I’d love to start a conversation on how best to work collaboratively with colleagues who clearly have unacknowledged and unaddressed learning disabilities. When you receive comments back on a document that are nonsensical and clearly point to LDs on the part of the commenter. Example: Comment that the document is missing subheads when that is patently false: there are clear subheads that are bolded. Example: Comment that a major point is unaddressed when that is untrue: to any reasonable reader, the point is very clearly addressed.
Those are just two examples. I am working with someone like that now. His comments are nonsensical and in many cases demonstrably wrong. My only explanation is: learning disability. He misses the forest for the trees. He misses obvious things that are right there in front of him. Inattention. This person is senior to me. It is very frustrating, and my other colleagues feel the same way.
How have you dealt with people with LDs in the workplace when those LDs are unacknowledged and unaddressed? I have worked with people with LDs who KNOW they miss things or are inattentive at times, and they accommodate for it or acknowledge it (e.g., “I think I missed the subheads – can you highlight them for me please?” or “Do me a favor – in next draft highlight in yellow the area where it addresses this point so I don’t miss it.”)
Any tips or tricks for dealing with a person with LDs who just assumes he is correct and that everyone else is wrong?
Can you return the document with the “missing” items highlighted, as mentioned above, just don’t bother to mention it was already there? Allow your boss the face save of him assuming you added it, yet you know it was there? In the future do that highlight?
I’d take the marked up document to him and go over in a sit-down.
I agree with @momofthreeboys. You have to go over the document with the colleague. You need to figure out whether the colleague somehow missed the subheads and the discussion of the major point, or whether the supplied subheads and discussion are somehow not what the colleague wanted. Only the colleague can tell you.
Oh, could you start that conversation with an: I thought the sub-heading and topic were covered, but my presentation does not seem to be working for you, can you help me see how to approach it differently?
I’m leaning toward not getting the senior person defensive, however only you know your office dynamics.
Yeah, I agree that taking it to him and having a sit-down would be best. But I work remotely. There’s no way he’d spend that kind of time with me on the phone. Very frustrating.
@somemom Thanks. I usually do some version of that. “Oh, well I was trying to get this point across, but obviously not so well. How about this?” That way he gets to save face, but I still get to point out that I DID address the issue. It’s frustrating because he just is … off. Sort of operating halfway off the track. I suppose he’s gotten to where he is because he’s got a team of people covering for him and helping hims save face.
It is very difficult to write in someone else’s voice and it is difficult to write collaboratively as everyone has a different style and flow. I would give the benefit of the doubt to the guy and if you can’t sit face to face either ask questions or incorporate some of his suggestions and send it back
“Working with an Incompetent Boss” may better reflect the situation.
There’s a huge difference between learning disability and just not smart. People lacking in analytical ability get promoted all the time…usually because they focus on cultivating personal chemistry with their bosses to compensate for their sub-par analytical intelligence.
As a software developer, I work with people who seem to be on the autism spectrum or who have various executive functioning issues, and I’ve had to learn to meet people where they are. I’ve never known any of them to be promoted to a senior or management role though.
Don’t assume that this person has a learning disability. Work with what you know: he will not understand what you write unless you provide specific guidance. Maybe deliver an executive summary with every document. Besides highlighting your conclusions, you can use the executive summary to describe the formatting conventions of your document.
Does your business have a formal style guide for its memos and reports?
How old is your boss? I am wondering if this is a sign of early onset dementia. I know with my MIL it created work issues long before her family realized there was a problem.
Good idea, but it would not help. In the example of my OP, he MISSED THE SUBHEADS. He told me I forgot to include subheads to signal new sections. The subheads were bold, space before and space after. No possible way any typically processing person could miss it.
@mathmom He’s 56. I don’t think it’s dementia. He shows other signs of LDs too. Not that there’s anything wrong with it. It just has to be acknowledged and addressed instead of blaming others for not doing things the right way.
Was this document formatted exactly the same way as all previous documents?
When he said sub-heading, could he have meant sub-subs instead?
Was the “unaddressed” point addressed directly and specifically, or was it something that reasonable readers could infer from the text?
Not a professional editor or writer here, but do proofread what DH writes. Many times I have to spell out to him that what he thinks is clear, isn’t, and yes a reasonable reader would be able to figure it out, but no one should put their readers to that much work.
I spend a portion of my days at work trimming other people’s writing. Taking it from passive to active, getting rid of unecessary adjectives and literally taking paragraphs down to bullet points. Not saying that is the OPs issue or that I necessarily think his manager has an LD. These day brief and to the point and know that people at work, in many cases, skim read.
Does this person above you give you periodic reviews? Or does his opinion get asked as part of your direct supervisors overall review of your work?
I think it matters more how you react and respond if this person can determine all or even a portion of your review and pay grade. It is one thing to humor him if he is harmless, but if your work reputation depends on his ability to read your work competently, you have a bigger problem.
I’m a consultant. I just started working with this client about two months ago. He can decide to hire me again or not. Others have the same issues with him. Everyone knows he’s “off.” But he’s not the only one at that company who can hire me as a consultant.