Team building with a "difficult" peer

Submitted by Chris Ferrao
in
General Questions and Comments

 Situation:

- Been using MT technics for 10 months and have noticed improvement with some peers

- one peer is only cooperating to ensure there is no "negative items" that are raised that they can not "spin" it to show their working on a solution even though they are not

- same peer is quick to take "credit" for most "positive" things even though it is aTeam effort.

VP who introduced MT to all is not saying anything.

 

Current position of other team members are puzzled and getting skeptical of the VP. this will result in "reverting back" to "old inefficient" ways

Have talked to the "difficult peer" but they say "yes" the will change but never do.

Any suggestions?

 

Submitted by Phillip Jean on Wednesday June 12th, 2013 8:08 pm

Hi,
Could you clarify what behavior you are observing from your peer and the situations? What do you consider "difficult"?
Also, which tools have you been using with your peers and how?
Best regards,
Phil 

Submitted by Chris Ferrao on Thursday June 13th, 2013 6:53 am

Phil
By "difficult" I mean only willing to work in the team when they get some benefit. When ask to contribute, no input is provided.
When asked to contribute supporting information or data (that is collected and reported to the Board), it is never provided in advance. All information or data request are "vetted" prior to distributing to the team. We know because follow-up QA notes manual changes to the base data. Example: monthly trending shows a spike in January but the anaylsis has it removed. The issue was a duplicate entry was not reversed.
Note: on "urgent" items identfied by senior exec, results in immediate release of information/data the team asked for months prior. its not that the base data does not exist. We know it does, because all team members have worked in other organizations which have a more open information sharing culture.
For tools, we have monthly peer meeting to go over progress on set projects. additional one-on-one peer meetings are scheduled but this person either does not show up or cancels the day before. 
So far, we're trying to "work around" the person (short term).
Chris

Submitted by Phillip Jean on Thursday June 13th, 2013 7:12 pm

Thanks for the additional info, Chris.
Since this is a peer, the main influence you can have with them is relationship influence. 
What kind of relationship do you have with this peer? Does the peer relate more to or help certain co-workers? Can you tell where they might fit in DiSC? 
Another possible suggestion from your original post would be to ensure clear deliverables with dates. As action logs of who does what by when show clear deliverables, the peer can't spin that they're working on it. The answer is either "yes" or "no" to the action item. It won't be as simple as that to see an immediate change in their behavior. It just may be a piece in the puzzle.
Do you and the peer have the same boss?
Phil

Submitted by Glenn Ross on Friday June 14th, 2013 8:33 am

I agree with Phil, above.
I'm a big believer in face to face honest communication. You may have already tried this, but one thing I would seek to discover is this person's communication's preference.  Is it email? How long does he take to respond? Does he wait until he has all the answers, or will he respond immediately and let you know he needs time? Or, does he prefer phone or IM?
Doesn't sound important does it. But sometimes it's the little things that cause big headache's. Make sure that miscomunications are not adding to the problem.
Then I would follow up and document everything. Meetings and verbal conversations would be followed by an email stating committments and deadlines.
I would also create a "Critical Incident Log" that would list date, failed task or other incidents, and a comment.
Finally, don't let him get away with this cr*p. Every time he pulls something like this, have a private word with him to let him know you know what he did and you don't appreciate it. If appropriate, and in a professional manner, call him out in  meetings, not to embarrass him, but to correct anything he tries to spin in that meeting. Do this conversationally. "Larry, I was under the impression that Susan was the one responsible for that."
Are there other peers at your level interacting with him on the same team? How do they feel about it?
When it's appropriate, I would let your boss know what's going on, if you haven't already.
Hopefully his reputation will precede him.
 
 
 

Submitted by Chris Ferrao on Monday June 17th, 2013 2:27 pm

Thank you all for the input. But it does not matter as I have been "restructured" out of my job.
 
Cheers
 
Chris