Difficult Personalities: The Ghost Employee
It's somewhere, out there, in cyberspace. At least you think it is. It's that e-mail you sent 4 days ago that has yet to yield a response. The co-worker who seemed oh-so-willing to partner with you on a project has suddenly vanished, and you're stuck doing twice the work for half the credit. You've encountered the "ghost" co-worker--and our second installment in the Difficult Personalities blog series. (Check out Part 1, the needy employee, here.)
The Disappearing Act
"The ghost has this ability to pair up with somebody she or he knows will get the job done without any input, and then she can still share in the glory," explained Cathy Jensen, our difficult personalities informant.
While it's not the worst work scenario, according to Jensen, being paired with a ghost co-worker means doing more than double duty; employees who get the bum end of the deal usually waste time and energy trying to track down their partner. Eventually, the one-sided e-mails and phone calls just seem pointless.
"You do tend to give up, not try any longer and just sort of resolve yourself to the fact you don't have a partner in the project and you're going to be doing it alone," Jensen said.
The real frustration kicks in when the ghost reappears--just in time to score a pat on the back for a job well done. When that happened to Jensen, she let it go rather than rat her colleague out. But she learned from the experience. "The next time things came around, I just made it a point not to be involved in the project with that particular ghost," she said.
As traditional work settings give way to the virtual office, the ghost co-worker may become a more common nuisance. When there's no face-to-face interaction, it's all too easy to slip away, Jensen said. Webinars let employers know who signed in for a meeting, but there's no guarantee the employee is at the screen the whole time.
Making Contact
If your partner's a no-show, don't just grumble at the computer screen, said Nancy Riesz, CEO of SuccessCatalyst.com, a professional training and consulting firm. Instead, ask yourself, "What's my responsibility in this?" she advised.
When projects run afoul, it's usually one of the three C's: communication, clarity and commitment, Riesz said, and it takes the whole team to settle the problem. Plan a face-to-face meeting with the lackluster co-worker to find out why he or she isn't so gung-ho, and make sure each person's role is clear. "Participation" may mean hands-on, daily involvement to you, but another person might see it as offering an opinion or reviewing the final product. "We need to get rid of assumptions," Riesz said.
While you're outlining roles and responsibilities, don't forget to define consequences for inaction. It can be as simple as withholding a slacker's name from the project, but it gives more incentive to participate. Just make sure everyone agrees. "If [partners] give their input, they're a lot more likely to keep their commitments, but if it's a consequence imposed from above or from someone else...they might say ‘I don't care,'" Riesz said.
But--oh the vicious cycle!--your partner hasn't responded to your meeting invite. If you've sent two or more e-mails, it's time to pick up the phone, Riesz advised. When you finally make contact, choose your questions wisely. Instead of asking "Why haven't you answered my e-mails?" ask "What's keeping you from responding to my e-mails?" By focusing on the "what" instead of the "why," you'll get a specific answer that may yield actual results, as opposed to an excuse about something that happened in the past.
Stand Your Ground
Don't be afraid to speak up either, Riesz said. Like Jensen, most people keep quiet when a partner's a pain, but that won't correct bad behavior. "The reason people aren't held accountable is we don't want to be the bad guy; we don't want anybody to not like us," Riesz said.
But it's not about being mean; it's about getting the job done. If your partner vanishes, stand by the consequences you agreed upon, Riesz said. Again, ask "what" questions to find out why they've been MIA. If they don't have the time or skills to do their part, it may be time to bring someone else on board.
Don't get management involved right away, but if your project is mission-critical or can't be completed without the missing person's part, let them know what's up. If you're paired up again, give your co-worker a second chance. But if the employee's a repeat offender, request to be reassigned to another project--just make sure you give specific reasons. "A lot of times, we just don't like the way someone does something," Riesz said, "and that's not fair grounds for saying I'm not going to work with somebody."