AboutDoug Staneart Expertise Doug Staneart can answer questions about gaining cooperation from, motivating, and influencing coworkers and employers. He is also an expert on how to avoid and resolve conflicts as well as other issues dealing with long term business relationships.
Experience
Doug Staneart has been a speaker and trainer for over ten years specializing in public speaking, leadership training, and team building. Doug is CEO of The Leader?s Institute® (Leadership Training) based in Dallas and author of the books 40 Ways to Influence People and Fearless Presentations. He has accumulated over 700 hours of classroom coaching and training and began his career with Dale Carnegie Training® where he was recognized on numerous occasions for superior instruction.
Current and Past Clients
3V Company, ABC of Indiana, AC Engineered Systems, Inc., ACI Pathway, ADS Aerial Data Service, Aggregate Technologies, April Langham, Chiropractor, Associated General Contractors, ATS Drilling, Inc., AUI General Contractors, Baker Drywall, Bc3 Construction, BECK GROUP, THE, Best Western Inn & Suites, Bomanite Of Houston, Inc., BondTex Surety Agency, Buford-Thompson Company, Builders Association of Greater Chicago, Bycin Paving, Inc., C & L Construction, Cadenhead Shreffler Ins. Agency, CapitalOne, Ceco Concrete Construction, Cenikor Foundation Inc., Centex Construction Company, Chero-Key Piping Company, City of Fort Worth, Clossey Excavating, Inc., Component Construction, Compton Mechanical Services, Inc., Concentra Medical, Concrete Penetrating, Coronado Builders, Dallas Business Journal, DALMAC CONSTRUCTION CO., Data Return, Day Resource Center, Daybreak, Demar, Ltd., Designer Studio, Dissmore Homes, Document Destruction, Dyna Mechanical, Dyna Ten Corporation, Dyna Ten-Power Group, Ed Townes, Edwards Electric & Mechanical, Inc., EIS, Energy Services AC & Heating Co., Everclean Companies, F&V Construction, Falcon Steel, Fenimore-Blythe, Ltd., Fisher-Pearson, Inc., Flaherty Construction, Flexible Spending Systems, Inc., Fort Worth QUOIN, Fort Worth Chamber, Fort Worth Opportunity Center, Freeman Auto Group, FROST CONSTRUCTORS, INC., Frymire, GE Capital, Hensel Phelps Construction, Houston Community College, Humphrey & Assoc., Imperative Information Group, Integra Realty Corp., Interior Alterations, Interstates Electric & Engineering, Inc., J Bean's Call Plus, Inc., James R. Thompson, Junior League of Fort Worth, Juvian Investments, Kajima Construction, Linbeck, Lloyd Plyler Construction, LUCIA, Inc., Manhattan Construction, Mesa Products, Mesco Metal Buildings, Metrotell, Meyer & Najem, Inc., MEYERSON BUILDERS, INC., Mezzetta Construction, Inc., NETCOC, NetIQ, Nikken, Nordam Texas, On Time Business Solutions, LLC, Overhead Door Co. of FW, Paradigm Consultants, Inc., Pete Durant & Associates, Pieper Houston Electric L.P, PNB Financial/McAfee Mtg, Power Construction Company, Pre-Paid Legal Casualty, Inc., Precision Welding & Fabrication, Pyramid Building Systems, Inc., RBR Construction, Inc., Reynolds Asphalt & Construction, Rita's World, RODCO-BRANDT, Rogers-O'Brien Construction Company, ROSIEK CONSTRUCTION CO INC, Rough Creek Lodge, Runnebohm Construction Co., Schnabel Foundation Co., Scott Communities, SDI Corp., Sedalco, Shiel-Sexton Co., Inc., Showcase Banners, Simeus Foundation, Simplex Grinnell Fire Protection Systems Co., Slack & Co. Contracting, Inc., Smith Pump Company, Southeastern Supply Co., Inc., Southwest Aviation Specialties, SPAWGLASS CONSTRUCTION CORP., Steele & Freeman, Inc, Sunstate Equipment Co., Susan Clot de Broissia, T & T Construction, T & W Corp., Talem, Inc., TD Industries, Tech Data, TELLEPSEN BUILDERS, L.P., Tempora Resources, Terra-Mar, Inc, Texas Shafts, Inc., The Beck Group, The DeMoss Company, The Expo Group, The Mattingly Corporation, The Morale Fairy, The Sunflower Shoppe, ThumbTechs, TRIBBLE & STEPHENS CO., Trico Electric Inc., Turner Construction, Tx DOT, TXU Energy, United Mechanical, US Secret Service, Value Options, VSTRUCTURAL, W.B. Olson, W.F.C. Constructors, Inc., WE O'Neil Construction Company, Weatherford Completion Systems, Westland Construction, Winco Construction Company, Inc., Wrangler Concrete Construction, Wrigleys, Wurster Construction Co., Inc., Zeig Electric, ZENITH CONSTRUCTION
Expert: Doug Staneart Date: 2/25/2008 Subject: Problems with team members
Question Hello,
I am currently working as an Accountant. We are a team of 4 members one is a supervisor. I just started to work like 2 weeks back for this company. When i joined this company, I learned that nothing was organized for e.g. there was no filing system. Everything was kept at wrong place. When i joined this company i made some changes like kept things organized. I created files for each vendor and filed away all unpaid and paid bills. All the old paid and unpaid invoices were filed away. All my group members liked the idea. Now since then all the members of my group give me everything for filing, (even newer invoices that are paid). Since all are working in Accounting, don’t you think that it is everybody’s duty to keep things in a proper place? They come and tell me “here this is for filing”, “here keep this away.
It is not that I have a problem in filing; since I have already filled away things it will not hurt me to file another single paper. Again, I have no problems doing the work. For me work is work. But I do not want them to step over me, or in other words I don’t want to be a door mat. How do I deal with this situation? It happening because I am new? It becomes very frustrating at times. I don’t know how to tell them “that the filing cabinet is right behinds us, get up and go file it for yourself.
My supervisor tells me we have to work as a team. I don’t know how should I tell him, I mean how should I put in proper profession way. Please help
Answer Puja,
It is obvious that you are the only one there who wants to be organized. They have years of habits to overcome. You basically have a few choices. One would be to set the example and wait for others to follow. If a couple of people cross over and help out, you'll have a much better environment there.
Another option is to just stop filing and let them pile up again and see if anyone else picks up the ball. I suspect that this will not happen, though.
One option is to take some time to train everyone on what you are doing. It might be that no one wants to mess your system up, so they just wait for you to do it. I suspect that they are just lazy and have bad habits, though.
One final thing that you can do is to take a slight stand and just let everyone know that you spent a lot of time setting the system up. All they have to do is use it, but you can't keep stopping doing your job to help everyone. When they hand it to you, don't take it. Instead, just ask them to go ahead and file it since they are already near the cabinet. Then, when they do, thank them. Show gratitude. They are changing a long standing habit.
Or, you can just keep filing the stuff yourself. You might actually be happier with this solution since you know it will be done properly.
