Section 1: Like and Respect Your Colleagues


Overview

Gene and Charlie started working in the same group at about the same time. Gene was proud of his accomplishments, and this caused him to secretly believe the others in the group weren’t as expert as he was. Over time, the others detected a subtle note of distance, and even superiority.

Charlie, on the other hand, was more forward in expressing his gratitude for others’ help. Even though he wouldn’t have picked some of them as friends, he made sure he showed nothing but friendliness and support. As you might expect, the group ended up being closer to and more supportive of Charlie, and they went just a few steps further to help him through his challenges.

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In addition, Charlie and Gene developed completely different views of what it was like to work in this group. Gene sensed a lower level of support, and he ended up feeling like an outsider. Charlie, on the other hand, enjoyed the experience and stayed with the group for several years because he liked the people.

To a large extent, Gene and Charlie both created their experiences in this group. What they gave to others was mirrored back to each of them because that is the way human nature works.

You start by creating a supportive attitude inside yourself. If you like your co-workers, you find everything else becomes much simpler because they help give you the energy you need to make other improvements.

You may not like everyone you work with or work for. But you can nurture a philosophy that each person deserves basic human dignity and––perhaps after some searching––has something to teach you. That is why liking and respecting people is a conscious choice: it is all about the attitude you choose to take about the people around you.

You will work for many bosses over the course of your career. Some are clearly in the wrong job. From those bad apples you can learn patience, compassion, persistence, and how to manage upwards. Observing bad decisions and overreactions, you can learn how to recover from mistakes and how to create environments for better decisions. The key point is to learn and grow regardless of your situation.

It is intriguing to note that challenging situations can help you learn more about yourself and the organization than you ever would have in a safe, comfortable environment. Even if you dislike someone, you can try to learn from them and build a relationship of support. If they exhibit disagreeable behavior, you can choose to value and respect them. You can support them when possible and resolve differences in a respectful way. You also can learn a great deal about the types of people with whom you work easily.

Is it political, inauthentic, or even hypocritical to treat your co-workers this way? Absolutely not. You do not have to compromise your own standards of excellence and honesty in order to treat others as likeable and worthy of respect. This is a basic, underlying philosophy about the value of people as human beings. Your response to specific situations will flow from that. If you disagree with others, fine, but handle it in a supportive way.

Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.

—U Thant




Mondays Stink. 23 Secrets To Rediscover Delight and Fulfillment in Your Work
Mondays Stink!
ISBN: 1591099080
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 43

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