However, I also want to mention that, what your COO mentioned about you can improve is making a lot of sense. For the corporate ladder, the higher your are, the more people are looking at soft skills. When you are doing projects by yourself, it is key that you deliver on time with quality and within budget. But if you are leading a team, there are much more to it. Including team building, trust from your team members, and etc.
I have a wild guess that you in the past few years, you have been doing a very good job, so your managers expectation on your is constantly growing up. The bar is rising. But they do not do a good job to communicate to you. In my eyes, "shock" is the most in-efficient way to do this.
Anyway, I believe your bosses really like your and see the potential in you. Ask them if there is anyway to change the score, and tell them that you will try to improve with their help. However, if they insist not to change the score, then I would suggest that you just move on.
- just my 2 cents