| Wednesday, 22 September 2010 |
| How we behave at the workplace |
Corporate life is all about behaviors, attitudes and perceptions, a large part
of it anyways. We are what people see of us. After all, few have hypnotherapic
eyes like Mandrake the magician to project our inner thoughts onto a white
screen; putting it bluntly, if someone comes drunk to work, people see him as
exactly that: a drunkard. And yet, its important to be onself, thusleading to an
interesting conundrum: if we dont make any effort to put up a perception and are
exactly ourselves, then wont people see us for what we are and not what we want
them to see us.
The solution partly lies in two things atleast as I see it: firstly: instill
good values in yourself not just for the sake of the outside world, but because
you want to be a better civilized and rational human being, and secondly: stop
finding out what impression you are having on others, if you are true to
yourself, then people will automatically see the goodness in you. Its a bit
perplexing, but certain aspects of corporate life are often like swimming: if
you try too hard, you will get tired simply by the efforts, and you will be out
of the pool faster than you want to be, but if you chill out and enjoy the look,
feel, warmth and effort of swimming in the pool, you will start enjoying it, and
an outsider sitting at the edge of the pool will see that you are enjoying it,
and thus will conclude that you have good swimming skills.
So you see the difference: he didnt get an impression of your swimming because
you wanted him to get it, you didnt try hard for it, and yet, all you were doing
was impressing yourself and having a good time. No aluminium manufacturer
manufcatures aluminium because he wants deozonized water as a by-product but he
is happy to get the by-product nevertheless. People at a workplace may at times
be rude, manipulative, conniving and selfish and may even cause you hurt, but
should you reciprocate, would you feel good about paying them back in their own
coin? More importantly, is it more cost-effective for you to take revenge on
them, or to forgive them for their sins and get on with your life? Your kindness
will at times be mistaken for selfishness, and you will be accused of things
that you never intended to in the first place, and again, you are at a decision
tree: do you stop doing these acts of kindness just because someone thinks you
are a shitty person?
For me its a short term versus long term point of view. Again, success brings
with it strange bedfellows: people who form a coterie around you for false
flattery simply because they have some axe to grind with you, and some true
friends. You will have to factor in these possibilities when you are on the path
of success. As the cliche goes, homes, reputations and careers takes years to
build, and five minutes to destroy, but does that stop you from building things?
Years ago, I had planted several seedlings/saplings outside my home, and several
of these were destroyed by my wicked neighbour. That didn't deter me, I simply
planted more saplings and today, several years later, these have grown into
handsome young trees that give us precious oxygen, and when they move, they
create a breeze that flows quality air into my house. Think of how much I would
have lost had I not continued 'building'. Personal attributes of frankness and
honesty are mostly trampled upon these days, and people take you often for a
ride, and its at this point that you must ponder over the question: Just because
I was cheated for being honest and frank, does that give me the moral licence to
forsake my family, my background, my culture and to take up a gun, and become a
dreaded gangster?
Though you will realize the answer to be a resounding no, you will be surprised
at how many misguided people have used this analogy to become bad people in
life. Goodness is never talked about, TRP ratings of serials, media, newspapers
do not increase when they report the 'goodness' of people, and yet, for a
moment, you must not think that you should cease being good, because being good
is all there is to a huge part of life. Your stated goal in the corporate world
is to give it your best shot, regardless of whether people understand it or are
able to appreciate it, because much as you are doing it for the world, you are
also doing your best for your professional advancement.
Another bad vibe in the corporate world is jealousy, you will always find people
unable to stomach your success, and of course, by now its amply clear that since
you were never out to please them, why bother about them? In many presentations,
the primary source will be some religious grouip who talks about 'God', but as
corporate personnel, we do have the maturity and adaptibility to replace 'God'
with 'profession' or 'career', because in any case in many sects of religion,
God can be found even in a stone, and corporate presentations liek this help to
elucidate basic home truths.
Have fun and enjoy reading this article.........Labels: Behaviors |
posted by Unknown @ 23:33  |
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