Is it bad to show your boss vulnerability?

Asked by chelle21689 (7907

) January 24th, 2017 from iPhone

Hi, been a while since I posted about work. For several months I’ve been doing good at this job and improved greatly since I started February 2016.

I was on a roll until this past month I made mistakes. One was careless error because I underpaid an invoice and put the wrong amount. The other was because I didn’t know any better. I made the first mistake because we were all rushing to get things in by a deadline before we closed for two weeks during holiday and it was given to me late.
The other was because I thought I knew all about faculty positions but I didn’t. I was fairly new handling it since my trainer is on maternity leave. I basically hired Jane Doe into John Smith’s position to replace him as a term faculty. Turns out just because Jane is replacing John doesn’t mean she’s full time. You see there’s term faculty for three quarter time and full time for the exact position.

No one ever explained that to me. I thought it was just one kind of term. So it messed up their pay. I know now to look at paperwork requested long ago where to look. Also, I know the difference now. A VP verbally told us to do so without the usual paperwork which led be to make mistakes more since I wasn’t as familiar as I thought.

Anyway, I talked to my boss about the mistakes. She basically said its a learning experience and they’re all odd positions that are exceptions to the rule. I still couldn’t help but feel like a lost dummy again like I did when I first started. I basically revealed to her that it made me question myself whether I was good enough. She told me she never thought of me as a bad employee or firable. I really needed to hear this to see.

Anyway, talking helped me feel a lot better to see her view. That I was not incompetent. People told me that I should’ve never showed my lack of self esteem and discouraged spirit because it will cost in an advancement possibly.

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7 Answers

I have been a boss and I love nothing more than a person admitting they didn’t know and then asking for help to avoid a similar situation in the future. I do prefer if you ask before making the mistake.

And they are your boss and not a life-coach. Don’t waste their time with your insecurities. Find the problem, fix the problem and move the fuck on.

johnpowell (17881

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I didn’t try to go to her as a life coach. I just wanted to know how I was doing bevause despite everything I was really feeling like I was failing and might lose a job. I’ve been given advice on here a long time ago to ask the boss how I was doing.

At least I didn’t cry like my trainer when she didn’t get superior on her review. She got above standards.

chelle21689 (7907

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I didn’t know the scale of your interaction with your boss. I kinda got the crying or near tears vibe from your post.

And I disagree with asking your boss how you are doing unless it is over lunch or something. And framing is important.. There is a difference between “I think I am bad at my job and I am scared of getting homeless” and “How can I do better to make your job easier?”

johnpowell (17881

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Better not to do it again, because that’s what close friends are for.

flo (13313

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Well I mean I told her what I felt needed more work on. She said a lot of what that deals with will have it wait until the trainer comes back which is February.

chelle21689 (7907

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You’re a human being. You made a mistake. You owned up to it and you said you felt like a dummy for making an error. In other words, you admitted you’re fallible and making errors made you feel vulnerable. Obviously, it depends on the sort of person your boss is, but I’m sure after all this time you have a sense of how they work with people. I wouldn’t suggest you make a habit of telling her you feel like a goose and worry about how making an error will affect your job, but it sounds like she understood what you were saying and it was fine.

Earthbound_Misfit (13177

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It’s too bad you have to ask your boss how you are doing at your job. A good boss will consistently offer feedback. Do they provide you with reviews? I try to give my employees positive feedback as often as it is warranted as that helps lesson the negative impact when I have to address a mistake they made.

Cruiser (40454

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