available regardless of deadlines. 

I would resist any form of argument or confrontation about her management or the way she went about things. Instead try to find out what should have been done instead. Don't assume anything. Find out what she wants from you going forward.

Someone more senior is in charge. I have no visibility over their timelines. I hand over my work to them and they do the upload. I cannot do the upload myself as they need to contribute with their inputs before doing so. Despite the fact my part of the deliverable was sent across to this person on time, they failed to upload it. I have no involvement in this and based on the procedure, I'm not in charge of chasing a lack of upload.  It falls within the remit of the senior project lead. 

These documents never get uploaded on the same day of completion because it is not how the process works, unfortunately. If it were my responsibility, I'd upload it on the same day, but it doesn't work like that due to the various procedural layers.

Again, I can appreciate an oversight, but if something is outside my control and it is unfair to claim my work was not done. 

I'm not the type to be confrontational or to argue at work or anywhere in real life really, so I'll be fine on this end 🙂 

[Kwothe28]

1 minute ago, RuedeRivoli said:

I think you're not understanding the issue here.

The problem isn't the fact my name was in red. It's the way she presented the results without getting background information first and the fact that she pointed out an incorrect observation under my in front of my whole team without addressing it with me first. It's one thing to present results, it's another to "accuse" someone of not having done the work on the basis of mere observations that were not cross-checked adequately.

Oh I understand the issue. But you want to tell her that she didnt do her work, and made you uncomfortable and humiliated. While in her eyes it was you who made the mistake, your name was in red and she had every right to do so(according to her, not me). Just saying that in this particular situation you wont get far with what you want to do. Because in her eyes she had every right to do so and its pointless to tell her how she didnt do her job and wronged you. That would only anger her even more.

[RuedeRivoli]

8 minutes ago, Kwothe28 said:

Oh I understand the issue. But you want to tell her that she didnt do her work, and made you uncomfortable and humiliated. While in her eyes it was you who made the mistake, your name was in red and she had every right to do so(according to her, not me). Just saying that in this particular situation you wont get far with what you want to do. Because in her eyes she had every right to do so and its pointless to tell her how she didnt do her job and wronged you. That would only anger her even more.

My point is, she could have approached the situation differently (I won't tell her), but I believe the below approach would have been more professional:

• After she receives the results from the audit, she should have reached out to every staff who has a deficiency under their name to explain and give some background. (And yet, she goes on during the call about how she has no background on how these deficiencies happened, but she never reached out in the first place - just made assumptions). 
• Once the above is done, she could have easily shared the results and hid the employee names, just leaving the project name. The point of the audit was to find out where the deficiencies lie, not to hang people out to dry in front of their peers and make them lose credibility. The people whose projects were part of the audit also receive these results personally, so there is literally no point for her to show the names and plaster people the way she did it during the call. It's absolutely unnecessary. 

She wasn't angry by the way. There was no anger there whatsoever. 

[Batya33]

I agree with everyone else that the way you want to approach this is counterproductive.  Put aside your pride, your ego, etc and the only reason you should speak with her is to tell her "thank you for your constructive criticisms at the meeting and I wanted to review the deficiencies in my work so I don't repeat the mistake".  For all you know you are wrong or perhaps they changed the procedure recently without telling you.  Be curious not furious. 

You're not there to feel comfy.  You're there to work.  You're not there to be "right" about a perceived wrong about this criticism -you're there to contribute to the productivity of your employer.  To work.  You're not there to be told with kid gloves about mistakes she thinks you made -even if she is wrong.  Perhaps if you go in with an open mind -curious not furious -you will discover information you didn't know like a change in procedure.  

If you go in do very little talking.  Do a lot of active, approachable listening.

The other alternative is to decide that she is a bully, did this intentionally for some reason and you cannot work under those conditions.  Then look for another position.  But no you're not going to change her.  I know it's frustrating.  And the sooner you separate yourself from work more than you are now you might from a more objective view see that she really doesn't have time to go to all that trouble just to make you look bad -I'm sure she's way too busy for that.  You be too busy to to allow yourself to go there.  

[Batya33]

5 minutes ago, RuedeRivoli said:

My point is, she could have approached the situation differently (I won't tell her), but I believe the below approach would have been more professional:

• After she receives the results from the audit, she should have reached out to every staff who has a deficiency under their name to explain and give some background. (And yet, she goes on during the call about how she has no background on how these deficiencies happened, but she never reached out in the first place - just made assumptions). 
• Once the above is done, she could have easily shared the results and hid the employee names, just leaving the project name. The point of the audit was to find out where the deficiencies lie, not to hang people out to dry in front of their peers and make them lose credibility. The people whose projects were part of the audit also receive these results personally, so there is literally no point for her to show the names and plaster people the way she did it during the call. It's absolutely unnecessary. 

She wasn't angry by the way. There was no anger there whatsoever. 

Right -there was no anger because her intention was to get work done and done better.  Not to hang you out to dry.  When you become a manager you will handle it differently.  But it doesn't make her wrong, it's just a different management style  - you make it sound like there's some written document that says how she has to do this task and I bet there is not - just that you disagree with how she did it.

[RuedeRivoli]

9 minutes ago, Batya33 said:

I agree with everyone else that the way you want to approach this is counterproductive.  Put aside your pride, your ego, etc and the only reason you should speak with her is to tell her "thank you for your constructive criticisms at the meeting and I wanted to review the deficiencies in my work so I don't repeat the mistake".  For all you know you are wrong or perhaps they changed the procedure recently without telling you.  Be curious not furious. 

You're not there to feel comfy.  You're there to work.  You're not there to be "right" about a perceived wrong about this criticism -you're there to contribute to the productivity of your employer.  To work.  You're not there to be told with kid gloves about mistakes she thinks you made -even if she is wrong.  Perhaps if you go in with an open mind -curious not furious -you will discover information you didn't know like a change in procedure.  

If you go in do very little talking.  Do a lot of active, approachable listening.

The other alternative is to decide that she is a bully, did this intentionally for some reason and you cannot work under those conditions.  Then look for another position.  But no you're not going to change her.  I know it's frustrating.  And the sooner you separate yourself from work more than you are now you might from a more objective view see that she really doesn't have time to go to all that trouble just to make you look bad -I'm sure she's way too busy for that.  You be too busy to to allow yourself to go there.  

Thanks. 

Before I raised the issue, I cross-checked with various people in the team including the senior project manager. They all advised that indeed, the procedure followed my internal audit this time around is a clear deviation from their usual process & it was later on also escalated by another party (more senior than I am). 

I certainly would have never raised this point regarding the procedure if I hadn't cross-checked with various parties, team members and even my team lead first. I did some preliminary investigation beforehand. It's not my style to go around complaining or criticizing other people's work without solid evidence. 

As far as doing little talking at the meeting... I'm the one who requested the meeting to discuss the results, provide some background and insights and overall discuss the next steps. So ultimately, I will have to do the talking since I'm the one who instigated it. 

[greendots]

My two cents: Keep documenting everything.

About that call you're going to have with your team lead's manager on Monday, after it's finished sent her an email detailing what was spoken about, what was established, who said what, etc.

Have everything in writing (e.g. shooting her a quick email about a task she asked you to complete or modify) and make screenshots with a timestamp where necessary (e.g. If you uploaded a document at the requested time).

That way whatever happens, you have documented proof.

[Batya33]

5 minutes ago, RuedeRivoli said:

Thanks. 

Before I raised the issue, I cross-checked with various people in the team including the senior project manager. They all advised that indeed, the procedure followed my internal audit this time around is a clear deviation from their usual process & it was later on also escalated by another party (more senior than I am). 

I certainly would have never raised this point regarding the procedure if I hadn't cross-checked with various parties, team members and even my team lead first. I did some preliminary investigation beforehand. It's not my style to go around complaining or criticizing other people's work without solid evidence. 

As far as doing little talking at the meeting... I'm the one who requested the meeting to discuss the results, provide some background and insights and overall discuss the next steps. So ultimately, I will have to do the talking since I'm the one who instigated it. 

So you did all this checking to prepare for your meeting.  So here's the thing -that was done for you -to prove your "case" so to speak and taking up the time of your colleagues in this way is what actually doesn't make a good impression - not how your boss approached the audit issue. 

You spent work time gathering "evidence" -for yourself.  Your colleagues know this -it doesn't move the ball further as far as getting work done and it takes up their time.  Look this is just my perspective as an employee now and as a manager in the past, pre-kid.  Yes, do little talking in the meeting you requested.  Ask an open ended fair question in an information-gathering tone.  Do not make it about how you felt - it's really irrelevant.  Or pretend it is.  Then listen.  Yes, even though you requested the meeting.  

[RuedeRivoli]

2 minutes ago, greendots said:

My two cents: Document everything. Have it all in writing.

About that call you're going to have with your team lead's manager on Monday, after it's finished sent her an email detailing what was spoken about, what was established, who said what, etc.

From now on have everything in writing (e.g. shooting her a quick email about a task she asked you to complete or modify) and make screenshots with a timestamp where necessary (e.g. If you uploaded a document at the requested time).

That way whatever happens, you have documented proof.

Thanks. 

I don't work with her directly. I work with other senior managers on projects (who report to a different person), but she is basically overseeing my team from a hierarchy standpoint. 

[greendots]

5 minutes ago, RuedeRivoli said:

I don't work with her directly. I work with other senior managers on projects (who report to a different person), but she is basically overseeing my team from a hierarchy standpoint. 

Ah, ok. 🙂 I'd still sent her the minutes of whatever conversation you'll have on Monday just to be safe.

[RuedeRivoli]

25 minutes ago, Batya33 said:

So you did all this checking to prepare for your meeting.  So here's the thing -that was done for you -to prove your "case" so to speak and taking up the time of your colleagues in this way is what actually doesn't make a good impression - not how your boss approached the audit issue. 

You spent work time gathering "evidence" -for yourself.  Your colleagues know this -it doesn't move the ball further as far as getting work done and it takes up their time.  Look this is just my perspective as an employee now and as a manager in the past, pre-kid.  Yes, do little talking in the meeting you requested.  Ask an open ended fair question in an information-gathering tone.  Do not make it about how you felt - it's really irrelevant.  Or pretend it is.  Then listen.  Yes, even though you requested the meeting.  

I'm a bit confused when you said I spent time gathering evidence for myself. What evidence are you talking about exactly? Asking a question to a colleague on a process is sneaky evidence gathering now? You have the timeline completely wrong and are making inaccurate assumptions based on your unrelated previous experience. 

A month ago, I simply asked more experienced colleagues if internal audit conducting an audit on an ongoing project is the normal process because I joined the company less than 2 years ago. I asked a question to literally two people and the team lead. That's it. That's the extent of my "investigation". I don't understand your point at all. It takes 1 minute for them to confirm whether this is normal process or not. I don't understand how I particularly "took up their time" when I simply asked for clarity on a process.

I asked this question way before this whole debacle happened during the conference call and way before I requested a meeting with the manager. The meeting wasn't even in sight at the time at all. The reason why I asked was because I had received the observations from audit and was taken aback by the fact an ongoing project was being audited. That's when I asked whether it was normal procedure for audit to audit ongoing projects. It was a simple question that literally takes no one's time and I think is a fair question for a more recent joiner. There was no ulterior motive or me trying to collect evidence for a call that wasn't even on my radar then. The meeting request came as a result of the conference call debacle. I simply want to address this specific project.

There was no "evidence collection" whatsoever aside from me retrieving all the email trails pertaining my work I had stored in my local drive (like a normal employee would). 

I think you're not looking at the timeline right and you're also making incorrect assumptions. Please don't try to utilize the background I'm giving against me. I requested constructive advice, not assumption-based judgments (you also come across as quite aggressive, just saying).

[Batya33]

27 minutes ago, RuedeRivoli said:

I'm a bit confused when you said I spent time gathering evidence for myself. What evidence are you talking about exactly? Asking a question to a colleague on a process is sneaky evidence gathering now? You have the timeline completely wrong and are making inaccurate assumptions based on your unrelated previous experience. 

A month ago, I simply asked more experienced colleagues if internal audit conducting an audit on an ongoing project is the normal process because I joined the company less than 2 years ago. I asked a question to literally two people and the team lead. That's it. That's the extent of my "investigation". I don't understand your point at all. It takes 1 minute for them to confirm whether this is normal process or not. I don't understand how I particularly "took up their time" when I simply asked for clarity on a process.

I asked this question way before this whole debacle happened during the conference call and way before I requested a meeting with the manager. The meeting wasn't even in sight at the time at all. The reason why I asked was because I had received the observations from audit and was taken aback by the fact an ongoing project was being audited. That's when I asked whether it was normal procedure for audit to audit ongoing projects. It was a simple question that literally takes no one's time and I think is a fair question for a more recent joiner. There was no ulterior motive or me trying to collect evidence for a call that wasn't even on my radar then. The meeting request came as a result of the conference call debacle. I simply want to address this specific project.

There was no "evidence collection" whatsoever aside from me retrieving all the email trails pertaining my work I had stored in my local drive (like a normal employee would). 

I think you're not looking at the timeline right and you're also making incorrect assumptions. Please don't try to utilize the background I'm giving against me. I requested constructive advice, not assumption-based judgments (you also come across as quite aggressive, just saying).

I thought you said you went to your colleagues to gather evidence for your meeting.  You come across as wanting to be right for ego purposes to an extent that to me will sabotage your success in general. I’m sorry you felt bullied  

I would address this specific project only if your goal is to learn how to do good work for this person in the way she needs it done. Not to convince her your way is better or her way is wrong. 
I think I gave you very good advice on how to conduct yourself so that your focus is on continuing to do good work and continuing to learn and grow.  

And showing your boss your focus is to help the company succeed.  I’d feel differently if she’d said something that was discriminatory or personally offensive.  She’s all about the work.  You don’t like her approach.  But she’s all about the work.  
She’s not going to care whether you felt comfy. Should she? I don’t know.she’s not obligated to at all in this particular situation.  In my humble opinion.   I know of touchy feely workplaces but then the downside is by definition people will know a whole lot more about your personal life.  

Maybe you do need a manager who only gives constructive criticism in private.  Or criticism.  So find that.  And know that there will be trade offs each and every time you switch jobs.  You know. The devil you know. 

[RuedeRivoli]

15 minutes ago, Batya33 said:

I thought you said you went to your colleagues to gather evidence for your meeting.  You come across as wanting to be right for ego purposes to an extent that to me will sabotage your success in general. I’m sorry you felt bullied  

I would address this specific project only if your goal is to learn how to do good work for this person in the way she needs it done. Not to convince her your way is better or her way is wrong. 
I think I gave you very good advice on how to conduct yourself so that your focus is on continuing to do good work and continuing to learn and grow.  

And showing your boss your focus is to help the company succeed.  I’d feel differently if she’d said something that was discriminatory or personally offensive.  She’s all about the work.  You don’t like her approach.  But she’s all about the work.  
She’s not going to care whether you felt comfy. Should she? I don’t know.she’s not obligated to at all in this particular situation.  In my humble opinion.   I know of touchy feely workplaces but then the downside is by definition people will know a whole lot more about your personal life.  

Maybe you do need a manager who only gives constructive criticism in private.  Or criticism.  So find that.  And know that there will be trade offs each and every time you switch jobs.  You know. The devil you know. 

I don't think it's about being "right". You made assumptions, I wanted to address them.

As far as being "right" in the workplace.. it's not quite like that. These audit ratings can unfortunately affect my performance review. Therefore, if I understand there may have been some inconsistency in the procedure that was applied that may have led to inaccurate findings or premature unfounded observations, then I have to address them in one capacity or another with the right evidence. It's definitely not about being right and I certainly do not think it is a negative trait to question in a constructive manner a process if there is a clear deviation.

The reason for the meeting isn't to have a conversation about my feelings. I care about these findings and my original plan is to a) present evidence of what was done b) give background information c) address the gaps the project's process if there were any and where we could have done better. It's not confrontational or a therapy session or a "my way is better than your session". The bit about not feeling "comfortable" would have only been an extra in addition to the 3 points above. I obviously won't request a meeting for the sole purpose of pouring my feelings out. 

[Batya33]

Yes.  So I think you should meet with her to review the report but let her do the talking. Like “I wanted to meet with you concerning the deficiencies you saw in my report.  Can you please review with me what the nature of those deficiencies were?”  Then don’t be defensive.  Simply say “I see. So how I understand it I am supposed to adhere to the following process (discuss).  In this situation when you critiqued  the report it was at (x) stage in the process. But it wasn’t yet at y stage so (discuss).  My sense is there was a miscommunication on one or both of your parts about how the process works. 

[Wiseman2]

Sounds like a dystopian work culture. 

[DarkCh0c0]

6 hours ago, Batya33 said:

Like “I wanted to meet with you concerning the deficiencies you saw in my report.  Can you please review with me what the nature of those deficiencies were?”  Then don’t be defensive.  Simply say “I see. So how I understand it I am supposed to adhere to the following process (discuss).  In this situation when you critiqued  the report it was at (x) stage in the process. But it wasn’t yet at y stage so (discuss)

I agree. Go in with that mindset.

And, I see where you're coming from as well. Nothing to take personally. As Batyaa mentioned, it's about her management style unfortunately.

Go with that^ mindset and let her share her thought process. At least this meeting will clear the air on whether or not she did it on purpose. If she comes off as toxic, stand your ground.

Otherwise, if your team knows how good the work was, then you have no reason to worry. Be confident and proud of your own work.

[RuedeRivoli]

3 hours ago, Wiseman2 said:

Sounds like a dystopian work culture. 

It is. 

[Jibralta]

13 hours ago, RuedeRivoli said:

I have a call with her on Monday to address my concerns on the audit, but I wonder if I should politely advise her she made me feel highly uncomfortable?

I agree with others that you should use this opportunity to ask questions. And then take some time to evaluate the situation after the phone call. Maybe it will take more than one phone call to get a good idea of why things went sideways like that. Hold off on sharing your feelings with her. Chances are, she doesn't care about your feelings. Which is pretty dismal, but it is what it is. No need to make yourself more vulnerable to her.

Take it from me, it sucks working for people who don't care about you, who see you are a number and not as a human being. If, after talking to her, you find that she simply has no respect for you, start evaluating other employment options. There's a saying, "The fish starts stinking from the head down." If a manager behaves unprofessionally, you can bet that mentality starts higher up. Your career should make you happy. You spend a huge chunk of your life there.

[RuedeRivoli]

28 minutes ago, Jibralta said:

I agree with others that you should use this opportunity to ask questions. And then take some time to evaluate the situation after the phone call. Maybe it will take more than one phone call to get a good idea of why things went sideways like that. Hold off on sharing your feelings with her. Chances are, she doesn't care about your feelings. Which is pretty dismal, but it is what it is. No need to make yourself more vulnerable to her.

Take it from me, it sucks working for people who don't care about you, who see you are a number and not as a human being. If, after talking to her, you find that she simply has no respect for you, start evaluating other employment options. There's a saying, "The fish starts stinking from the head down." If a manager behaves unprofessionally, you can bet that mentality starts higher up. Your career should make you happy. You spend a huge chunk of your life there.

Thank you.

So, yesterday, we received an email from senior management stating that the internal audit that was performed will basically be discarded because the issue I highlighted earlier (audit performed on ongoing projects, which is indeed a deviation to the existing policy, does not encompass enough evidence to conclude a definite failure on our part). The audit will be done again at a later stage. 

At this stage, we have all the relevant documents in the system. I will nonetheless go ahead with the meeting, but this indeed proves the internal audit results shared were premature. If I compare this audit: it's is the same as if an external auditor started auditing a client for their annual accounts in September when the client's fiscal year ends in December. This is the closest comparison I can find. 

In any case, I worked for other global corporations before this one, and while you have to draw a line not to express your "feelings", I have never been told not to express my discomfort at something. In previous corporations of the same scale, we were even encouraged to do so in a professional and courteous manner if justified.

I will personally remain neutral as I'm not planning on staying in a company which literally issues report cards to employees to rate them on an individual basis for everyone else to see. In almost 10 years of career, it's the first time I've ever seen this. It's not worth my time or energy. I need to be happy and comfortable where I work and this is not it at all.