One unfair grade.

Let’s call your line manager Bob and your line manager Stella. Bob seems silly enough (or scary, like “Bob” from Twin Peaks, yikes!), and Stella sounds like a star. It could be the other way around, but for now, let’s assume it’s like this.

Bob has spoken with Stella about your performance review and made a grade recommendation. You disagree with that grade.

Now you are really upset, because you feel the grade is unfair. Probably rightly so. You are asking Stella to change the grade Bob gave you, contradicting him and maybe creating friction between the two of them.

So why should Stella do that? Possible, but unlikely.

Why didn’t Bob give Stella the right information? Do you have an open relationship with Bob, and do you check in with him regularly? Can we assume that part of Bob not giving Stella the correct information is because you didn’t provide the right information to Bob? At least in part.

During your conversation with Bob or Stella, are you comparing yourself with others? If you compare yourself to others when discussing grades, you’ll be in trouble, because everyone is perceived differently. I’d make your arguments just about yourself.

It’s your responsibility to inform Bob about your skills and the value you bring, regardless of processes, procedures, or expectations. Grades are not purely mathematical, and if he doesn’t know what you do or trust you, he will not give you a good grade.

You can (and should) know exactly that you are unhappy with the grade, but stating your unhappiness is not a good, strong argument for Bob and Stella.

If there are holes in the role descriptions, tasks, or scoring methods, that is a fight the company policy makers should be having among themselves. You can talk about it, but it will not be a strong argument to change your grade. Grades are for individuals, and roles are for groups of individuals. I’m not saying this is fair. From that angle, it’s impossible to make a strong argument to change your personal grade.

Your argument needs to be about value. If you had already done that (maybe yes, maybe no), and they have deflected the value and focused on tasks, it’s because they are not seeing the value, and most probably it’s because you are not communicating it well enough. People hang onto “tasks” and “math” when they don’t have any more valuable information. And tasks are usually poor indicators of grades and can cause friction.

Grab a coffee, reframe the problem, and try approaching it from another angle.