I’m looking for some perspective from people who’ve dealt with this, because I’m hitting a wall.
I work in IT support and just had a performance review that didn’t go great. What’s messing with me is that I feel like I have been trying to improve, but it’s not being seen that way.
Some examples:
- I’ve brought up ideas that got shut down, but later ended up being implemented anyway
- I’ve had situations where something went wrong, but no one told me what I actually did wrong, just that it didn’t work
- I’m being told I need to collaborate more, but I don’t really understand what that looks like day to day or how it’s different from what I’m already doing
- Ticket numbers are apparently an issue, but I don’t always feel like there’s enough work in front of me to match what others are doing
The biggest problem right now is how it’s affecting me mentally. I’m starting to have panic attacks at work because I feel like I can’t tell if I’m doing the right thing or not, and I’m constantly worried I’m messing something up without realizing it.
Part of me wants to just shut down, keep my head down, and stop trying to engage but I know that’s probably the worst move.
For those of you who’ve dealt with something like this:
- How do you handle work environments where expectations feel unclear or inconsistent?
- How do you make your work more “visible” when you feel like you’re already doing the work?
- How do you deal with the anxiety of feeling like you’re messing up without being told what to fix?
I’m not trying to just complain; I want to figure out how to handle this better before it gets worse.