Remember back in your school days when you would be assigned a group project and immediately groan? You knew you’d have at least one member on your team who refused to contribute—leaving you to carry more than your fair share.
But, when you get out into the working world, you realize that your career really is just one big group project. You need to rely on other members in your department in order to get your work done. And, beyond that, each department relies on others in order to carry out those big-picture goals and objectives.
If you find yourself stuck working with a lazy co-worker? Well, it definitely adds stress to an already tense situation. After all, why should you be stuck putting in more work—just so that person can kick his feet up on his desk and relax?
No matter how frustrating the situation becomes, you know you can’t storm into your colleague’s cubicle and accuse him of shirking responsibility. But, at the same time, you want to make it known that he needs to put in the effort and do his part.
So, where’s the balance here? How can you successfully deal with a lazy co-worker—without adding fuel to the fire and look like you’re pointing fingers? Here are four steps to handle that infuriating situation.
1. Observe the Situation
First things first, you need to take a deep breath and try to look at things from a different perspective. See if you can identify a reason for this person not carrying his or her weight. Perhaps there’s something happening in her personal life. Or, maybe she can’t seem to get a solid handle on how to complete the project—leaving her feeling totally overwhelmed.
Before stepping in guns blazing, it’s important that you take some time to try to identify the root cause. If there truly is something sensitive causing the lack of work ethic, being accusatory and aggressive won’t help the situation. In those cases, the solution to the issue might be as simple as offering a helping hand or some advice—after all, that’s the benefit of working on a team.
If you can’t seem to determine why this person has the tendency to leave his or her work to the other people in your office? Well, it’s time to take the next step.
2. Make Expectations Clear
People can’t read your mind. And, it’s not fair to expect others to complete certain tasks or portions of projects if the expectations and instructions aren’t clear.
So, let’s continue giving the benefit of the doubt here. Perhaps your co-worker isn’t holding up his end of the deal simply because he doesn’t know what’s expected of him. You can resolve this issue by ensuring that you always clearly communicate.
End each meeting by making sure that each team member is clear on his or her action items. You can even follow up each sit-down with an email detailing what was assigned to each person—having things in writing always helps.
If you feel like you’re stepping on toes or acting too authoritative by doing this, simply suggest that your supervisor does something similar. Having that structure in place will likely benefit all of your team members—not just the one who wants to pass the buck!
3. Speak Up
You’ve taken a deep breath and clearly outlined the group expectations. But, still, that person seems to have no regard for completing his or her piece of the puzzle. What now?
Don’t accept the fact that you need to take on extra work to make up for his or her shortcomings. Instead, now’s the point when you need to be a little more direct and state what the issue is.
Start by approaching your co-worker about the project. This can look something like, “Hey, Jim! I’ve noticed that you haven’t started on that sales report, and we need that in hand by the end of the day tomorrow. Please prioritize that today so we can stay on track.”
A statement like that works for a few reasons. First, there were no questions involved—making it clear that these are expectations, not requests. Secondly, it reinforced the deadline. That’s important for instilling a sense of urgency. Finally, it tied Jim’s portion of the project to the larger objective, reminding him that he needs to pull his weight in order to keep the entire team on schedule.
Yes, it can seem unnatural to dictate someone else’s workload like this—particularly if you aren’t in a leadership role. But, being this blunt is often necessary when dealing with someone who can’t seem to manage his or her own to-do list.
4. Escalate If Necessary
So, Jim just nodded when you approached him and brushed you off with a, “Yeah, yeah, I got it.” But, you know he won’t get his piece done on time (or at all) putting your entire team behind schedule and making you look irresponsible and sloppy to the rest of your office.
You’ve done all you can do as a fellow team member, so it’s time to escalate the situation to someone with a little more authority—like your supervisor. It’s natural to have some hesitations about doing this, as nobody wants to build a reputation as the office tattletale. But, if your own efforts have been fruitless, it’s imperative that you bring the problem to someone higher in the ranks.
Simply request a brief meeting with your boss and state something like, “I don’t want to seem like I’m pointing fingers here, but we’ve had a tough time with Jim not completing his assigned pieces of projects on time. We’ve approached him several times about it, but nothing seems to be making a difference. So, I wanted to loop you in on our team’s struggles and see if there’s something else we could do to continue to encourage effective collaboration.”
That statement makes it clear that you’ve already tried to handle things on your own before running into your boss’ office, and it also emphasizes that you’re trying to guarantee success for your department as a whole. Any manager will respond well to that, and hopefully handle the situation effectively from there.
I know—dealing with a lazy co-worker can be incredibly frustrating. And, there’s not much that can make the situation easy to handle. However, following these four steps should help you walk that fine line and address the problem tactfully.
