By Enigheni Iwori
Beyond your job description and the company policy, there are rules for navigating the workplace you need to understand. Here are a few:
· Answer the question and nothing more. When you are being asked a question especially by your boss, please perish the thought of ‘oh this is my moment.’ You might think you are proving your loyalty and competence, but it is just your oversharing problem having a field day. Avoid rambling or telling stories and stick to direct responses.
· Not everything requires your urgent attention or immediate action, (even if it looks like it). In order to prevent your blood pressure from spiking up unnecessarily and protect your mental health, you should learn to categorize tasks accordingly. Try to delegate, defer or delay and you will discover that some situations eventually sort themselves out in the end.
· Be careful about who you complain to. What you thought was an honest conversation with a colleague might just turn out to be the reason you are laid off, reassigned or demoted. If a work process is faulty or a team member is giving you issues, telling everyone who cares to listen is not the solution. What you can do, however, is to compile your reservations or suggestions and ‘carefully’ relay them to the Human Resource Manager.
· Be friendly but not familiar. Do not force friendships but be approachable, cordial, and respectful. An inquiry into how your weekend went is not an opportunity to recap how many bottles you had or how you left the club at 6 am. It is also advisable to be friendly to the cleaners, security guards, drivers, and other support staff but of course with clear boundaries.
· Use your discretion. You should know when to speak, what to say, who to say it to and how to say it. There are moments that you will need to push vehemently for what you want and other times, a smile will do. Not every situation requires you to prove a point or act out of character. In other words, choose your battles wisely.
Happy Worker’s Day!
See you next week.
*Follow Enigheni on X @SaturdaywithEni
