Conflict with Mentor

[EricH]

Ah, the old lack of communication...

I think that if you talk to the other mentors and explain that 1) the student replacing you was not part of the team until the meeting where the presentation was worked on and 2) there was a severe communication breakdown where you weren't told that you weren't presenting, until someone said that they were presenting, you might get one or two that are willing to go in and have a sit-down meeting with the mentor in question.

What you want to know is: 1) Why were you not informed? 2) Why was the change made? In that order, might I add. Also use that meeting to get mentors to support the adoption of a team handbook, written by the team in the time left this year.

The lack of communication is the #1 worst problem a team can have. (Trust me, I've been on a team that had a major communications breakdown. It wasn't pretty.) When you do a handbook (and I'd recommend using your senior status to your advantage here, to get one done), you'll want to address communication guidelines--official channels, timeliness, emergency, etc.--as well as general team rules on meetings, participation, and all the other stuff that you'll find in the various handbooks posted on CD or on the FIRST site.