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Franke James is Editor/Founder of Office-Politics.com and Inventor of the Office-Politics® Game. Peter R. Garber has worked as an HR professional for over 25 years and is the author of many business books including: Winning the Rat Race at Work and 100 Ways to Get on the Wrong Side of your Boss. Dina Beach Lynch, is an Ombudsman, Author and former attorney. An award-winning mediator, Dina served as the Corporate Ombudsman for the 7th largest bank in the US helping over 48,000 employees to resolve workplace issues. Dr. Rick Brandon is CEO of Brandon Partners. He has consulted and trained tens of thousands at corporations worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries. Dr. Marty Seldman is one of America's most experienced executive coaches. His 35-year career includes expertise in executive coaching, group dynamics, cross-cultural studies, clinical psychology, and training. Arnie Herz, is a lawyer, mediator, speaker, author and consultant nationally recognized for his practical and inspired approach to conflict resolution and client counseling. Dr. John Burton LL.B. M.B.A. M.Div. Ph.D. is an ethicist, mediator, lawyer and theologian. John is currently located in Prince Rupert, B.C., Canada, working with Canada's aboriginal communities. |
I can no longer count on her to do something she once did better than me... November 2005 Dear Office-Politics, I've been the head of a two-person communications department at a non-profit agency for the last six years, with the same woman as my assistant for the entire time. For many years, she did great work. However, her work has started getting sloppy over the past six months or so (after a good annual performance evaluation). Most notably, her proofreading skills, which were once impeccable, are becoming non-existent. Our department produces a large amount of written materials, so proofing and editing are key skills she needs to have. The mistakes I'm seeing are often repeated mistakes- not double checking the index/table of contents match the document pages if anything gets rearranged, old phone numbers that have not been updated, text boxes where not all the text is visible to the reader. I have brought these issues to her attention and have shown her examples of simple things she's repeatedly missing and it basically seems like she's refusing to accept responsibility for her performance. Although she will acknowledge her errors, her latest response is, "I didn't do it on purpose." Looking at declining proofreading skills in isolation, it's not enough reason to let her go. Many aspects of her work are spot-on. But at the same time, it's now falling on me to edit everything to make sure there are no errors because I can no longer count on her to do something she once did better than me! Nothing I've tried so far has motivated her to try any harder in this area and it's really frustrating. Any suggestions? Driven
Crazy by Typos Dear Driven
Crazy by Typos, Franke Franke James, MFA Feedback from Driven Crazy by Typos, Thank you... that was quick! She is 33 years old and already wears glasses. I don't think she has a vision problem, I think it's just attention to detail. She just got married last month and had been very distracted with personal concerns. As a side note, her wedding invitations went out with the wrong street number for the church, which she admitted to me by saying, "just as evidence of how bad my proofreading skills have gotten, I sent 300 wedding invitations out to the wrong address." I have just been operating on the assumption that she's preoccupied and maybe getting a little restless and bored with her work. She is on anti-depressants though, so perhaps medication is the culprit. I will ask about eyesight in our next conversation as a way to illustrate how concerned I am and how serious this really is. Thanks so much for the great advice.
The Ethics Letters that appears as a feature of this Website is an educational and discussion oriented column designed to help the reader better understand ethical issues. The matters discussed in the letter are reviewed in a summary/abbreviated way and are only meant to foster thinking on the part of the reader. If a person decides to adopt or implement suggestions, they do so at their own risk. No representation or warranty is provided in relation to suggestions or the contents of the letter. Neither the authors of the letter, Franke James, John W. Burton, or the owners of this Website accept any liability whatsoever for any opinions expressed in the letter or for errors and omissions. Submission of letters to the Office-Politics Forum grants the Publisher, Nerdheaven Ltd. the right to reproduce, republish, repurpose and excerpt the submission in any and all other media, without compensation or contacting the author. Copyright Nerdheaven Ltd. 2002-2005
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