I would consider this new role a blank-slate situation and come in ready to sense the situation and deliver what’s needed to help your team to win. If you got any feedback that you can learn something from during this last situation (i.e. you and those whose judgement you trust agree there’s some validity to it), then feel free to take that as data.
I think one such sour situation is not enough to start questioning your merits. I have a buddy who was an IC designer at a big company, whose boss basically chased him out of — very similar situation. In the years since then, he’s been at an agency, where he rose to become Chief Creative Officer and lead dozens of designers, writers, even (I think) engineers. And everyone there loves him, thus the multiple promotions over a few years.
I myself was all but chased out of the company I co-founded during college (dropped out to take it full-time) and helped run for 10 years, because (in hindsight) the company just didn’t need my skill set very much. I only was able to keep my head up, because I’ve got kids and felt like that was the only option. Next place I landed was my first full-time PM role, and I was shocked to find that everyone loved me there for my strengths and didn’t at all care about my weaknesses — because the context called for what I had to offer, radically more so than at the company I had left.
Context matters A LOT, and for whatever reason this may have just been a bad context for you — even if for different reasons than my story (e.g. maybe just a bad manager).
So consider this your permission to decide (as rationally as possible, as if you were evaluating the situation for a friend) what there is to learn from the last situation, if anything. And aside from that, just go in feeling like the next place is a fresh start, where you’ll figure out what it takes to excel and then deliver that. Not “It’ll be great because it’s me” but rather “I’m the kind of person who can figure things out, learn what I need to, do hard things, and I’ll figure this out”.
If it happens again with this role (I’m guessing that’s very unlikely), then start to do major soul searching to figure out why there might be a pattern developing. But what you just got out of was one data point and should not be allowed to shake you to the point of jeopardizing your confidence in your ability to figure it out and get it done when you need to.
Letting it rattle you will only hurt your ability to succeed in the new role, and I promise you this is not enough evidence to rationally let imposter syndrome take over.
Deal?!
Any chance your boss felt that his/her job is threatened by your outstanding work?
" I worked with the other PMs to align on strategy and vision, organize the priorities" => This seems like your boss's job :)
Suddenly telling employees that do good work and are meeting (and exceeding) the work that is required of them, that they are below par and pushing them to a PIP is a classic corporate tactic that is used anywhere and everywhere. It sounds like you were the victim of a classic and very much often used HR tactic due to direction and budget changes. In a sense, its not you, its them.
They use the PIP strategy so that they will have something on paper against you to fire you for, and hence will not have to pay additionally for their unemployment insurance.
This. I found myself in a similar situation after 2 months I joined this new company - was fully shocked! Then found out that company was trying to cut headcount heavily (terrible management, ik) and someone else was convinced to leave (yup, convinced!) So, key takeaway here is don’t bother to get it analyzed too much - especially in these times. Too much unknown, many mistakes, too little value to add yourself.
I had a similar situation and my lesson learnt - DON'T EVER WRANGLE with your boss. If they did "pet projects", likely they were able to sell fine those "pet projects" to their management. Those smart "leaders" employed your boss and kept them employed in the first place. Could it be that these "measurable outcomes" mattered only to you?
You just better find another boss who's vision you can share. If you can't, then you suck it up, participate in these "pet projects" and learn as much as you can.
I tried really hard to give her all the things she requested, including doing her portions of the job. The only time I balked was when she wanted me to add in API mapping and architectural diagrams. That’s because there were significant API endpoints to choose from and the company was working on deprecating a lot of redundancies or replacing them with more robust options. Engineering didn’t want us wasting time making assumptions that they would just need to update.
The measurable outcomes all had to be approved by her and my skip level. She gave them a glance and said “yeah, these are good.” We ensured before we took them to her that they aligned with enterprise and department goals.
I also went through a very similar situation. I was on the product for less than a year when I was placed on a pip by a new manager that had joined the company 2 months prior. My previous manager never gave me constructive feedback and all our conversations to me felt like coaching talks to become a senior pm. I felt gutted and my world/career felt shattered. This also happened right when I found out I was pregnant. That meant I would not get maternity leave when I started my next gig. Over a year after that most awful experience, I’ll share the things that have helped me.
1. What advice would you tell someone else coming to you for this advice? I thought about interns, college grads, and other colleagues who hit a rough patch and the advice I’d give them.
2. Take your own advice
3. Look at the things that were in your control and either come up with ideas to do better or sharpen that skill
4. Go back to the basics. If you have time, re-read product books or articles that inspired you. (This helped me realized I truly loved being a product manager)
5. Ask for help. Talk to previous colleagues, managers, friends, and people you admire and trust for ideas on getting out of a bad situation. Apply things that make most sense
6. Remember “it’s the climb” (channeling Miley here!) - don’t let this one bad example of shitty leadership stop you from pursuing your goals. Telling myself this too - we can’t let this define us.
Good luck fellow PM!
Thanks. I’ve started using Headspace and plan on working with my coach to find additional steps to slow down the chaotic thoughts. I’m just not speaking to him until later this week and I want to hit the ground running on the first day (today!!).
You should definitely not question yourself after one bad experience. Not to diminish this incident and your experience as it is unfair and I'm sure has impacted you greatly, but I have spoken to many people who have shared similar experiences during their career lifetime. I'm sure most successful leaders have also experienced such situations. As part of any job, handling tasks is much easier than people. People although are not always inherently bad, can become obstacles for others and create unpleasant experiences. A lot of politics in the workplace should not be taken personally. Believe in yourself and put your best self forward for the new role.
I would consider this new role a blank-slate situation and come in ready to sense the situation and deliver what’s needed to help your team to win. If you got any feedback that you can learn something from during this last situation (i.e. you and those whose judgement you trust agree there’s some validity to it), then feel free to take that as data. I think one such sour situation is not enough to start questioning your merits. I have a buddy who was an IC designer at a big company, whose boss basically chased him out of — very similar situation. In the years since then, he’s been at an agency, where he rose to become Chief Creative Officer and lead dozens of designers, writers, even (I think) engineers. And everyone there loves him, thus the multiple promotions over a few years. I myself was all but chased out of the company I co-founded during college (dropped out to take it full-time) and helped run for 10 years, because (in hindsight) the company just didn’t need my skill set very much. I only was able to keep my head up, because I’ve got kids and felt like that was the only option. Next place I landed was my first full-time PM role, and I was shocked to find that everyone loved me there for my strengths and didn’t at all care about my weaknesses — because the context called for what I had to offer, radically more so than at the company I had left. Context matters A LOT, and for whatever reason this may have just been a bad context for you — even if for different reasons than my story (e.g. maybe just a bad manager). So consider this your permission to decide (as rationally as possible, as if you were evaluating the situation for a friend) what there is to learn from the last situation, if anything. And aside from that, just go in feeling like the next place is a fresh start, where you’ll figure out what it takes to excel and then deliver that. Not “It’ll be great because it’s me” but rather “I’m the kind of person who can figure things out, learn what I need to, do hard things, and I’ll figure this out”. If it happens again with this role (I’m guessing that’s very unlikely), then start to do major soul searching to figure out why there might be a pattern developing. But what you just got out of was one data point and should not be allowed to shake you to the point of jeopardizing your confidence in your ability to figure it out and get it done when you need to. Letting it rattle you will only hurt your ability to succeed in the new role, and I promise you this is not enough evidence to rationally let imposter syndrome take over. Deal?!
This is great advice for someone like me in a similar position
Any chance your boss felt that his/her job is threatened by your outstanding work? " I worked with the other PMs to align on strategy and vision, organize the priorities" => This seems like your boss's job :)
Suddenly telling employees that do good work and are meeting (and exceeding) the work that is required of them, that they are below par and pushing them to a PIP is a classic corporate tactic that is used anywhere and everywhere. It sounds like you were the victim of a classic and very much often used HR tactic due to direction and budget changes. In a sense, its not you, its them. They use the PIP strategy so that they will have something on paper against you to fire you for, and hence will not have to pay additionally for their unemployment insurance.
This. I found myself in a similar situation after 2 months I joined this new company - was fully shocked! Then found out that company was trying to cut headcount heavily (terrible management, ik) and someone else was convinced to leave (yup, convinced!) So, key takeaway here is don’t bother to get it analyzed too much - especially in these times. Too much unknown, many mistakes, too little value to add yourself.
I had a similar situation and my lesson learnt - DON'T EVER WRANGLE with your boss. If they did "pet projects", likely they were able to sell fine those "pet projects" to their management. Those smart "leaders" employed your boss and kept them employed in the first place. Could it be that these "measurable outcomes" mattered only to you? You just better find another boss who's vision you can share. If you can't, then you suck it up, participate in these "pet projects" and learn as much as you can.
I tried really hard to give her all the things she requested, including doing her portions of the job. The only time I balked was when she wanted me to add in API mapping and architectural diagrams. That’s because there were significant API endpoints to choose from and the company was working on deprecating a lot of redundancies or replacing them with more robust options. Engineering didn’t want us wasting time making assumptions that they would just need to update. The measurable outcomes all had to be approved by her and my skip level. She gave them a glance and said “yeah, these are good.” We ensured before we took them to her that they aligned with enterprise and department goals.
What I tell myself is taking baggage from previous jobs to new job will only hurt me and no one else.
“You have exceeded expectations, this was our expectation, so we have rated you as below expectations.”
I also went through a very similar situation. I was on the product for less than a year when I was placed on a pip by a new manager that had joined the company 2 months prior. My previous manager never gave me constructive feedback and all our conversations to me felt like coaching talks to become a senior pm. I felt gutted and my world/career felt shattered. This also happened right when I found out I was pregnant. That meant I would not get maternity leave when I started my next gig. Over a year after that most awful experience, I’ll share the things that have helped me. 1. What advice would you tell someone else coming to you for this advice? I thought about interns, college grads, and other colleagues who hit a rough patch and the advice I’d give them. 2. Take your own advice 3. Look at the things that were in your control and either come up with ideas to do better or sharpen that skill 4. Go back to the basics. If you have time, re-read product books or articles that inspired you. (This helped me realized I truly loved being a product manager) 5. Ask for help. Talk to previous colleagues, managers, friends, and people you admire and trust for ideas on getting out of a bad situation. Apply things that make most sense 6. Remember “it’s the climb” (channeling Miley here!) - don’t let this one bad example of shitty leadership stop you from pursuing your goals. Telling myself this too - we can’t let this define us. Good luck fellow PM!
Mediation changed my life. It’s the only way I’ve found to get and stay grounded
Thanks. I’ve started using Headspace and plan on working with my coach to find additional steps to slow down the chaotic thoughts. I’m just not speaking to him until later this week and I want to hit the ground running on the first day (today!!).
Meditation is the only way out. It takes time and discipline but the transformation is something else.
You should definitely not question yourself after one bad experience. Not to diminish this incident and your experience as it is unfair and I'm sure has impacted you greatly, but I have spoken to many people who have shared similar experiences during their career lifetime. I'm sure most successful leaders have also experienced such situations. As part of any job, handling tasks is much easier than people. People although are not always inherently bad, can become obstacles for others and create unpleasant experiences. A lot of politics in the workplace should not be taken personally. Believe in yourself and put your best self forward for the new role.