How to react to unfair review -- Not a manager

I am in a sticky situation at work and would appeciate if the managers on this site could provide their feedback.

About 2 years ago, I joined a big name bank on the west-coast, where gender and race based glass ceilings are still present. It is the kind of place, where almost everyone is rated 3 on a scale of 5 (5 being best). If someone is up for pormotion or is a favorite then they get a 4. However, unlike other finance companies, my employer offers excellent work-life balance. I joined this company as a Senior Manager (with no reports) so that I could plan a family.

Things moved very smoothly for the first year. I was rated a 3 during her review and was satisfied with my career move. I report to a Director who reports to a VP. The VP is known to be a very fair and nice person. I am the only report of the Director and the VP has 10-12 people reporting to him. Some of the VP's reports are in town and some in another state. The VP is an aged and a gentle person who shows a lot of concern about employee engagament.

In April of last year, I got a new Director who is a first time manager and has the same country of origin as mine. She has been a part of the company for 7+years and has zero technical experience when it came to the analysis that I do. Her educational background is very strong and she has an MBA from one of the best schools on the planet, and that helped her get the role. This was a prized role and many people within the company applied for it. I took the initiative to get her up to speed with the responsibilities of the job. She had a lot to learn and I wanted to make life easy for her and myself.

Her management style left a lot to be desired. She would push things till the last minute, then panic and blame me when things went wrong. I objected to this behavior and I could see that she was not very happy with my assertive nature. We are both South Asian and in our culture subordinates and not supposed to be assertive in front of bosses. I could sense that she wanted me to behave in the same way and I was not ready to do so. Her behavior was not consistent, and one day she would be cold and the next she would forget that she is my boss. She would pass her time at my cube speaking in our native language about her personal life. She is about 45 years old and is looking for a significant other through the internet. She would confide to me about the challenges of internet dating. She would also talk to me about her family dynamics, her relationships with her siblings and parents. I did not like this behavior but did not object to it as I did not see it as harmless. During these conversations she would also use the F word and then say "I am such an HR nightmare". I found this odd, but decided not to unsettle things.

I was in for a surprise last October when I received an email from my manager, where she cited my lack of independence and acuracy as reasons for warning me that I could not get satisfactory ratings at the end of the year (Our review calendar runs from Jan to Dec). I had a meeting with her and countered her claims. Things got out of hand during this meeting and I lost my cool, which I should not have. I told her that she has never praised all the good things that I have done and tends to be nitpicky just to find mistakes so that she can blame me.

I have made and shared dozens of spreadhseets that are used by my employer for making business decisions. She detected two mistakes during an internal review session. These mistakes were not fundamental in nature but were more to do with incorrect linking of data in spreadsheets. The errors were corrected in a few seconds and incorrect data was never shared with our VP or outside partners. These mistakes represent 1-2% of all the work I have done.

I also told her that I can not be blamed for lack of independence, if she asks me for frequency check-ins. If she asks me for an update, I will go to her, show her my work and ask her for her feedback. If she sees this lask of independece, then she should not ask me for frequent updates. I could tell that my point of view was not well received by her.

I also went to the VP, and he had seen the email that my boss had sent to me. From our conversation, I got the impression that she has complained to him about some of our altercations and conveyed an impression that I am casual about accuracy. He told me to work with my boss and there was plenty of time for me to prove myself. I held a few more meetings with my boss and we decided on what she expected from me. I sent her a formal reply to her email outlining my plan for the remaining year. I also requested her to stop the micromanagement and not to mistake my courteous nature with lack of dependence.

From then till now, I stuck to my plan and we continued with our love-hate relationship. Once a month she would shout at me, I would give it back to her and we would go back to being normal again.I mentioned these points in my boss's 360.

Late last week, during my review I was told by her that she would give me a rating of 2. This translates into 'does not meet expectation", and I do not get a raise or a bonus this year. It also prevents me from moving to other positions within the company. She told me that I was free to talk to the HR and the VP if I had more questions. The written review is poorly written and her criticisms are not well defined. She cites lack of independence and inaccuracies in my work. She also quotes the same two mistakes made last year. When I asked her if she can think of other mistakes she said she would think about it get back to me. To me it felt that she had decided to "put me in place" for standing up to her and wrote the review around that decision.

I asked a mentor of mine who is a mananger and he told me that a rating of 2 is given only for people who dont complete work on time or are sluggish workers. The manager really has to prove a point to get someone a 2. Another friend of mine is working with my boss on a project. She told me that my boss is not able to cope up with the requirements of the project and my friend's team is very frustrated with the work my boss has been churning out. My friend suspected that my boss is using me as a scapegoat to hide her incompetence.

Yesterday I went to the VP to request a reconsider. He was warm as usual and before I started, he said that he was expecting me, but he can not change my review. We had long conversation where he was ready to hear my point of view, but not offer anything. In the end he said that he would make an effort to work directly with me. He also asked me not to make rash decisions like leaving the company in a huff. I did not consider it right to bad-mouth my boss in front of the VP, and point out her incompetencies or unprofessional behavior.

This is where I stand and need your advice on the following questions. I would appreciate if you could help me in coming up with a plan to make my position stronger in the company. As mentioned before, my boss's work is shoddy. I have noticed this myself too. In fact during one of her friendly conversations, my boss confided in me that she is having problem coping with some aspects of the job. It is clear to me that my work is better than hers. For some reason, I received a below par rating, while I am sure she did not. So what should I do in the future to contrast the quality of my work against hers, now that I will be getting to work with the VP directly.


Some of these are about what I think I should do now, and the other of what I should have done in the past.

1. What should I have done differently in the past to avoid this situation?
2. Should I talk to the HR about this review. I am not sure it is going to help, and am not keen on doing so.
3 Should I report to the HR that my boss uses foul language and goes into personal details. If yes, should I do so for past incidents or only the ones that occur from now on. Will this act as an insurance and prevent me from further intimidation.

I am also not sure of what I should write in my part of the review before it is locked. Would it be appropriate to write the following points there

1. Two mistakes made my me account for <2% of the work I did. No wrong data was sent outside the group.
2. My boss's assertion that I lack independence is false as all the projects that I have worked on were done 100% by me.
3. Poor micromanagement skills of my boss


I am determined to come out of this stronger and would appreciate all the guidance I can get.