The director of the company I have worked for the past 12 years, was such a jerk to me today. I've worked on a project the past 6 weeks, plus weekends. Because other people have not turned in their data on time, the project is now behind sked. But instead of holding them responsible, he railed on me for "letting" it fall behind. I am not in management. I can irritate and remind people, but I have no authority to force anyone to do anything. I set up the sked way in advance, held meetings, sent out emails, etc. I did everything except do their work for them, and in a couple cases I helped people put their charts together, so I did do their work for them. I'm ready to say what's on my mind next time we're in a meeting. But I'll just get scorned as being a whiner instead of someone who "sees a challenge in everything and seeks resolution". After awhile, that's BS. I'm sick of other people failing to manage their own workload and trying to shift blame. That's all there is to it...just wish they would do their work.

Thanks for the vent, I feel better already!

I include in the schedule some dates to submit progress reports from co committee members. Check the progress frequently from everyone involved if you know it could reflect on your performance.

If someone is falling behind I let the managers in charge know pronto so they know the project schedule might be in jeopardy. They don't like surprises.

I don't whine or complain to management about someone not carrying their weight. Instead I might cheerfully ask management if they could send out a reminder about priorities to the appropriate people. That's my polite way of letting management know the score ahead of time. I usually praise the slacker to the boss by saying something like, "Bob seems to have a lot of projects right now. I'm wondering if it would be OK if we reassign part of his work to Jill so our project doesn't fall behind."

I get peeved at the less motivated coworkers too. I cringe when I have to work on a project with a lazy coworker or one who procrastinates. I will not let it fall behind - I'll be in the boss's office before that happens. She has the authority to press them. I don't. Usually my "resolution" to the "challenge" of a slacker is to keep the boss informed and offer to carry more of the responsibility. It sucks but when my raises and promotions depend on it, I don't mess around.

Venting is good. Vent here, not at work. :-)