How do you handle a coworker who does not know how to work in a team? [closed]

Question

I've been seven months in a small company of thirty people, I work with another guy, who also happens to be one of the first employees of the company, in the same project.

This guy does not use the internal tools that we use for collaboration, does not reply when asked in these tools, during meetings he is very unclear about what he is working on and just changes topic, sometimes he doesn't even attend meetings.

He does not pull his weight nor delegate responsibilities, many tasks just remain blocked waiting for him to answer, he does not share project and customer information he obtains during meetings with his boss. The only time he works is when something urgent comes from his boss, by that time he mostly takes what I've done, modifies it, makes it worse and just delivers it.

For me, this is becoming a problem in terms of managing expectations with my boss and peers, as what we are delivering is garbage in terms of quality.

So far what I've done with my coworker is:

• Let him fall by his own weight; we've sent incomplete deliverables because of him and lost potential customers. I have not stepped in to complete his tasks nor will I.

• I told him about these issues and he replied he was sorry and that he will try to use the internal tools, he also mentioned that he is available for a chat when needed, I told him it is not my job to chase him for answers as the norm.

• For the tasks that he was blocking me in, I started to just deliver them, he just blocked me from completing tasks without his approval. His approval can take from two weeks to more than a month usually. This is insanely slow for the industry I work in.

• I told the guy responsible for planning tasks of the low throughput that I have, and he told me he would speak with my coworker. My coworker then came to me infuriated saying that he is available for a chat if there is something I need to tell him and that there is no need to involve others. This confirmed to me he wants to control the communication flow.

He behaves like this with everyone in the company, I just happen to work in the same project as him and I am more exposed to this.

At the end of the day, this is a problem for the company. For me, it is one of the most relaxed jobs I've had because basically I am not allowed to do much, but I wonder for how long, given what we are doing is trash and we are losing customers.

I was wondering how have you handled a similar situation in the past as a subordinate, and what would you expect me to do as your subordinate if you were my manager?

Answer 1

If you're working with someone who doesn't appear to be pulling their weight, you first go to them (as you have), tell them what you need, and ask if that is something they can provide.

If they stonewall you, don't communicate, or don't provide what you need, the next step is to go to your manager. Tell them what you think you need, what you see the problem is when you don't get it, and ask if they have suggestions for how you can change your workflow to provide what you think your output should be.

This is not saying that the other person is not doing their job. And it's leaving it open to the possibility that what you are doing is not what you need to be doing. But if your manager wants you to do A, and you need the co-worker to provide B before you can finish A, and the manager agrees with that, you've made it clear that you're not getting B, and the manager needs to step in and help you get that.

There are several potential outcomes:

• Manager says to wait until you get B. You wait. Manager asks why A is late. You point out that you are still waiting for B, as manager requested.
• Manager talks to co-worker and co-worker starts responding. (You might need to go to manager each time.)
• Manager abdicates their own responsibility and tells you to figure it out. (You likely won't be able to win.)
• Manager tells you that you're actually solving the wrong problem, and you don't need B to finish A. Even if you disagree, as long as that is documented, it's the manager's call.

Answer 2

we've sent incomplete deliverables because of him and lost potential customers

Brutal.

The actual root issue is that you are blocked, not that you are blocked by him. Why is he the only one who can approve? Issue is larger than just him being slow.

Raise the issue with management, but do not say "He is slow, he does not do this..., etc.". Instead say, "We need another lead/approver to help, so we can accelerate approvals, because two weeks for an approval is too slow. If that is not possible is there anything else we can do to reduce approval times?"

Stepping in to help prevent customer loss instead of letting things fail, could also eventually promote you to a position where you become this person, with approval powers.

Answer 3

The issue here is that you have no authority over this individual.

This leads you to realistically 3 courses of action:

1: Look for a new job - it's not worth your time/stress/professional reputation in the industry delivering crap products/services.

2: Malicious compliance - Go all in on the Email trail, make sure that the boundaries are clearly demarcated between whose responsible for what - and when the inevitable happens and there's a failure of sufficient epicness that fingers start getting points and blame starts being handed out - you have the receipts to show who was at fault and let them face the consequences.

Note - although Malicious Compliance has an air of karmic justice to it - and sometimes can be very satisfying - it's not the best course of action.

3: "A Castle avoided ceases to be an obstacle" - If he is holding things up and causing substandard delivery - try and find ways to work around him. Perhaps taking things up with the Owner when he doesn't respond - but even then, this can be difficult to do if the organizational structure doesn't allow this - but you can do quite a bit.

Realistically though - this is an issue that the company owner needs to decide if it's worth his company to keep this person in such a position where they keep delivering substandard product.

Answer 4

I'll address what you are doing.

• Let him fall by his own weight; we've sent incomplete deliverables because of him and lost potential customers. I have not stepped in to complete his tasks nor will I.

If you want to be a good employee, your job is to make the companies goals succeed. If someone isn't doing something and it is needed to deliver something and it is the best thing for the company, you do it.

This reads like resentment. Resentment is, to be frank, your problem. If you are letting customers be lost and bad quality or incomplete stuff to be shipped because you resent a coworker, the companies problems include you.

• I told him about these issues and he replied he was sorry and that he will try to use the internal tools, he also mentioned that he is available for a chat when needed, I told him it is not my job to chase him for answers as the norm.

If there is something you need to get done, and using a specific tool doesn't solve it, then you find another solution. Saying "it isn't my fault the tool doesn't work -- it is because someone else isn't using it right" is an excuse.

Yes, it can suck if someone isn't using the "right" workflow. But the goal of a company isn't people using specific internal tools, except insofar as that helps the companies other goals. The goal is getting stuff done.

Again, this looks like resentment. You resent having to bother him to get work done. Feel free to resent the person -- but that doesn't mean you get a by on getting work done.

• For the tasks that he was blocking me in, I started to just deliver them, he just blocked me from completing tasks without his approval. His approval can take from two weeks to more than a month usually. This is insanely slow for the industry I work in.

This is a reasonable step. The next thing is, if the task is urgent, is to work out how to get approval done faster. Or get a way to do it without approval if approval isn't adding value.

This might require spending effort talking with the person, which might not be something you want to do. But if the task is urgent, then that should be your priority. If it isn't, then it can wait.

You can document how hard it is to get approval and mention this to your manager, saying it is a roadblock on your productivity, or how long it takes to get approval being a problem. You should first bring this up with the person witholding approval to see if there is a way to do it faster.

• I told the guy responsible for planning tasks of the low throughput that I have, and he told me he would speak with my coworker. My coworker then came to me infuriated saying that he is available for a chat if there is something I need to tell him and that there is no need to involve others. This confirmed to me he wants to control the communication flow.

Yes, you should first talk to him about it. Find ways to make it faster, and only if those ways to make it faster are failing raise it to the next level. And, if it is taking a lot of effort to make it faster, you should mention that while working on making it faster, before raising the issue to the next level.

The goal here is to succeed first, not fail in a way that isn't your fault.

If it proves difficult to succeed - either too difficult in that despite efforts you are failing, or just a real pain to make it good enough - raise those issues with your manager. But first, raise them with your peer in a non-confrontational way, possibly repeatedly.

• Communicate with your peer outside "standard" channels. Possibly including pinging that the "standard" channel requires attention. Do this when it is urgent, and when it isn't urgent and no action has been taken after a slight delay.

Why? Because your goal is success, not failure-with-excuse. One of your resources doesn't work with the standard tools? Work around it, don't give up.

• If someone doesn't deliver a piece of a product needed, and that product has value, ask your manager for permission to finish it. If you have latitude to pick your own tasks, just finish it yourself without asking permission.

During planning, be realistic about actual workload your resources (including this colleague) can pull off.

Why? Because your goal is success, not failure-with-excuse. One of your resources can't produce fast enough? Bypass it.

• If someone is blocking you from completing tasks without their approval, get their approval. Determine what is needed for that approval. If what is needed isn't reasonable, say it isn't reasonable, and explain why it is urgent. If the problem persists, talk to your manager about how the approval process results in a bottleneck, and see if there is an alternative. This can include what value, if any, the approval gave.

Why? Because your goal is success, not failure-with-excuse. If a step is needlessly difficult, you don't just give up. You put in the work required to get through the step. And then you look for process optimization. But first you succeed.

• Talk with the coworker first about issues. If they aren't solved, explain they aren't solved to the coworker. Try their solutions, and explain the problem with them if they don't work. Any issues you raise to management shouldn't be a surprise to the coworker.

Why? Because the goal is success, not failure-with-excuses. The coworker is a resource and a problem. You fix the problem and improve the resource. The manager can only give that coworker instructions (which you are capable of doing) and discipline them (which you cannot). Discipline is not the desired goal for the company -- they want their resources to be useful. So attempt to solve the problem and escalate on the specific problem that the attempt failed at.

Then if they come back, betrayed, you can honestly say "we tried to solve it, it didn't work, so I mentioned it to my manager as an unsolved productivity problem. We should keep at solving it. How about Y?"

It isn't about getting the coworker in trouble, it is about solving that productivity problem.

Remember: it may be the case that the delays you are seeing exist for a reason you are unaware of. Focus on the productivity problem, not the person causing it.

When you are managing someone, then focus on the person. When someone asks for peer reviews, you can list the issues you have.

Answer 5

All the answer I've read say something like "Make it fail and explain that it's his fault.", but what then? Things will have failed and nobody, including you, has stepped up to the plate to save the day. So both of you are bad employees.

Why not opt for the other attitude? "Make it succeed and explain that it's your success.". You'll end up being the guy who steps up to the plate, who saves the day, and you'll be a good employee (which you can later translate into salary raise, other financial reward or a promotion).