RE: In the Trenches, A Bit of Venting

["Lisa Wright" <liwright -at- earthlink -dot- net>]

Bonnie said:
"The responsibility of a contractor who is having such problems is to
his agency and to the client. It is not appropriate to just hunker down
and ignore what's going on around you."

You don't know whether this is the kind of problem that should involve
management or not. Nor do we, as you rightly pointed out. I think you're
also correct that if there is an issue with the reporting structure
(which we simply don't know) and decision makers, those are issues that
a contractor can legitimately raise. But--and this is a big one--it
should only be to *clarify* the situation. Not to try to change it. Not
to try to fix it. Raise the issue if it's putting your deliverable at
risk.

I will say that, sometimes the *only* appropriate thing to do is hunker
down and ignore whatever drama is going on around you. People far too
often get involved in trying to "fix" things that are simply not theirs
to fix. Contractors are pretty much the last category of folks who are
able to exercise any positive or productive change in an organization.*
Unless your statement of work says "come in and fix my organization and
the people in it," it's not appropriate to get involved in a client's
dramas, or political battles, or turf wars, or personality/work style
conflicts, or anything else. One can and should have a professional
opinion that could be shared if asked and if it will have a positive
impact on the situation.

Lisa 

*This is not to say that contractors cannot have a positive or
productive *effect*.



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