Vincent and Daniel are both scholarship awardees in some prestigious university like NUS. Last semester, they teamed up in a project and did quite a good job as a team. But this sem, when Daniel invited Vincent to do another project together, Vincent refused and said he would never team with Daniel again.
Daniel is a very smart student but does not work very hard. He is so pride and confident of himself that he believes nothing will ever be difficult for him and hence is used to putting everything off till the last minute. His strong vanity also makes it difficult for him to accept others doing better than him. Though he is usually a bit slack off, he still takes it for granted that every single achievement his team has made is under his name or at least everyone should regard him as one of the major contributors.
Vincent, on the other hand, is very modest and responsible. He doesn’t require being the leader, but he will help carrying out a plan and request to do the hardest task. He is efficient and results oriented; once assigned a task, he will finish it step by step in an efficient manner. He does not mind if his teammate is slacking off, but he cannot accept that his teammate is irresponsible.
This is how the story goes. Being very responsible and knowing Daniel’s straits, Vincent told Daniel that he would finish most of the work and leave the last part for Daniel. Daniel agreed. But eventually when Vincent passed it over to Daniel, Daniel felt so discontented because Vincent had done most of the jobs with very high quality. So he decided to redo the major part by himself to prove he is capable as well. He did it very hard, but was still unable to finish before the last day of the submission. So eventually he had no choice but to compromise seven hours before the deadline and started finishing the task that he was assigned to.
Though Daniel finished the work at last, Vincent was so angry with him because in the end Vincent wasn’t even able to have a look at the final draft of their report before submission. He complained that Daniel was so disrespectful to him and he dare not risk doing another project with such an irresponsible and vain teammate. Daniel however felt quite innocent; he thought at least he still managed to finish his job.
Though this story might be a little bit extreme, it can still happen to every one of us. What should we do if we were Vincent and we were working with such an eccentric teammate? And from Daniel’s perspective, what should he do if he really wants to work with Vincent again?
(Adapted from a true story of my friend.)
Dear Shiyan,
ReplyDeleteThat’s a pretty extreme scenario that you have posted. While I’m very tempted to point the finger at Daniel, for the sake for fairness, I think Vincent is not totally blameless. Vincent did not bother to keep Daniel updated on what’s going on. Perhaps he should have briefed Daniel about the progress of the project and what else needed to be done when he handed over the work to Daniel.
As for Daniel, I think that he’s terrible. He’s completely irresponsible! I can understand why Vincent no longer wants to work with him. Vincent no longer trusts Daniel after the incident with the previous project.
In order for Daniel to get Vincent to work with him again, he needs to rebuild the trust between them. It’s probably going to be a very difficult task. What he could do is to apologize for his performance and to offer to start early on this new project. He should offer to give very regular updates on this current project.
Daniel should also make sure that he keeps his word and does his work on time. Otherwise, he would probably destroy his already strained friendship with Vincent.
Regards,
Russell
Dear Shiyan,
ReplyDeleteI believe in this case Daniel is mostly at fault. He have a personality that most people would disapprove of. He has pride and ego that make the last project a disaster.
If I were Vincent, I would discuss with Daniel first about his personality and offer some advice on him changing. I would also discuss a resolution with consequences for Daniel to ensure Daniel put in effort to change.
However, if I were Daniel, things would be different. Before I change, i need to realise myself first. I would want to hear from people's feedback first on my attitude/personality and what are the areas which I need to work on. In this case, it will be my pride and overconfidence. From there, I know what I should work on.
Regards,
Mohd Ferrino
Dear ShiYan,
ReplyDeleteIn your story, Vincent definitely comes across as the good guy and Daniel as the bad guy. Daniel’s pride and confidence may help him as an individual, but it puts him at a big disadvantage as a team-worker. It would be very difficult for him to get along with his teammates.
I am very much tempted to say that it is mostly Daniel’s fault that they faced so much difficulty working together. However, there are many times when we have no option but to work with people we don’t like. Vincent seemed to be in such a situation last semester. He would have done better if he had clearly talked to Daniel and explained his expectations. He could have given Daniel a strict deadline some time before the actual deadline and explained that it was important they finish the work with time in hand.
In order to work with people, Daniel must respect his teammates, and finish the work on time so that the teammate does not have to worry about it until the last minute. He must realise that being a perfectionist rarely works in a team as there are people with different methodologies. He must also take feedback from people about his behaviour and improve on it.
Cheers,
Anuj