What do you do when a team takes credit for something they didn’t do for the Chairman’s award?
Let say that a previous mentor started a FIRST community center and found a home for the team that he was on. The team decided that he was no longer welcome on that team anymore but now wants to take credit for establishing the community center for chairman’s even thought no one other than the mentor that was kicked off of the team was responsible for the start up of this center. The reasoning behind them wanting to take credit is that the mentor was part of the team when the season started.
Is this a legitimate reason to claim that they where part of it even though the person that did all of the work is gone?
I personally try to be very clear with my team about what they can and cannot take credit for.
For example, a couple of weeks ago I went up to another teams shop and worked with them and a few other teams on making sure they would be good for inspection. I did that in my role as an LRI, not as a mentor for my team, so my team can’t take credit for it. I help run some of the off season events around here - again, and an LRI, not a team mentor, so my team can’t take credit for helping to run it.
Other items, like helping with a team presentation, or getting them signed up for a demo at a sponsor the team can take credit for. It’s something I did in my role as a team mentor.
So, the question really is… What role was the mentor fulfilling when he started the community center? Was he working to further his team’s goals, or doing it as an act of volunteerism with the wider community, independent of his team?
To put another twist on it… Teams have students graduate every year, but they still take credit for what the graduates did while they were on the team. My team helped start a Lego league team a couple of years ago. None of the students involved are still on the team, but that doesn’t stop us from taking credit for it!
This mentor worked on this community center outside of his team. He spent over a year working to find a building and get sponsors to step up and buy a field and computer lab. He asked mentors on the team he was on for help and no one helped. Once the center was opened they were happy to move in. They did help with the rookie team that was there but not with the start up.
The mentor that started everything was in contact with FIRST the whole way. They are very aware of who did the work.
What is the recourse for calling a team out for claiming credit for something they clearly had nothing to do with just because this mentor was part of there team?
It has changed recently, but I believe that you can count anything your team has done over the past 5 years. This should answer the question about counting things that graduating student did. The simple answer is “yes.”
As to the OP question: If it were my team, the answer would be no. If it was an individual accomplishment and that individual requested that we not use something for Chairman’s, we would not use it. However, if if was a TEAM accomplishment and done in the name of the TEAM, then I think that’s were we enter a gray area.
We insist that we have documentation for everything that we put in our essay and presentation. This helps keep the gray areas to a minimum. It’s also inoculates the team from those who would say, “They really didn’t do that.”
As far as I know there isn’t any, but a public forum like this one. I’m not sure this had ever been an issue. I know it has been privately talked about, but nothing formal or public.
I would submit that “there is no I in team” applies here. If this person did something on behalf of the team, with the team in mind, while he was a member of the team, then it could be argued that “the team” did it. I, as a software developer, work for a particular company, and the products are sold and attributed to “the company”, even if I quit.
I don’t think this would be in question were it not for the unfortunate spin that the team and the individual appear to have parted ways on negative terms.
That being said, I have found that when only one person champions something, and that person leaves, one of two things will happen. The rest of the team will pick it up and keep going (making the claim legitimate), or, with nobody who knows how to keep it going, it will eventually disappear.
The original mentor that started the community center is still at the community center. He is still working to move this place ahead in spite of the “negative terms”.
Sounds a little like sour grapes, what is the point of this thread? I hope it is something other than trying to hurt the team “the mentor” was once part of.