Been sort of struggling to post something coherent, despite having a bunch of stuff to vaguely ponder. Whenever I start writing, it all ends up a mess, and not worth posting. Still, I want to get it out of my head, so here’s some short blurbs:
* There seems to be an almost gut-level reaction in me, when I’m faced with coworkers that don’t live up to my standards. It’s not, “Maybe I can teach them,” it’s, “How can I get rid of these people as quickly and bluntly as possible?” I know the teaching approach works better, and can transform less efficient people into more efficient people, but it’s not my first reaction. My first reaction is, “Look, I taught myself this stuff. I worked hard to get where I am now. How can you be this incompetent, and be in the same position as me? Die!”
Still, this isn’t the best reaction, obviously, but it’s *so* visceral, that I wonder if it’s simply a different archetype – like Type A people and Type B people. It almost feels like a piece of evolutionary equipment – some people help the weak, and make them strong, others cull the weak to unburden the already strong. Dunno. I suppose that sounds vaguely genocidal, and that’s not really how I see it. Just that I’m more concerned with success, and if you’re in my way, I want to get rid of you.
* And now, I’ve forgotten what the other bit was.
*shrugs*
Usually when you post stuff I’m like “Yes! I do the exact same thing!” However this might be the first time that I feel like I’m completely your opposite.
I’m definately the kind of person who would rather help people, so next time they can help themselves. It’s always my first instinct, sometimes to a fault. Lately I’ve been better about noticing the glazed-over look people get when it’s obvious that they just have no interest in learning, at which point I’ll just do it for them. Having to do something for someone feels like defeat to me though.
Cocaine is a hell of a drug.
A_B
I struggled with this a lot when I became a manager. I couldn’t understand why these people with very little skill were hired in the first place and why it had suddenly become my problem to “make them better” when I didn’t really see a whole lot of potential in the first place. I wanted to fire them, but was forced to stick with it. In some cases, the teaching avenue worked, and in others, it’s never going to. I just wish upper management was more receptive to feedback about the people that just aren’t going to work out.
Yeah, it’s a tough one. I struggle with that as well. If people ask for help, I will help them, but I don’t do a good job of proactively initiating the teaching/learning experience (wow, that was management-speaky).
I’m also more likely to focus on mutually beneficial situations – when somebody has expertise I don’t have (which is basically everybody competent since I’m not an expert in anything), there are lots of win-win situations where we can exchange knowledge. When I’m dealing with somebody who just can’t do anything I can’t do, it’s frustrating because they are not adding to my ability to get things done. I should feel like it’s an opportunity for mentoring and for helping them along their way, but I’m not very civic-minded apparently.
I am exactly the same way. It is bad enough that someone isn’t pulling his or her weight. It is twice as bad if I have to waste my time trying to fix it. This isn’t the “nicest” way to be, but to hell with it, I’ve got work to do. 🙂
When the person is appreciative, I LOVE helping people out. I love explaining things to people in a way that they can understand, seeing the lightbulb come on in their eyes. It’s such a great feeling. I love to help people feel empowered in realizing that the thing they felt was very difficult is in fact conquerable and within reach.
When someone acts like I’m only doing what I’m supposed to, I get really pissed off.
Or, I hate it when people say they want to learn, but expect every ounce of knowledge to come from you instead of any active effort of their own. Particularly in something so varied as “game knowledge.” If someone wants to learn about games, the best (and damn near only way) is to sit down and play them yourself. You can only explain so much about game design and game theory…
Sounds like I’m in the same boat. There is a system her for performing a specific task. Let’s call it, punching a widget. So, you have to do things to get the widget to be the right size and shape, and the application to specify the size and shape is fairly straight-forward. Hell, I just learned the system, in a couple days, two months ago. Well, I was filling-in until someone could be hired to do this task. Now that someone is hired, I am constantly barraged with questions about the system, as if I’m an expert. And they are not highly technical questions about dimensions of the widget… no, they are stupid questions, like, why do I have to plug in the widget maker before it starts making widgets? Or, how come the widget maker creates less widgets using the same material but making bigger widgets?
So now, I have to watch over their shoulder and make sure the widget maker is making widgets. And I’m not sure what my job is anymore; all I know is that I hate it.
Yeah, I’m in some weird middle ground too–I feel compelled to do some teaching, at least until I give up in frustration.
In case it is any consolation to you, a good reply to the “teach a man to fish” saw:
Build a man a fire, and he’s warm for a day.
Set a man on fire, and he’s warm for the rest of his life.
For some reason, I never read the comments in this post ’till now. I LOVE the “set a man on fire” bit.