Timeline for How can I tell my boss that my productivity is low due to a conflict with a coworker, without blaming the coworker?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
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| Jun 29, 2022 at 10:14 | comment | added | Luaan | @Neo Not to mention that it's very easy to come off a meeting with the feeling that everyone understands everything the same way... even if they don't. But then the follow-up e-mail makes it obvious this isn't the case. It's much easier to assess that when you have all the points in front of you, rather than as a result from a more or less chaotic meeting that meanders through the various points and often loses arguments that weren't actually resolved and nobody noticed :D | |
| Jun 28, 2022 at 8:54 | comment | added | nicola | @fectin Actually, I think that talking to your boss without evidence might be dangerous and OP needs to choose words very carefully (not saying that it's wrong, but it's risky especially given OP's emotional state). A simple message like the one I proposed serves just to build a paper trail and it will look by the boss as such. With some evidence it will much easier for OP to describe the situation. | |
| Jun 27, 2022 at 16:28 | comment | added | fectin | -1. If you're Cc-ing your boss on something like that, you should be talking to your boss first. This is passive-aggressive, and will read that way to everyone else involved. | |
| Jun 27, 2022 at 12:47 | comment | added | bob | I probably wrote that too strongly. I guess I’m assuming that there’s a good chance that OP’s boss is incompetent in which case this might not work. Think Dilbert’s boss. But yeah this can work. It can also backfire. I think it’s situationally dependent. | |
| Jun 27, 2022 at 6:35 | history | edited | nicola | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jun 27, 2022 at 6:25 | history | edited | nicola | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jun 27, 2022 at 6:01 | comment | added | nicola | About a meeting: it can be declined and, if not, as other suggested, it's crucial to write a summary soon after. If BC just says: your work is bad and you need to start over, OP will write that and will 1) shows that their work is not bad 2) ask again for more detailes 3) express the fact that meeting are useless if not a clear path is shown. All of this will put BC in bad light (assuming boss is competent). | |
| Jun 27, 2022 at 5:59 | comment | added | nicola | Plus, OP can have an easy game: assuming they are not incompetent, they can reply the rationale of their choices, explain why they are good and shows that their code is working. It's the chance to put the discussione on the technical level, which is very good for OP (if they stay constructive in their arguments). | |
| Jun 27, 2022 at 5:56 | comment | added | nicola | @bob There won't be any plan B if BC has a bad opinion on OP and is believed by boss. I don't agree at all that just expressing: "The solution is easy for your expertise" will put OP on a bad light: on the contrary, it will spread a lot of bad light on BC. I would never write a review like that: it's completely useless and non constructive; plus it strongly attacks the hiring process (and likely the boss). In just one sentence, it shows BC cannot work with others. | |
| Jun 27, 2022 at 2:30 | comment | added | bob | It would work if BC was just incompetent but this sounds much more like manipulation, bullying, and climbing over the back of a colleague than just incompetence. If so then BC is really good at this game and won’t be stopped by an action as mild as this. OP needs to escalate this to the boss in a way that doesn’t give BC any leverage because BC will use it. | |
| Jun 27, 2022 at 2:28 | comment | added | bob | This probably won’t work. BC (bad coworker) will likely just reply with “I’d be happy to meet and discuss it” or worse “The solution is very simple and obvious to someone with expertise in…”. So they’ll either likely simply deflect to a forum without a paper trail or use the email to throw OP under the bus publicly. | |
| Jun 27, 2022 at 1:36 | comment | added | Nelson | @Neo and spoken words cannot be checked off, but a list can. It's very useful to look at minutes for meetings from the past and go through all the action items and report at all the deliverables (or lack there of) | |
| Jun 26, 2022 at 23:54 | comment | added | Neo | A side note: when people send summary emails after an in-person meeting, it's something I absolutely love and commend. It's a good habit to have even when there's no friction between parties involved. Human memory is fallible, things can be misunderstood or misheard, etc. | |
| Jun 26, 2022 at 23:51 | comment | added | Neo | And if the coworker comes to you in person to discuss what is to be done (perhaps even sending a short reply "Hey Wild parsley, let's talk about it at 10 o'clock"), be sure to keep the paper trail by sending a small summary email ("Hey coworker, here's a short summary of todays chat: the action points are X, Y, Z, did I forget anything? Cheers"). | |
| Jun 26, 2022 at 18:55 | history | edited | nicola | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jun 26, 2022 at 16:16 | comment | added | Kaan | Definitely pursue paper trail – emails are great (you keep a copy) vs. something deletable like Slack messages. | |
| Jun 26, 2022 at 13:00 | history | answered | nicola | CC BY-SA 4.0 |