Re: help re: subordinate superior (long)

[Rose Wilcox <RWILC -at- FAST -dot- DOT -dot- STATE -dot- AZ -dot- US>]

Dear Becca and Misti:

>HELP!  we are two contractors in a department of 3; the 3rd is the only
real
>employee in our group.  this person had about 14 month's. experience before
>he came to us (transfer from another part of our organization) - I believe
>but can't prove that he misinterpreted his qualifications.  He is the sort
>of person who believes so firmly in team work that if a member of his team
>did something, he feels justified in passing it off as his work, for
>example.

Well, first, as a fervent advocate of "team work"  I want to say that
passing off someone else's work as one's own is not *team work*.  Giving
credit where credit is due is team work.  What this nameless soul is doing
is simply wrong.

Secondly, I want to say that I sympathize with you, having worked in this
type of situation before.  I want to caution you and others against putting
such personal appeals on the list, however.  The damage is done now, but
before you post something you might want to take into account that messages
have a way of turning up in the darnedest places.  Anything we post on the
Internet can be saved for years on computer systems around the globe.  This
is not a private thing.  I would most assuredly hesitate before posting
anything about a co-worker that was less than laudatory, even if I knew the
person did not read the list... now.  He or she may read the list in the
future, or a friend may read the list and pass it on... etc.  Anyway, you
get the point.  Just in my not-so-humble opinion.

[snip writing examples]

Secondly
>We have no authority over this person.  HELP!  (we do have our mutual boss'
>ear, and his support, but nothing has come of this yet).  Any suggestions
on
>how we can get this person up to speed and turning out useful prose?

Thirdly, I applaud your more positive attitude of "trying to get the person
up to speed".  Possibly nothing can be done.  But here are a few ideas.

You probably know a lot about "behavior mod" already -- try to catch a
person doing well and praise them, realistically and sincerely for what they
do well already.  This usually makes them repeat the desired behavior and
like you more.  It gives them more self-confidence and helps them learn.  It
makes the fierce criticism easier to handle.

I could be wrong, but the examples you included seemed to me to point to a
person who is possibly dyslexic.  If you are stuck with this person, you may
want to have the edits made online by another writer or a word processor.
 The person may have some talent for writing, but be struggling with
dyslexia.  This is a horrible burden to bear.  You may be actually
exacerbating the problem with fierce editing (although I can't say as I
blame you, being a rather a harsh red-pen wielder myself.)

You may want to suggest to your mutual boss that the person would benefit
from training.  Give your boss lists of suitable classes and seminars to
send your co-worker too.  This makes you more of a team player, thinking
about solutions, rather than crabby coworkers, complaining about someone
that obviously has either political pull or some value to the organization
in other ways.  It highlights the problem without putting you in a bad
light.

Depending on how well you get along with your boss, you may also suggest
that you can come up with some behavioral goals for your boss to give to
your coworker.  These should be objective goals your boss can measure.
  Your boss may need this tool in order to decide what to do with your
coworker and may not have the time or the knowledge to create it.

Another alternative is getting this person to do documents that are not seen
by clients, such as Requirements and Specifications and so forth.

Or maybe there are other writing-related tasks, such as maintaining and
organizing the library of documents, keeping up templates, attending
meetings of other teams and passing along information, or the like, that
this person may be actually good at.  What are this person's strengths?
 Make use of them!  Don't be afraid to think outside the lines of "normal"
writing.  If you are stuck with the person, get creative!

Or, you are contractors.  Remember, you're not married to the situation.  A
company that rewards mediocrity gets what it deserves....

Good luck either way.

Rosie A. Wilcox (the 'A' stands for 'Another Long Post')
rwilc -at- fast -dot- dot -dot- state -dot- az -dot- us
ncrowe -at- primenet -dot- com
See you guys at the STC Region 5 Convention!