Dealing with mediocre colleagues
This really belongs on my other blog, but since it's semi-professional, I don't want to put off any potential employers by seeming antisocial or unable to work with others.
Confession time: I hate group projects. I have only had one good experience with a group project, a computer programming assignment where each of us did separate problems and each of us were equally eager to turn them in on time. Generally, I end up with a group of people who don't want to do the project and show it by sitting there in utter silence, passively refusing to plan for or work on it. I might not like the assignment either, but I'm stuck trying to get everyone else working. I actually find that a lot more exhausting than just doing the whole project myself, so I usually end up doing all the work. I'm used to being the only person who cares and is willing to work.
Last spring, I learned to look at the situation differently. I was taking a student-taught seminar on alternative education. Our project was to design a school from the ground up--mission and philosophy, budget priorities, curriculum, day-to-day activities and teaching methods, etc. I have been passionate about alternative education since childhood, and couldn't wait to come up with an innovative, rigorous yet nurturing school. My two group members were rather reticent and did not express the same enthusiasm, although one of them had family members who worked with school districts to plan curricula. Both were overscheduled upperclassmen who turned the first couple parts of the assignment in late or didn't turn them in at all--clearly, they had other priorities. When they did start doing their part of the work, I was underwhelmed by the vagueness, jargon, and poor grammar in their writing. I hate conflict, so I simply rewrote their work and told them I was doing so. There was still conflict, as one of the (particularly problematic) group members and I didn't see eye to eye.
The student seminar leaders were supposed to meet with our group to help us. I showed up early and the rest of the group (of course) showed up late. One of the leaders, a sweet and incredibly organized girl, took the opportunity to show me a different way of looking at the situation. She pointed out that however unenthusiastic the other girls seemed, they had relevant talents, interest, and expertise. Since all of us were so different, all of us working together would do a better job than I would working on my own, since as good as my work is, they each had ideas I would never have thought of. She told me that as the leader of the group, it was my job to bring out their strengths and help them contribute.
I had never thought of myself as a leader before. Neither had I seen the potential in these other girls or seen that I could do something to turn the bad group dynamic around. It was a completely new and eye-opening perspective. And while the difficult girl and I never did see eye to eye, we were able to get along much better and turn in a stellar project. For those of you dealing with colleagues who either won't work or do mediocre work, or both, this is what I learned.
1. First, acknowledge that yes, your colleagues are putting you in a difficult situation and it's pissing you off! Give yourself a chance to vent to someone safe. Then take a deep breath and put the anger and frustration aside. You don't want to sound angry and contemptuous when you deal with your MCs (mediocre colleagues). And, however controlled you may think you're being, you will if you're still angry when you talk to them.
2. You are the leader. Find something they're good at and delegate it to them. For instance, the difficult MC in my group was incredibly organized and good at designing beautiful, professional looking powerpoints. She enjoyed designing our group's presentation. It doesn't matter if you think it's a particularly important part of the project (and if you think it's not, be sure not to communicate that to them!). And be sure to delegate in a positive way: "you make really beautiful powerpoints. Could you do our presentation?" rather than "your writing is kind of vague; you should do the powerpoint instead."
3. Nonetheless, your MC's will still produce things that are...well...mediocre. Fight your first impulse to take out the red pen and just list off all their errors. Say something like, "we can make this even better if we replace blah blah blah with yada yada because it would be clearer/more persuasive/whatever." You don't have to say "this is good, but..." if you think it's truly heinous. But be sure to phrase it in terms of improving something that's at least acceptable rather than fixing something that's bad.
4. If a MC shows you something truly heinous, ask them to tell you verbally what they were trying to say. It often will be a lot better than whatever they wrote. Say you misunderstood and thought they were saying blah blah blah. Phrase your correction suggestions in terms of what would make it easier for you to understand what they "really meant."
5. Ask how you can help. And really mean it. However frustrating they might be, MC's aren't too stupid to pick up on sarcasm. (You'll particularly want to do this when you can barely resist the urge to jump in and fix everything).
6. This is probably the most important. Be sure to say when your MC's do something right! People tend to remember the negative things you say more than the positive ones. You won't be able to help noticing and correcting the things your MC's do wrong, so make sure you make an effort to notice and tell them when they do something right!
Confession time: I hate group projects. I have only had one good experience with a group project, a computer programming assignment where each of us did separate problems and each of us were equally eager to turn them in on time. Generally, I end up with a group of people who don't want to do the project and show it by sitting there in utter silence, passively refusing to plan for or work on it. I might not like the assignment either, but I'm stuck trying to get everyone else working. I actually find that a lot more exhausting than just doing the whole project myself, so I usually end up doing all the work. I'm used to being the only person who cares and is willing to work.
Last spring, I learned to look at the situation differently. I was taking a student-taught seminar on alternative education. Our project was to design a school from the ground up--mission and philosophy, budget priorities, curriculum, day-to-day activities and teaching methods, etc. I have been passionate about alternative education since childhood, and couldn't wait to come up with an innovative, rigorous yet nurturing school. My two group members were rather reticent and did not express the same enthusiasm, although one of them had family members who worked with school districts to plan curricula. Both were overscheduled upperclassmen who turned the first couple parts of the assignment in late or didn't turn them in at all--clearly, they had other priorities. When they did start doing their part of the work, I was underwhelmed by the vagueness, jargon, and poor grammar in their writing. I hate conflict, so I simply rewrote their work and told them I was doing so. There was still conflict, as one of the (particularly problematic) group members and I didn't see eye to eye.
The student seminar leaders were supposed to meet with our group to help us. I showed up early and the rest of the group (of course) showed up late. One of the leaders, a sweet and incredibly organized girl, took the opportunity to show me a different way of looking at the situation. She pointed out that however unenthusiastic the other girls seemed, they had relevant talents, interest, and expertise. Since all of us were so different, all of us working together would do a better job than I would working on my own, since as good as my work is, they each had ideas I would never have thought of. She told me that as the leader of the group, it was my job to bring out their strengths and help them contribute.
I had never thought of myself as a leader before. Neither had I seen the potential in these other girls or seen that I could do something to turn the bad group dynamic around. It was a completely new and eye-opening perspective. And while the difficult girl and I never did see eye to eye, we were able to get along much better and turn in a stellar project. For those of you dealing with colleagues who either won't work or do mediocre work, or both, this is what I learned.
1. First, acknowledge that yes, your colleagues are putting you in a difficult situation and it's pissing you off! Give yourself a chance to vent to someone safe. Then take a deep breath and put the anger and frustration aside. You don't want to sound angry and contemptuous when you deal with your MCs (mediocre colleagues). And, however controlled you may think you're being, you will if you're still angry when you talk to them.
2. You are the leader. Find something they're good at and delegate it to them. For instance, the difficult MC in my group was incredibly organized and good at designing beautiful, professional looking powerpoints. She enjoyed designing our group's presentation. It doesn't matter if you think it's a particularly important part of the project (and if you think it's not, be sure not to communicate that to them!). And be sure to delegate in a positive way: "you make really beautiful powerpoints. Could you do our presentation?" rather than "your writing is kind of vague; you should do the powerpoint instead."
3. Nonetheless, your MC's will still produce things that are...well...mediocre. Fight your first impulse to take out the red pen and just list off all their errors. Say something like, "we can make this even better if we replace blah blah blah with yada yada because it would be clearer/more persuasive/whatever." You don't have to say "this is good, but..." if you think it's truly heinous. But be sure to phrase it in terms of improving something that's at least acceptable rather than fixing something that's bad.
4. If a MC shows you something truly heinous, ask them to tell you verbally what they were trying to say. It often will be a lot better than whatever they wrote. Say you misunderstood and thought they were saying blah blah blah. Phrase your correction suggestions in terms of what would make it easier for you to understand what they "really meant."
5. Ask how you can help. And really mean it. However frustrating they might be, MC's aren't too stupid to pick up on sarcasm. (You'll particularly want to do this when you can barely resist the urge to jump in and fix everything).
6. This is probably the most important. Be sure to say when your MC's do something right! People tend to remember the negative things you say more than the positive ones. You won't be able to help noticing and correcting the things your MC's do wrong, so make sure you make an effort to notice and tell them when they do something right!