Behaviors that will Further Your Career Development
When last did you review your behaviors in the Workplace and identify whether they are serving you well and moving you closer to achieving your career goals or contributing to your career stagnating, plateauing or even derailing from its career path?
Sometimes behaviors that were appropriate when we were growing up, often sabotage us as adults. One of the most insightful comments that I read on this subject recently was ” Success comes, not from acting more like a man, but by acting more like a woman, instead of a girl ” (Lois P.Frankel, Phd).
How you Act, Think, Sound, Look, Respond, Brand and Market Yourself, that is - How You Play The Game, will determine the level of professional success you will achieve.
Often smart, highly capable women unconsciously engage in self defeating ways detrimental to their career mobility.
Here are a few common behavioral mistakes real women, in business, engage in :
Avoiding office politicsF
Failing to define your Brand
Failing to capitalize on Relationships
Denying the importance of Money
Sharing too much Personal Information
Obediently following Instructions
Prematurely abandoning Career Goals
Staying in your Safety Zone
Asking Permission
Explaining
Taking up too little Space
Dressing Inappropriately
Taking Notes, making Coffee, making Photostats
Being too Patient
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Let’s discuss the first behavioral mistake, Avoiding Office Politics.
Politics isn’t a four-letter word. Like it or not, it is inevitable. Politics is how things get done in business.
If you’re not involved in office politics, you don’t know how to play the game, and therefore can’t possibly win.
Politics is simply the business of relationship and understanding the quid pro quo, (something in exchange for something else) inherent to every relationship.
Careers are made or broken in the workplace based on relationship. And when you need a relationship it’s too late to build it.
You need to build relationships all the time and with different kinds of people. A successful workplace relationship whether with your manager or a colleague,
is one in which you clearly define what you have to offer and what you need or want from the other person. It happens all the time without naming it.
The trade is implicit in the relationship. Each time you go out of your way for someone or give them what they need, you’ve earned a figurative “chip”
that you can later cash in for something you need.
Coaching Tips
Approach political situations as you would any negotiation. Take time to find out what the other person needs, what you have to offer, and how you can facilitate a win-win situation.
Remember, quid pro quo, don’t just give, think about what you want in exchange. Don’t be afraid to cash in your chips, when required.
You can often win in the long run by giving up the smaller, less important points. When you do, you bank currency to be used by you at a later time.
Don’t avoid what you perceive to be a political problem, people will only go around you.
Work through political situations in a way that allows others to see you as a problem solver, not a problem.
Follow the hidden rules that must be followed if you want to successfully maneuver the office political terrain.
Recommended Reading
The Secret Handshake : Mastering the Politics of the Business Inner Circle, by Kathleen Kelley Reardon.
If you identify with any of the above behaviors, and are serious about achieving your personal and professional best contact me on debbi@mylifecoachdebbi.com to find out more about my Online Career Coaching Service (email, telephone and skype) and how I can assist you to identify those self-defeating behaviors in which you most often engage and how to replace these with new behaviors that will move you closer to achieving your career goals.
I am driven by a desire to make a difference and contribute to the lives and careers of all women, everywhere.
On many occassions I have found the courage and self-belief to actively re-invent myself on both a personal and professional level. I am passionate about helping other Women do the same.
My professional choices have included being a Business Owner, Executive Consultant, Career transitioning twice, holding a Board Appointment and being a Corporate Executive of a large global multi-national.
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