Trusting your coworkers

[muttleynfelix]

I'm going to have a hard time not being a control freak after this week.  In the last month, my boss worked on a couple projects to "take the pressure off me". One, he handed me last week and needed me "just to put the finishing touches on it".  I spent so much time on it because it didn't work (partly the architect's fault), but I know we lost a ton of money on the project.  The second project, I'm making what should be a small change, moving 2 handicap spaces. Shouldn't be a huge deal...except I'm noticing on our plan that when they go to build this parking lot, they are going to need more information.  They have about half the grade points called out that they need.  Since our guys will be staking it and the guy calculating the grades is also the one that put them on the plan, I guess he'll figure it out. But frankly, if it is a project that my area of expertise, I'm going to be really really hard pressed to trust them to do it right. In Jan 2012, my coworkers and boss did a plan while I was gone to a funeral and they did an incomplete job and it ended up costing the company money.     I can't do it all and we are shorthanded anyway, but if my boss and coworkers working on something and every time they do it, it ends up wrong. I'm not sure how much letting go I can do.   BTW my boss is on vacation this week. 

[Abby Normal]

I'm so sorry! That sucks.  Can you talk with your boss's boss?

[whoisjohngalt]

Are you saying that you are the only person in your company who knows how to do things right ?  You might want to start your own company then..

[michelyn8]

Your situation is why I'm lousy about letting someone cover for me when I'm out or delegating work.  I take a lot of pride in getting the work assigned to me done correctly and in providing enough details for others to be able to do their part with as few hassles as possible.  Sadly, there are more who workers who are going to do just what they need to do to let the next person do their part than those like us.  Its something I have a hard time with but can't change.

Unless your name is going on these projects as a "responsible party", you should just let it go.  You can't control what your boss does and unless you're supervising co-workers, its up to your boss or his boss to demand more effort from them. 

I can't offer anymore than that except that I feel your pain and send you  

[muttleynfelix]

Jul 31, 2013 11:33:57 GMT -5 Abby Normal said:

I'm so sorry! That sucks.  Can you talk with your boss's boss?

My boss is the owner. Small company.

[Abby Normal]

Ouch.  Slow deep breaths....

[muttleynfelix]

Jul 31, 2013 11:36:10 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

Are you saying that you are the only person in your company who knows how to do things right ?  You might want to start your own company then..

No, I suck at going out and getting work. My boss goes to all the meetings, gets the work, etc.  He also is great to bounce ideas off of if mine aren't working. I love working for him, am well compensated, and have a lot of flexibility. We are a really great team.  My coworkers are great in their areas of expertise.  Just when they do the work in "my domain" it doesn't get done right because they don't do it on a regular basis.  I talked to my coworker about the lack of information and he said "yeah, I would not be liking myself too much when I go out and stake it". Then he asked me to fix it.

[muttleynfelix]

Jul 31, 2013 11:37:21 GMT -5 michelyn8 said:

Your situation is why I'm lousy about letting someone cover for me when I'm out or delegating work.  I take a lot of pride in getting the work assigned to me done correctly and in providing enough details for others to be able to do their part with as few hassles as possible.  Sadly, there are more who workers who are going to do just what they need to do to let the next person do their part than those like us.  Its something I have a hard time with but can't change.

Unless your name is going on these projects as a "responsible party", you should just let it go.  You can't control what your boss does and unless you're supervising co-workers, its up to your boss or his boss to demand more effort from them. 

I can't offer anymore than that except that I feel your pain and send you  

The project my boss asked me to finish up. I was the "responsible party" because I ended up having to seal it.  I also ended up being the responsible party on this other project because I have to seal the changes since my boss is out of town.

[whoisjohngalt]

oohhh, that's tough, but I can't give you any good advice, bc I was sort of the same way when I was working.   I just didn't always liked my coworkers that much.

ETA:  I will NEVER say it out loud that I am control freak, bc my DH might hear it and then my years of convincing him that I am not will go down the drain

[muttleynfelix]

Part of the problem is that we are in a bit of a transition since our survey crew chief left the first of May.  Our part time guy was qualified to do the job (had actually done it in the past) so he's filing in full time on the surveying side until we see what happens after the big project we are working on is done.  Once that is done, we may be hurting for work.  My boss doesn't want to hire someone just to lay him (or her) off in a few months.  I'm to the point that I want someone to do my drafting again even though it isn't a need.  Most of the time I'm simultaneously at the top and bottom of the food chain. But that is the "perk" of a really small company.

[tcu2003]

Any chance you could talk your boss into an intern or a high school student with drafting experience? Then it would be someone part time, could help you with drafting, and maybe turn into someone full-time down the road after graduating, if you needed someone then.

[muttleynfelix]

Jul 31, 2013 12:35:18 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

Any chance you could talk your boss into an intern or a high school student with drafting experience? Then it would be someone part time, could help you with drafting, and maybe turn into someone full-time down the road after graduating, if you needed someone then.

Yeah, we talked about a the Grandson of my good friends possibly interning with us, but he doesn't have drafting experience and until he does, it won't work.   It goes back to that we really would need to advertise and then who knows who we would get. Every time we have advertised for an open position it hasn't worked out, but every time we have someone recommended or just apply off the street, it works out great.  I think that is why my boss is really leery about advertising for our current open position.  We've gotten some doozies that way.

[geenamercile]

Instead of advertising do you have a local school that had a drafting program.  If you do go talk to the career center.  It still is advertising I guess, but more focus.  Also I would look over the class catalog and see if there are any certain classes that focus on what you are doing, then require that.     

[Deleted]

Way early in my career I had a boss that was what we used to call a "power". He was a leader in his field & known throughout the state. He was well respected with those in our organization who worked with him. The only problem was that it had been so long since he had done the nuts & bolts part of the job that he was (to put it bluntly) a screw up. The standing order (unofficial of course) from the guy below him was to check everything he did twice. So been there & done that & all you can do it to do the best you can for the company (by checking everything twice).

[Deleted]

DTA---don't trust ayone

[lurkyloo]

Our analytical department has pulled some real doozies.  Nothing like having to spend a week repeating a protocol to make more material because they used 50% more than they needed for the analysis and just freaking misplaced most of the rest. 

[Deleted]

Since they are helping you due to not being able to 'do it all', maybe you could come up with a way that  you can do the experience based part of the work & they do the grunt steps?

I'd look for a solution like that which will allow a good quality project plan/quote and not losing money or causing a ton of rework.

[muttleynfelix]

Old Tex - My boss freely admits that "Muttley is better than me at XYZ".  He knows he isn't great about the nuts and bolts of design any more.  But there are times he still needs to do it himself, at least with the staff we currently have.

Rock it - Good point. I have checklists for putting the finishing touches on the project, and I try to get everyone (meaning me, my boss and our 2 surveyors) to use the same system for starting the plans, but maybe that needs to be emphasized a little more.  I don't know. 

Lurky - Ouch. That would drive me nuts.  My big complaint was that my boss thought that a wall was a "finishing" touch. Ummm no boss man, that is a major design element and lucky for you I realized we had a conflict with the wall the architects plans.   Oops.