Being a team player

Although I don't officially consider myself a blogger, i do enjoy having an outlet to share my thoughts, and more often lately, my frustrations with the world and ridiculous people in it.

As I've mentioned before, I am currently in a MBA program, in addition to my full time job. And nothing has been more frustrating in the last couple of years than some of the people I've been stuck with for group projects. Not to name names, but there has been more than one individual that fit this profile: Know it alls, Nothing else except their work is good enough, Don't want to explain it to you, Don't know how to send e-mail updates, Not a team player (I could go on but I think you get the idea...) These people don't seem to know what it means to work AS A TEAM. They only know how to ramrod their way forward and do it all on their own. But they don't HAVE to! And because of their controlling attitude, they lose any possible benefits of working together.

It seems before they even get to know you, they think you're worthless. To them I say, "That's your problem!" By your assuming I am worthless, I am not going to try to convince you otherwise. Why should I bother fighting with you? Frankly, I have plenty of other things to worry about.

I have written this ghost letter to those "individuals" in attempts to let off a little steam... (I would e-mail it to them if I wanted a drag out e-mail battle, no thanks. Thankfully classes eventually end, so I will zip my lip and let another future team member or co-worker put you in your place.)


Dear know it all,

I appreciate your hard work with the group project. You have gone above and beyond (unasked). However, your lack of communication with the rest of the group makes us all look bad. Please include us in communication when you have planned to do something (like the entire paper). We aren't going to pull teeth to find out what you're doing and in your future, in a "real-world" environment, other people won't either. They will continue to move forward with or without you. 

You need to learn to communicate and keep others included if you want to succeed. You forced yourself into the leadership position by not allowing anyone else to speak. And you stifled our efforts and contributions by not being a team player. You are probably complaining about the rest of us and our lack of contribution but I want you to know that you are the only person to blame. 

I'm sure you've called us "lazy" and "good for nothings", but that's your fault. But, you're good at making us feel that way, like we can't contribute anything worthwhile. We don't see the point in duplicating effort and we don't see the point of trying, because we know, you wouldn't approve of any of our contributions anyways. My advice to you, is to learn the definition of "leader."  

So good luck in the future (I mean that, you'll need it). Thank GOD this is only a class. 

Sincerely,

A group of "slackers" (with 3.5+ GPAs)

Its way too polite, but you get the idea. Nothing is more toxic than poor leadership to a group. Communication is key in all aspects of life and I firmly believe that! It might not ruin them yet, but I guarantee in the future it will. No one likes to work with those types of people except themselves... so they end up working alone.