If you’ve been active in the workplace for any length of time, there is a good chance that you’ve experienced working with someone who didn’t seem to understand appropriate workplace behavior. It can be painfully awkward and frustrating to deal with those individuals on a daily basis. Unfortunately, even the best of us have lapses in judgment at times and engage in inappropriate workplace behavior if we’re not careful. So, let’s put some intention behind our actions at work. Here are 4 things you should strive to avoid at all costs. Though there are more than 4, these are the workplace no-no’s that can seriously reek havoc.
1) Never Let Your Emotions Dictate Your Actions – It’s perfectly fine and even healthy to be authentically you on the job. There is nothing more refreshing than working with an authentic and honest person. However, when you’re “real-ness” hinders you from being able to reign in your emotional outbursts, then you have a big problem on your hands. Everyone understands that life is full of emotions but that isn’t an excuse to let them dictate your actions. Being emotionally unstable will give you a bad reputation in a hurry.
2) Never Let Everyone in on Your Workplace Misery – While I was engaged to my wife years ago, I did a little research to learn more about what it meant to have and sustain a healthy marriage. During that time I realized that regardless of how you feel, there is a good way and a bad way to address an issue. One of the major points was to avoid using “attacking phrases”. Likewise, if you’re unhappy at work, the worst thing you can do is storm into your bosses office and start rattling off everything that you’re unhappy about. Instead, the more appropriate thing to do is to think critically about what the solution would be and begin sharing your ideas on how to positively improve things. If this isn’t an option in your circumstance, then simply work to improve yourself and move on peaceably when the opportunity presents itself.
3) Never Gossip or Backstab – To the majority, a little gossip doesn’t seem like much of a big deal. The truth is, it’s actually quite tragic and it’s harmful for several reasons. 1) It damages the potential of having a healthy relationship with the person you’re gossiping about. 2) It damages your relationship with the people you gossip to, teaching them not to trust or confide in you. 3) It creates disunity. Gossip is infections, and when allowed, it will spread its way throughout the culture of the entire organization. A house divided against itself cannot stand. If you want to have a healthy business that is flourishing, you can’t allow gossip, disunity or disloyalty to have a place.
4) Never Burn Bridges – Relationships are the foundation of the human existence. Even if you had a terrible experience with your employer or colleagues, you should still avoid transitioning out in a negative way in order to keep good standing in all work relationships. You never know how a previous employer, colleague or co-worker could become an ally in the future. It’s certainly ok to remove yourself from circumstances that require you to deal with people you don’t like or trust, but in doing so, don’t allow your dislike for someone to ruin your good name and a potentially beneficial connection.