[seesaw]

So as background, I am doing some freelance work as a consultant for this small nonprofit, and they have another consultant who is doing administrative work for them.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take their many spreadsheets they are using to track client information, clean the data, and upload them into a relational database so that pulling reports would be easier and that lifetime tracking of client activity would be more consistent. Anyways, it wasn't my highest priority, and it wasn't like an urgent project for the organization. Additionally, my contract specifies that I am devoting 5 hours per week to them, so I have to prioritize projects.

Anyhow, the admin consultant contacts me because they are setting up a Dropbox so they can share files and she wants the database Access files. I responded to her that it wasn't ready yet and I'm not going to share it until it's at a point where there is actually something to share and see. There were a lot of problems with the data in the spreadsheets not being consistent and having to separate out information on the spreadsheets as well as taking a long Word document that needed to be converted into a spreadsheet. The data validation and correction took a long time. Anyways, she refused to accept my boundary when I told her that the database wasn't ready yet, and that I would send it to her when it was in a place where it could be used. Not necessarily finished, because we could always add more tables, but at least having the initial client data imported, which I didn't have yet because I was spending hours cleaning the data for import.

She refused to listen to me and told me, in fact ordered me, to send it anyways. Well, I don't report to her. So I ignored her. I felt like my first answer was self-explanatory and I don't respond well to being ordered around. The other thing is that I'm a consultant, which means I dictate my work flow and hours, etc., the second they start dictating what/when I do things, I become an employee and the pay structure needs to change dramatically.

Then, a few days later, the consultant contacts me again telling me that she has to meet with the Artistic Director of the company the next afternoon and they are setting up the Dropbox and need the file. I explain to her again that I'm still in the process of data cleaning and that there is nothing to share yet. And when I have something to share, I will share it. We go back and forth a bit, and I'm getting really irritated because when I took this job I submitted a work plan proposal for the job and I have other priorities that are much higher up than this database, which we don't need immediately. It's okay if this takes a couple of weeks to finish up. Plus I was working on deadlines for other clients as well.

Anyways, the very next day, while she is meeting with the Artistic Director, she emails me bugging me for the file again, to which I respond again that there is nothing to share yet. I repeat to her that the data is requiring a lot of validation and clean up and I have to do that before importing otherwise the data will be a useless mess as a database. She then sends me a paragraph of all her experience with databases, and how she has all this experience, to which I'm thinking, internally, then why the hell aren't you doing this?

Anyways, at no point did she offer to help. She just kept demanding the file. I ended up getting really upset because as a consultant I have a certain standard of work that I hold myself to, and I'm not sharing a project when it's in its infancy and not worth sharing yet. I talked to the Artistic Director to assure her that everything was fine, and she said that the consultant was telling her that she was just offering to help. In NONE of our communications did she actually offer to help, which I would have gladly accepted.

Then, on this recent mailing project that I'm working on, as I was getting quotes for the mailing, and the printer was giving me insufficient data, this consultant butted in and started talking to the printer and giving them directions on my project without discussing with me first.

In meetings, she brings up projects that are under my purview that I already have on the calendar to be executed when its time, and it's really annoying because that project is like months away and we don't need to be discussing it right now.

She's just seriously infuriating me right now, stepping on my toes and really just annoying me. I'm also not super impressed with the work she's doing right now. She's told me about her plans for marketing and other things and I'm just like, wow, that is so insufficient.

I also feel like with this client that I'm getting pulled into more than my contract entails, so I'm going to pull back and only address the projects that are within my original work proposal. It's hard because I care and I have a lot of skills and expertise that can help them in other areas, but they honestly seem happy proceeding in doing a lot of things the hard way (or wasting time talking about things without doing the proper strategic planning).

I'm struggling between my ambition and leadership qualities, which are telling me to step up, and the fact that I am a consultant that was contracted for specific purposes and trying to contribute in other ways is somewhat pointless. It will only bring me frustration.

I think my life will be a lot less stressful if I just stick to the very letter of my work proposal and let them flounder around with the other stuff.

Seesaw

[hvert]

Absolutely stick to the letter of your proposal! It's fine to do the specific job you were hired to do and not get involved in the rest of their dysfunction. I get the feeling this other consultant feels like she may lose work to you.

[seesaw]

Originally Posted by hvert

Absolutely stick to the letter of your proposal! It's fine to do the specific job you were hired to do and not get involved in the rest of their dysfunction. I get the feeling this other consultant feels like she may lose work to you.

Thaks, I don't know what her issue is. Or why she can't respect my boundaries. I'm not available to them 24/7. They get 5 hours a week. And lately it's been a lot more than that. And I get paid on a contigency schedule, unlike her who gets paid monthly regardless, so I really don't like being ordered around by someone who isn't paying me. I've gone way above and beyond already and I'm just like you need to back the hell off. (Not out loud, just internally.)

You're right, hvert, I need to save myself the stress and just do what I need (at the high standard I keep, of course) and not commit myself to more than I can handle.

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