Steve Shu recently posted a bit about providing feedback on client staff to client management. My immediate reaction was, "Only in my dreams!". Rarely has this happened to me. In fact, I can only think about the few times this has occurred informally on my current project, and I am only asked about the intern (who seems to annoy everyone but me), not the actual full-time employees seconded to the project. It would not surprise me one bit to discover that few public sector consultants are asked for feedback on their client team members. I cannot think of a driving force that would entice a public manager to ask such a question.
Has anyone out there (all 2-3 of you) ever been asked for feedback on client project staff by a client manager? Really, I am dying to know.
My experiences being asked for an on-the-spot evaluation of a student intern prompt me to ask other questions. The intern has the role of communication specialist, but she is also the project's training coordinator, booking rooms, requesting user system access, printing materials and such. It is not a light work load nor a glamourous one, but it is critical. And she is very proactive, constantly pursuing her action items and going through her to-do list. Of course, everything she does requires input, direction, or approval from other team members, and usually some combo of the three. People snap at her all the time, but she seems to brush it off quickly and just keep going.
I think the rest of the team is annoyed because they 1) forget what is was like to be young and energetic, and 2) they do not work with young people who are energetic and enthusiastic, but need constant attention, direction, and/or QA of all their work. Also, that fast-paced project model of constant collaboration among tem members is highly unusual for these folks as well. They are accustomed to working alone on highly repetitive tasks with few regular meetings.
What are your thoughts and experiences working with interns? If you are an intern, please share your perspective.
Thanks for the post and discussion. I would have to say, giving feedback on client staff is not a very regular occurence for me. The most common situations that come to mind where these happen for me are related to:
ReplyDelete- 3rd party assessments where some sort of organization goal has been missed
- helping a larger company to develop a "start-up" within a larger company where the profile make-up of the existing personnel may be more used to running existing businesses as opposed to developing new lines of business
Situationally, I would also say that I am asked to provide this feedback more often when the client manager and one or more client subbordinates have a disfunctional relationship between them.
Again, I would emphasize that being requested to provide feedback is uncommon, and I generally stay away from doing it. If it come up by chance, however, it is very risky, and one needs to thing things through very carefully.