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>Although hired for a high-level
>position, it turns out the writer's skills are very weak across the boards.
>But the real problem is the writer's attitude - it's all someone else's
>fault. Rather than owning up to simple mistakes (which nobody cares about
>anyway) this person has gone so far as to say Word must've magically
changed
>the template and also inserted duplicate pages at a later point in the
>document. So far, I haven't even been able to approach the real issues
>because even the smallest things are met with such defensiveness. The
>training department is fed up and I'm ending up having to re-write
>everything. My boss is looking at termination, but wants me to make
another
>effort to salvage the situation.
It sounds to me like this writer probably knows he got over on HR, but is
afraid to admit his shortcomings for fear of termination. I detect a bit of
hard-headedness as well. The obvious answer (to me) is to get this
individual training if you plan to keep him, but how do you offer the
training without him seeing it as an affront? Well, if this writer is smart,
and is willing to admit to himself that he needs some serious ramping up,
then I'd say provide him with as many resources as you can that teach him
what it is you want him to know. Let him be responsible for absorbing it. My
company, for example, purchased access to a few online training programs,
such as elementK, that we are free to use as we see fit. We have a fairly
extensive library of programming manuals and books, style guides, and other
how-tos. The company will also reimburse our expenses for completed college
courses. We are given ample time to use these resources and encouraged to
seek the help of our peers. With all of these resources at hand, being a bad
writer would be nothing less than a poor choice, or laziness, on my part. As
an added bonus, your other writers might just benefit from such training
opportunities, should you choose to offer them (not to imply that they
aren't already experts in their field, far be it from me to say such a
thing).
No one wants to be saddled with the responsibility of holding the hand of an
individual like this. The question is whether your boss is willing to give
him a second chance and is willing to wait a while for results.
Charles T. Rich
Technical Writer
Product Development
Follett Software Company
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