Blog Articles And Comments

It’s a cliché story... one of the most common mistakes... battling for just the right amount of career confidence and self worth.  Being part of a successful team or system creates a restless feeling and a need to do “bigger, better things.”  The restless overconfident person leaves the successful environment and finds a path of greater resistance.   Of course highly visible in the entertainment industry, the inflated “ego” can break up our favorite television series, sports team, band and far too frequently occurs (although with less celebrity status) in the workplace. 

We know you can’t really succeed until you’re willing to fail, and the path of greater resistance isn’t necessarily a bad choice.  Overconfidence, however, is rarely a good choice.  When good things happen to those who feel “entitled,” those good things are often taken for granted and opportunities are missed.   It’s really not surprising how many times overconfidence takes one down a lesser path or a path of greater resistance. 

Career overconfidence takes many forms.  Sometimes it bears a very unconventional appearance.  Sometimes individuals have an inflated sense of entitlement or expectations, and accordingly, they inappropriately benchmark their success.  Sometimes individuals underestimate the effort, work or risk tolerance required to attain success.  This form of overconfidence is attached to work outcomes as opposed to talents or skills, yet it can lead to the same pitfalls.

The desire for advancement is consistently a survey leader among career magnets and motivators, yet employees too often fail to recognize opportunity or fail to invest the appropriate effort.  When advancement does occur, employees often take too much credit and become overconfident with a heightened sense of workplace demand.  Where employees don’t advance, they often shift blame rather than finding their own sense of accountability.  After failing in one workplace, the blame-shifter often temporarily succeeds in the next.  If this is due to learning, success becomes more sustainable.  If this is due to scorn and determination to prove oneself right while still blame-shifting, after a brief “honeymoon period” the same barriers and original problems may re-emerge.  When team members do advance, they may fail to recognize the support they’ve received, and the self-destructive cycle continues. 

On the flip side, employers allow these disconnects by failing to properly distribute education on both success and failure.  Inappropriate distribution of rewards, consequences and information around work outcomes is at the heart of the problem.  The answer is not simple.  It’s a lifelong commitment to learning and refreshing learning, supporting why the leadership assessment and learning programs are among the most popular at HRS. Even once learned, these principles are easy to overlook… and even forget.

As an individual, if you think you might be too good for your job, we recommend awareness of the “overconfident” syndrome in hope you may avoid its pitfalls.  If you make a bad choice, don’t dwell on it, but please look back at it for the learning.  Without learning we are destined to repeat our mistakes.  Advancement is above all a product of your choices... and not necessarily which job you have but rather how you approach it.  
 

In coaching others and continually striving for lifelong learning & self-improvement, I’ve been in search of new ideas regarding business etiquette.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to know when to place your napkin on your lap at a business luncheon, but I’m seeking something deeper, more meaningful and directly applicable to our everyday work lives. 

As a starting point, I think a few of the biggest things that aren’t published frequently enough are getting back to the basics of 1) Respect other’s time, 2) “Do your homework” and 3) Listen & Retain.  While these seem to be such “common sense” and simplistic topics, they can be easy to quickly stray from.  With that, these are each things that most certainly point to etiquette in the workplace as without them, you will quickly set yourself up to be an extremely unprofessional professional.

Communication methods are very literally at our fingertips in various forms including e-mail and instant messaging.  Accordingly, it’s become incredibly easy to access your co-workers & clients.  While these forms are also a benefit in not needing to physically interrupt someone or cause their phone to ring – they are also easy to abuse.  Most especially taking note that Generation Y has grown up with these tools, we need to train ourselves and our teams to stop, search and review before we execute.

Though I sometimes wonder if I was born in the right generation, being a Gen Y’er myself, I’ve found I do crave knowledge and, stereotypically, like instant feedback.  Therefore, I recognize the importance first hand of maintaining patience and having the wisdom to see when there’s time for me to gain more of it.  Requesting meetings and feedback sessions with your superiors not only shows respect for their and the company’s time – but also shows polite respect for their knowledge and experience.  If you’re entitled to the information, management will be more willing to help you grow when you go about it in this regard. 

Of equal importance, it’s critical to always be proactive and productive on your own.  After all, isn’t that why you’re paid to be around?  To relentlessly be focusing on the bottom line and your positive impact to it should be a constant driver.  Especially during times of training, have you exhausted your available resources before interrupting a co-worker or superior? 

If you’re going to ask a question, it’s imperative to have the courtesy of having done your homework beforehand.  To be able to go to someone informing them of the resources you’ve tapped and information you’ve found shows your determination while letting them get straight to the point knowing those actions have been taken. 

Furthermore, it’s vital to then listen to and retain the information you’re given.  As employers constantly strive to attract, listen to, and retain their employees – so should we listen to and retain the assistance provided us to maximize the company’s investment and continue to be an asset to it.   

In the long run, needing to know which fork to use becomes irrelevant when you’re not even invited to the lunch with a client - because you can’t wow ‘em in the office.  Your internal team should be your #1 clients!  Get their positive attention, look out for the company’s bottom line, and watch your own grow along with your new opportunities!


Blog Article by Jodi Rasmussen, HRS Assistant Director of Professional Service Operations!

"Friendship" is risky in the work environment. Several years back I worked with our local Fox affiliate to create a television news piece "Dating in the Workplace," and many of the same rules apply. Bias, competition and goal conflicts enter the relationship. Friendship may be an illusion from the start, a "power play" or public relations initiative. The healthiest "social" friendships seem to emerge between employees who lack career hope and ambition, bonded in their contentment with the status quo, probably snickering at those "playing the game" to climb the corporate ladder. Such predictable alliances are noticeable by management, branding all participants as guilty by association, injured in upward mobility simply because of their chosen "friendships."

During 30 years of study, I’ve watched people accept employment with large companies to "make friends." Similarly, I’ve watched people strictly avoid friendships at work. As the rules for friendship and teamwork can differ dramatically, they may present conflict. With multiple definitions and interpretations of "friendship," complexity abounds. Typically, this arrangement of personal camaraderie, without boundaries or specific goals, hinders upward mobility in the organization if not funneled properly into teamwork and alignment with corporate goals. Too often friends lateral in the organization can betray one another, selling out for upward mobility. Both vertical and lateral friendships are risky.  Healthy employment choices are those made for the right reasons, bringing appropriate expectations. 

Tear down the thought of a management "ivory tower."   Workplace power is available to all!

Whenever I hear employees actually criticizing a co-worker for "kissing up" to a supervisor, I either scratch my head or roll my eyes.   The ambiguity of this phrase leads to derogatory interpretation of sometimes highly successful workplace practices.

If this term refers to recognizing and playing to workplace power in an effort to augment one's own career power, then every responsibile individual with a hint of motivation toward self-interest should "suck up."   However, it is certainly controversial to sacrifice one's integrity and core values long term for workplace advancement.  That situation would be a great topic for a new blog entry and needs to be excluded from this argument.
 
While it's clear that "employers of choice" create teams where employees and employers work together willingly toward clear and collaborative goals, I certainly agree many employers -- and employees -- "miss the boat" here.   Where an employer hears employees derogatorily tossing this term around to incumbent coworkers, an employer must ask "am I doing something wrong?"  The answer could lie in failing to communicate and create an appropriate system of performance outcomes.  The answer could also lie in hiring the wrong people.

Where an employee finds his/herself actually thinking that playing to and respecting power is not beneficial, the employee should re-evaluate his/her own career advancement methodology, goals or work ethic.  That employee might also wish to question if s/he is working for the right employer.

More info at AskHRS.com.

Some find it endearing, while many find it insulting.

The terms "kiddo," "dear" and "hun" are controversial, incurring a wide range of audience reactions.  Know your audience. 

Inherent in our culture and language is the bad habit of hearing some "cute" catch phrase, adopting it and then repeating it without ever really thinking about it.  Business relationship building clearly suffers from this damaging practice.

Calling someone "kiddo" is often interpreted as disrespecting and demeaning, a borderline attack on anyone over the age of 5.  The target of this term often feels defensive, conjuring such objections as -- "If you’re going to choose to disrespect the number of years I’ve endured, please don’t disrespect the challenges I’ve overcome, the good deeds I’ve contributed, the studies, accomplishments, dedicated parenting, charitable efforts,"... yadda…yadda... I rant to prove the point.

The point is... language sets the tone for workplace, customer service, negotiation, leadership and all business relationship building, so as always, choose your words and your tone carefully.  Condescending words such as "kiddo" and "hun" have no respectable and respectful place in business relationships.  Even children aspiring to maturity don’t like this label, so why would we assume a positive response from any adult?

With 25 years of validity and correlation studies including regression analysis and t-testing, the HRS Assessment Center (HRSAC) has established norms and preferred indicators for relationship building behaviors. I can assert with complete certainty that behaviors pointing to demonstrated respect are overwhelmingly the most underused toolset in our culture – and yet the most important to relationship building on the whole. 

More info at AskHRS.com.