What do you do about people who you need to work with who bring your work down?

Question

When the boss assigns you to work with someone and that person who you are assigned with doesn't do the work (or incorrectly) but you need to work with him.

Answer 1

you try to encourage them and motivate them. be honest, most people at work only 'lag' because they are allowed too. If you are assigned to team up with someone, then you need to let them know the importance of you both pulling your weight. Make it fun. I have been in retail management for years and years. It is a tough job and you constantly have to have teams of people working together, so there is a lot of motivation that needs done in order to "light the fire under their A**" so to speak.
If you've tried everything and your coworker isn't working out, then you should talk to your supervisor about it. You never know, that coworker could have already had several complaints and just needs a good reprimanding or motivational speach from the boss.

Answer 2

You need to be a bit more specific tanks. Do they sabotage your work efforts? Do they criticize what you do? Do they do it to your face or behind your back?

I would think that one solution would be to go to management and discuss the problem.

Ah thank you for the clarification. That helps.

My daughters used to have this problem at school with group projects. Their standards were high and it annoyed them no end to have to "carry" their lesser contributing partners.

You have a few options Tanks. You can do the project with this person and keep note of everything that happens. From difficulty to arrange time to work together to deliberate sabotaging. It can be tough to maintain civility at times I am sure. ESPECIALLY if the other person accepts kudos as if they had done it all!

Take each project one at a time. Do your very best. Your boss will surely take note if he is deserving of the title "boss". That is what bosses are supposed to do. If you know the work well, can you work WITH this person so that they learn from your expertise? "Hey I learned this little trick..." "Boss showed me this was how.... " keeping it light.

If things do not work well, speak to your Boss about things. Not as a complaint but how you know the business deserves the best you can offer, yada yada yada and you are not able to produce under these circumstances.

Answer 3

I don't think I quite understand exactly what you are asking. Are your co-workers berating the quality of your work, or are they being in some manner rude and disrespectful to you?

If their attitude is less than pleasing in relation to you, there could be several reasons for this. (1) They may be jealous of your accomplishments. (2) They may have feelings of inferiority and this usually results in insulting another to make them selves appear more important than they are. (3) If they are in a position of authority, they may feel threatened by the quality of your work.

There are many reasons for the situation that you find yourself and not knowing the complete story from both sides it is difficult to give a definitive answer.

Possibly, in order to exact change in others we may have to see what we can change in our self to effectively change for the better the environment we work in.

Answer 4

that's what I want to know