My Question of the Day for 30 March 2010 – UPDATED
My Question of the Day: Your supervisor has asked everyone to review a report submitted by one of your coworkers and note any needed revisions. Although you have never had any problems with this coworker, he/she has not been at all receptive to the suggestions made by others in the office and this coworker has expressed the idea that everyone is just nitpicking and “out to get me.” Not only do you find errors in the content of the report, but you also find several spelling/grammar/punctuation errors. Knowing the previous reactions and comments from this coworker, what do you do?
(this question was submitted by a tweeter who wishes to remain anonymous; thanks!)
My 2 Cents: My coworker will have to get over him/herself, because there’s no way I’m going to allow errors in a report to go uncorrected if the boss asks me, and everyone else, to proof it and make sure it’s up to par. Imagine how badly that would make me, and all the rest of my coworkers, look if the boss comes behind us and proofs the report him/herself and I, and the rest of my coworkers, haven’t done my/our jobs. We’ll look just as incompetent as the person who did the report. I refuse to look badly for anyone.
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I would make the corrections. Anybody who isn’t thorough in their work shouldn’t expect special treatment just by saying oh they are picking on me. business is business, especially in today’s financial climate.
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LikeDislikeOh, if the world were made of ‘perfect people’. Oh, yeah it isn’t. It’s not personal…it’s business. Having the opportunity to get everyone’s input before sending something out should be seen as a blessing. Again, I say it’s business…not personal and the co-worker needs to stop taking business so personal.
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LikeDislikeI’m not even understanding the problem. Am I supposed to act like I don’t know English either so as not to hurt this coworker’s feelings? If the job is to put out a professional report, that’s what gets done. If I think this person will pretend that they didn’t receive any feedback, I’d just give my corrections directly to my supervisor. But under no circumstances am I going to pretend I didn’t see any problems. I’m sorry if that bothers my coworker, but that sounds like a personal problem that they need to work out on their own…
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LikeDislikeIf I’m in the work place, I don’t have time to deal with anyone’s personal hang ups. This is the way I feed my family and put a roof over their head, so I will have no problems doing my job as prescribed. I won’t be an ass about it or anything, but I’m not going to do it half-way just to save someone’s feelings.
If I decide to give less than 100% in order to make sure this person’s feelings aren’t hurt, not only do I damage my own image, but I still have a co-worker who is under the impression that they’re actually doing a good job. We both lose.
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LikeDislikeI would make the required corrections. This is business, and its nothing personal. Maybe that person needs a vacation and a hug. In any case, if I cant do my job due to your insecurities, we have a problem. And since it the review was sanctioned by someone else, they’d have to deal with the feedback.
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LikeDislikeI would start with the boss asked me to reveiw this document and this is what I found. And give the employee the document and roll out. End of story, not waiting for reactions. Email or speak with the boss . Have a nice day lol
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LikeDislikeYour supervisor asked you to review the report, so give it your best shot.
That the writer doesn’t “handle criticism well” would be an issue to take up directly with the writer on a personal basis, or with your mutual supervisor or higher as a personnel matter.
The apparent conflict here seems to me a matter of being unclear about responsibilities, and not a real conflict at all.
Note, by taking the position I do, I am trying to effect a constructive change in what strikes me as an unhealthy dynamic in a working group.
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