10 EASY STEPS TO AVOID WORKPLACE BEHAVIORAL PITFALLS

How a little bit of focus and self-awareness (on a daily basis) can help prevent some vital workplace behavioral pitfalls and help build careers!.

I would like to believe that we all know how crucial it is to be on the guard and have an impeccable professional reputation in the workplace. Also, it is a very significant aspect of personal branding, in building professional networks and all of which contributes to our overall career progress.

More so in this era of such a well-connected world; with so much of social media all over the place taking every bit of information’s, far and wide and almost instantaneously - one just cannot help but be extremely cautious. Avoiding and also being aware of the following 10 simple behavioral pitfalls at the workplace and taking necessary precautions can go a long way in our career development.

1. Loose Talk – passing personal & casual remarks, loose comments - about seniors, colleagues, clients, vendors, some meetings or events etc in the workplace can create major professional issues and distress. Please do not misunderstand me - it’s not just about 'Trust' or being 'Friendly' with people and having casual conversations but to be self-vigilant to avoid inappropriate situations, it is to be free of any guilty consciousness later. Also, it’s always advisable to be extremely careful about political and religion based remarks/comments and discussions as everyone and I mean every one of us sees the world through our own 'mental models'!

“Loose lips might sink Ships” – had been a US war slogan from World War II. Therefore, it's true that the mindless gossips are better avoided in the workplace.

2. Looking visibly irritable and dis-engaged – this a big one, people build their perceptions very quickly and soon the ‘Perception becomes reality’ – as we are always ‘On Stage’ once we step out of our home. Chances are that you can get labelled as a dis-engaged worker, or someone about to put down his/her papers, or not interested in the work/career at all. Can very soon, snowball into one's bad reputation in the organization and what that means to one’s career is quite understandable.

3. Unable to manage the work-pressure and passing it down the line – No matter what level of hierarchy one is in - needless to say that being resilient is of huge importance. Given the kind of time we live in, the external and internal stressors, the pressure of meeting deadlines, meeting KRA’s, targets, senior leader’s expectations and many such things will create fear, anxiety, frustration and a certain level of irritation at times.

That’s when one needs to be extra careful and not lose temper, not to get agitated and say/do things which has damaging consequences for self and the organization. Being compassionate is of utmost importance in our place of work to keep us grounded and engaged to people around us, especially as many of us spend quite a major part of the weekdays and sometimes even weekends, in our workplace.

4. Daily News on the Media creating spirals of negative thinking, apprehensions and prejudices– As we see the multitude of events unfolding every day and many of them being visibly or cognitively very disturbing. However, most of the events would be beyond the span of our control or even influence. However, I have seen people spending so much of energy and valuable time - in discussions, and venting in the social media, showering criticism and so on.

Mostly at the end of the day – nothing changes much because of these self-fulfilling behaviours of our's and in all probability just increase one’s physical and mental fatigue – which can have long-term adverse physiological consequences.

5. Taking the number of service years in the organization, as the only and most important measure to be considered for career growth – Yes loyalty is very important for organizations and loyal employees are vital for organization’s success and often rewarded for their number of years of service in many organizations now. Long-Service Awards etc is the norm of the day, however, career growth depends on many other factors as well, cannot be left to chance anyway. Have seen so many good employees getting professionally derailed with a mindset that says just because I am working here for so many years I deserve a raise or promotion in the given interval and without much ado. Can we still live with such thoughts today….needless to say have seen such people around…have you?

6. Voicing displeasure on others promotions and career movements – Why did he/she get the promotion and not me. Why is that person’s salary higher than mine – what great job is he/she doing, why can't management see the great work I have been doing all these years here, etc? Why is it been always unfair to me? Playing the victim card, when someone else in the department gets promoted and making it very obvious to others, sure shot way of getting into the bad books of seniors and can turn out to be a career-ending proposition in the organization.

There are definite ways and means of dealing with such job place realities, also in case one is overlooked for promotion or increment, not having a clear career path can be frustrating for sure however bad-mouthing cannot be a strategy to deal or get out of this at all. What say?

7. Social Media usage for washing your dirty linen – one of the most useful as well as quite difficult places to negotiate is the Social Media today. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Snapchat and so on can be carefully and intelligently used for building relations, exchanging ideas, showcasing accomplishments, career enhancements and much more. However, if used for expressing once angst and irritability of the workplace events and issues and dislike of people, can cause irreparable damage to one’s career and individual reputation.

8. NMJ syndrome – Not My Job, it’s not mentioned in my KRA or I am not here for this kind of transactional work etc. These statements can be very career limiting ones as they show a person’s very low discretionary work efforts.

Yes, it’s important to say NO when required, when things are not in the right context and also that one cannot say YES to everything asked for but we must know, that there is a right way of doing it. Just to be cautious that perceptions or opinions are not developed about you of as a person who always says no for even simple help items or is uncooperative or doesn’t share information/knowledge at all, with supervisors/colleagues. Which organization will like to have such people around…would they?

9. Don’t shy away at work, personal visibility is very important – No matter what one’s daily work routine looks like there will always be ways and means to find out how to make a positive visible statement about one’s accomplishments & achievements, in a cordial & constructive way – without looking like beating one’s own trumpet.

You can bring yourself to notice of others, by myriad ways and means. May be by formally written announcements of important milestones - through the means of some corporate communications, mailers etc, have your own blog articles or write-ups in your organizations Newsletter, join corporate community programs, associate yourself in your company’s social networking site or build informal networks within an organization – like photographers club, painters club, etc, conceptualize and manage events, help train people (teach back sessions) after you attend some high-level training programs (which many may not have an opportunity to attend) or otherwise, there are many more ways and surely you can find one that suits you, to really create your individual visibility and brand value in the workplace.

My take is always 'create value for others selflessly' and it will come back to you as well in due course.

10. Blame Games – As things go wrong sometimes in the workplace and at times it can also happen without the knowledge and intent of the individual, it can be a fault of others or just bad luck. Chances are that one’s ‘vulnerability avoidance’ (trying to keep our mistakes, weakness tucked away from everyone at all costs) can prompt the onset of ‘Blame Game’ and fingers start pointing out at different directions. At time certain things are taken just on the face value without any verification of facts and the personal disputes start building up. In my experience, this is one major workplace behavioral pitfall and career limiting proposition that I have been a witness to many a time.

I am sure you too would have seen or faced such or other similar daily workplace behavioral hijacks which are sure to derail careers, please share your thoughts, would be really interesting to know!