> **The question:** There is someone at my level who keeps missing their part of our shared projects, and I end up quietly finishing it so we do not miss the launch. Our director knows something is off, I can tell, but she never says anything and never steps in. I am not this person's manager and I do not want to be the one who complains. I am tired, though, and I am starting to resent both of them. How do I deal with this without making it worse for myself?
>
> *(a Senior Marketing Manager at a consumer goods company)*


The real question is not how to fix your peer. You cannot fix someone you do not manage, and trying usually makes you look like the problem. The question is how to stop quietly absorbing the gap, so the cost shows up where someone with authority can see it. Treat that as a [Visibility](index.html?pillar=Visibility) problem first. Right now the only record of the extra work is your late evenings.

You can check three things before you say anything.

- **Work out why the work is missing.** Some people cannot do it because they lack the skill or the time. Some will not do it because they do not see it as their job. Some are blocked by something you cannot see, like a second boss or a problem at home. Some are just drifting because nobody checks. Each reason needs a different response, so ask before you assume.
- **Talk about where your work meets theirs.** You do not have the standing to review their performance. You do have the standing to talk about the handoffs that touch your own work. Say something like "When the copy lands on launch day, I end up rewriting it the night before. Can we agree on a date two days earlier?" That is a request about a shared deadline, not a judgment of the person.
- **Stop finishing their part in silence.** Propose a simple plan with names and dates for the next shared project, and send it to both of them. When a piece is late, say so plainly in the status update instead of covering it. That is not complaining about anyone. It is showing the real state of the work.

Have one direct conversation with your peer first, and keep it about the work you share. If nothing changes, raise it once with the director as a delivery risk with dates, not as a complaint about a person. Then agree with the director on what you will and will not cover, so any slip is a known choice rather than your failure. If the director still does nothing once the risk is clearly on the table, that tells you how this team is run. Treat it as information about whether you want to stay, not as a reason to keep working nights.