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The Toxic Team: Ignorant by choice

They never know how to do the same thing, over and over. They don't know how to use basic tools, even though they hold the position for years already. They are asked numerous times to follow guidelines, yet they never do it.

Congratulations, your teammate is ignorant by choice. They won't learn new things because it's easier to have somebody else help or handle it for them. They won't make the effort just because they are lazy. They make it your problem, they did their job. They aren't incompetent, they are just lazy.

There's a difference between not knowing how to do something (incompetence) and doing a mediocre effort (if any) and call it a day (ignorance by choice), and that's how you can figure the ignorant by choice out. They will just not make the effort, even though it's explained and expected of them.

The best course of action with such teammate is providing them with written down guidelines and expectations and then pointing out the differences: this document doesn't adhere to our (linked) brand guidelines, please fix it, this solution cannot be done because of already known technical limitations listed in this (linked) document.

Teamwork requires effort from all members. When one part of the team is not pulling their weight it's okay to call it out. Otherwise the competent people will be abused and overworked, frantically trying to put down fires caused by everybody else. The best way to handle fire is to avoid it entirely!

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