I work with someone for whom everything is a crisis. If something doesn’t go EXACTLY as they thought it should they give up. The thing is that we work in an area where “can’t” isn’t an option. Bottomline is the guy’s a whiner.
Now I’m not management. If I were he’d be looking for a job. But I am in a “leadership” position on the team. I’ve tried everything that I know with him. Things like if something breaks assess the damage, correct the brokens, prevent future failures. Plus lots of others. But I am at a loss.
Any suggestions that you might have that I can use to help this guy would be appreciated. I know this might be somewhat general and if you want more details I will give them.
I want this guy to succeed, I really do, but I am my wits end.
Thanks.
Hard to tell how applicable this will be without details, but if I were you, instead of telling him what to do (which you have done, without success so far), it might help to find out why he gives up so easily. Does he lack self-confidence that he can fix something that doesn’t go as planned, and would rather do nothing than do something wrong? If so, maybe you can talk to him and make it clear that anything is better than nothing. Or give him steps to follow that won’t be wrong. Or maybe he gives up easily because he thinks he is overstepping his boundaries if he does something without permission, so he stops and waits for it. Obviously, these are just examples of what he might be thinking (and by the way, what he might be thinking could be an error on his part). If you haven’t tried this already, pointing out this pattern to him and asking him why he reacts in this way might be helpful. Of course, you should avoid the term “whiner.”
