Deja Vu

I stop by my supervisor's office to advocate refresher training for all the contract administrators on submitting a file to Closeout. I've been logging incoming files and it seems almost every one has an issue--something not done or not done right/completely.

Since I run into snags every time, I suspect the larger problem is that the administrators either don't know what to do or do this task so infrequently that they forget how in between. (Still others hoard their files, but that's another story).

I bring this up with my supervisor--problem A keeps happening. Refresher training would help alleviate problem A--or at least make our expectations clear. This problem creates inefficiencies--it's a waste of time to deal with these issues and oversights on a case-by-case basis.

Supervisor says additional training IS coming, but we don't know when; we have people out on leave and can't schedule it, everyone's strapped for time, etc.

(Wouldn't it make sense to deal with problem A in the meantime? Or do we just forgive everyone for not doing their work correctly?)

Then she says "I need examples of problem A." I already gave her 2 examples in my opening pitch. So I remind her and give her a couple more. This apparently is insufficient, so I remind her of a big hairy problem we had with a file because a series of administrators didn't transfer the property correctly.

Supervisors says "Oh, well, that was just the ONE time."

(Why do I feel like I'm fighting with my mother? You do X. Give me an example of me doing X. You did X [cite last 3 instances.] Are you dragging that up again?)

I said I don't have a list of ALL the problems from the past year, but I HAVE encountered problems of A's type EVERY TIME I log incoming files. Each "one time" adds up over time.

I made a good case and I'm willing to pony up a solution by writing a procedure guide. Supervisor said she'd be willing to review it and discuss the matter with the other supervisors. In other words, I can do the extra work, but no promises that anyone else is interested in SOLVING the problem.