RE: Employee experience dilemma....

[kimber_miller -at- acs-inc -dot- com]

                [Atticus wrote:]  <snip> 
        Regardless of the circumstances, I have found her to be very bright,
 knowledgeable about our products, and possessing of what appear to be decent
 writing skills. 

        [And continued:]  <snip> .
         Fears:  If this continues, my co-worker and myself fear that every
chapter
         that she writes will have to be extensively re-written, in effect
doubling
         the amount of work we already have to do.

[Kimber remarked:]  I have been there. Only I was "Lisa."  It's not fun for her,
either.

 I disagree with Andrew's opinion that it will build character to drop her into
the deep end and shout, "Dog paddle or die!"
I also disagree with the multiple opinions that you and your co-worker should,
at this relatively late date, take the project away from her and re-define her
position. How completely humiliating. 

When I was in the same position as "Lisa," I knew it and I felt awful. Because I
was new to the job, I was hesitant to ask for guidance. Young as I was, I didn't
know the whole thing about garnering respect by being forthright, yadda,
yadda...

A wonderful, wonderful thing happened. My project manager had set up milestones
and reviewed chapters as I finished. Then, quite forthrightly, he came forward
with edited copy in hand and said something like, "This is a big job. I see some
places where we need you to improve so that we don't have to re-write later.
Let's get together and go over what I have."

We spent about two hours in that session, going over around 50 pages. We talked
about organization techniques and consistency. In each case where he perceived a
problem, he began correcting it by asking why I'd chosen that technique. He had
a few reference books handy, and we *discussed* possibilities and preferences
that this agency had that differed from my own. Grammar wasn't an issue, but I'd
been immersed in "old style gov docs" and had passive-voice-disease.

Those two hours with me, and the time he spent editing, made an incredible
difference. He also showed me that I wasn't going to get canned for asking for
advice or help. Having -me- make the editorial changes, not showing me a
re-written piece, gave me the feel for doing it the way he wanted it done. He
suggested that I talk with another, more experienced, writer if I wanted to
bounce ideas or phrasing, etc. off of someone else's brain. Probably, he had
already talked with this writer to alert her that he was going to make the
suggestion.
I was humble enough to learn from him and the other writer. Perhaps "Lisa" is
not. But that time was well spent for the manager, for me, for the client, and
for the agency's bottom line. We looked at another sample in a week, and there
was nothing left of the major inconsistencies and a few refinements that he
suggested.

No, this PM was no saint. He was a good manager who invested time in a resource
that he believed in. He knew that humiliating me by changing my status or taking
away a project would work only in the short term and do nothing for me, or for
the agency in the long term. By intervening early, he avoided wasting time
re-writing and having to eat the cost (one does not ask a client to pay for time
spent re-writing stuff a newbie screwed up).

It was good editorial policy and good management. Mentoring occurred as a
natural by-product of the situation. He did not take over and re-assign in the
guise of "mentoring."

I hope you get some ideas from my experience. I wish all of you luck.

--Kimber

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It is never too late to plan the adventure of your life.

Kimber Miller
kimber_miller -at- acs-inc -dot- com
Affiliated Computer Services
Dallas, Texas
214.887.7408

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