The disagreement centered on a video: I'm the major creative force, with this particular coworker acting as the subject matter expert (SME). I'm not trying to boast about my involvement, it's just that if a shot is needed, I run the camera; if we want to use a drawing, I have to find it and edit it; plus, I'm the main person to communicate with our editor, Ian, so I also have write detailed instructions. The project manager and I were content with the video by the fourth edit, so we kicked it up the chain for approval. The particular middle manager who needed to sign off on it was happy with our results, but he asked that we get the SME's approval. The SME had pages of notes for us. We agreed to make some changes, but explained other changes wouldn't be possible. The fifth edit came in and the SME gave us even more notes than before and a lot of it was asking us to change stuff that he asked for during the last round of edits. With the sixth version finished, we submitted it for approval, though only to the middle manager. He approved it and told us to post it to YouTube, which we did this past Friday.
On Monday, I sent an email with a link to the video to congratulate the team for finally finishing the video. The SME wrote back an angry email stating that he never got a chance to chime in on this video and how that was a slap in the face to him. He also said that the video included some wrong information, so it needed to be pulled, though he left out what exactly was wrong. The SME's boss wrote back and confirmed that there was incorrect information, but he was also nice enough to tell us were the error occurred. I went back through my notes and discovered that the wrong info had been provided by the SME. I replied to everyone and explained where the error had originated -- and even offered a bit of an explanation for how the error may have been missed by the SME -- and said that it would be fixed as soon as possible. However, the middle manager who had given us approval, told us to keep the video pulled for the time being and he scheduled a meeting for him to meet with the rest of us (the project manager, the SME, and me).
This whole back-and-forth took up most of my morning and it really made me mad -- plus, not only was I right, I had the documents to prove it. I had cooled off a bit by the time I took my lunch break, but I was still pretty upset. I went to the post office to mail a bill and by the time I came back, I had about twenty-five minutes left. I usually read my scriptures on my break, but I decided to prepare for my first Priesthood lesson in a couple of weeks by reading the Teachings for Our Time talk I was assigned, "The Gift of Grace," by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Reading this talk was exactly what I needed. I had been dealing with a petty squabble, but none of that seemed to matter when I was reminded of the great love that our Father in Heaven and our Savior showed us by designing and executing the Plan of Salvation. When I returned to my desk, I was much more focused and productive than before.
While dealing with uncooperative coworkers is frustrating, I'm very grateful that I was able to read about what really matters when I needed to be reminded of it.
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