You may have been warned about toxic workplace environments, but what if you find yourself in one? It is impossible to cover all things you can do to protect yourself and your burgeoning career from toxic work environments, but it is important to know what aspects of your daily life you should keep covered so that you don't succumb to others' attempts of workplace sabotage. Sabotage? Yes. Despite my psychology degree and all of my worldly knowledge, I will never understand it. Still, whether you are working at a retail store during your senior year of high school or a university science laboratory, you might have the unfortunate encounter with one or more coworkers who simply don't want to see you succeed. This sabotage can come in many forms. Sometimes, it is just extraneous gossip about you personally. The best way to overcome this is to stay engaged socially with others at your workplace; do not let the saboteur's narrative about you be the only one out there. Sometimes, however, the saboteur is aiming straight at your performance reviews. This is where Day Planner Defense comes in.
In my example above, I end with the question, "What could I have done differently?" The rational reality of it is, what time I showed up to court was not my coworker's business as he was not working on the trial. Unfortunately, the reality we all have to deal with is that not everyone sees needless sabotage in the workplace while it's happening.
Although you cannot prepare for every sideways accusation thrown at you, here are some Day Planner Defense tips you can start utilizing in order to combat a saboteur's hearsay with a record of your own:
Keep all physical and digital records to yourself or within your company's systems (so that you or your employer can easily retrieve the records if necessary). You do not need to go as far as publicly posting on twitter or TikTok every time you show up at work or attend an off-site meeting for these Day Planner Defense methods. DO keep any physical records handy in your office or work station, car, or any place convenient for you at work to grab in the event your saboteur has caused you to have a "meeting with the boss". Disclaimer: This advice is based on personal experience/knowledge and is not expert advice. Different work environments may call for different or additional "Day Planner Defenses" Suggested Websites: Buy A T-Shirt That Says "Only Lobsters Can Judge Me"
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Work communications are an important part of your identity in the work place. If your job does not involve much written communication, these tips still may help as it is important to be communicate clearly and professionally in any text message you send or handwritten notes you write. What is your e-mail identity? In some instances of life, you may not need to think about that too much. In a work environment, however, how you present yourself in e-mail communications can impact your reputation at work as it pertains to your reliability, diligence, and ability to focus on the task at hand. Take the examples shown, below. Mellie is an assistant at Lobster Facts Subscriptions, Inc., a company that sends automated text messages to subscribers containing lobster facts. One day, Mellie's supervisor, Carrie, sends Mellie an e-mail requesting new lobster facts for their services: If Mellie were to draft her e-mail response in the way she normally speaks, it might look something like this: Mellie's bubbly and eager personally certainly shines through, here, but there are a few things to consider. The e-mail is a bit verbose, scattered, and maybe even overly-enthusiastic. Also, Mellie does not need to be concerned about losing her upbeat reputation because she interacts in-person and over video conferences with clients and her colleagues every day. Mellie wants to advance in the company over the years. She knows that in order to do this, she has to show that she is more than just an eccentric ball of energy. Whatever your personality type, e-mail is a great medium to establish your professional tone. Mellie knows she wants to be able to show the side of her that is serious, straight-forward, and reliable. She has decided to use work e-mail communications as a vehicle for demonstrating that side of herself. Mellie responds to Carrie with the following e-mail and memorandum attachment: Here, Mellie has decided to channel her energy into creating a formal document and e-mail which help display her ability to stay concise and on-point. The format of combining a brief e-mail, plus an attachment to a lengthier, substantively responsive document, shows to Carrie that Mellie respects Carrie's inbox time. The draft memorandum also sets Carrie up to present the new lobster fact suggestions in a more formal and organized fashion to other teams in the company.
Mellie also sparingly infused the eagerness and cautious parts of her personality; she briefly points out in her e-mail that she went above and beyond to find lobster facts that were interesting, but that the facts would need to be verified by the expert consultants of Lobster Facts Subscriptions, Inc. Developing your e-mail identity isn't just for the sake of helping your boss run a tight ship. When you keep a habit of drafting consistent, professional e-mails, your supervisors will see that you can be relied upon in written communications with clients, competitors, and across in-house teams. If someone at the watercooler is turned off by Mellie's outward personality for being too "bubbly" or verbose, other coworkers can comment that she is multi-dimensional in her skillset and shows a serious, streamlined approach to work in her e-mails. Suggested Articles: Ten Tips For Writing Professional E-Mails How To Write Better E-Mails At Work One big shellshock to young people entering the workplace is workplace politics. Students fresh out of high school or college are not always warned that building rapport and reputation starts on Day 1. Whether your first job is in a skyscraper office or a fast-food restaurant, your new coworkers are forming their first, second, and third impressions of you as you acclimate to your new environment. Did you think gossip was a thing of the past from your high school days? Welcome to the watercooler. I have worked in different niches from community service to retail to formal offices. I spent years being aloof, worried about little more than doing the work that was in front of me. Big mistake! I failed to take the opinions and motivations of my coworkers into consideration, and did not factor these issues into my communications at work. In my early 20's, I often found myself distressed over workplace rumors about me and strange reactions from my bosses. One odd phenomenon I have experienced is positive aspects of my personality being twisted into negatives. Once, when I was 20 years old, I corrected my manager politely on an issue that would have been consequential for the task at hand if left uncorrected. The manager initially denied the error, then checked a list to realize the error was made, then fixed the error. After all was said and done, she scowled at me, saying, "You felt good doing that, didn't you?" Even though we were dealing with a very ordinary issue, the manager took this as an opportunity to rub in my face that she thought I was being a smart aleck (my reputation, apparently), despite my sole focus being to complete the task properly. At that age, I was very distraught: Why is it a bad thing that I am being diligent? I failed to see myself from my coworkers' perspectives. I was a bit of a weirdo, too independent at work, and not very concerned about my coworkers' opinions of me. As the years have gone by, I have started to notice a theme. When my friends come to me with their issues at work, they are experiencing the same phenomenon: they are just trying to do their job well, and they are clashing with colleagues over trivial things. My friends hear over-assuming feedback from superiors. Those with professional jobs report to me that they feel like their work is being sabotaged-- while they're only trying to "mind their own business." What is often missed is that when one enters the workforce, their "own business" is no longer their personal performance in school, or family relations. "Minding your own business" now includes the interpersonal relationships at work, and re-establishing your identity through communicating your intentions clearly to your coworkers. You can't control everything that is said about you at the watercooler. Certainly, there are some toxic work environments that are simply not worth it. However, whether you plan to work for an employer for 5 months or 50 years, there are many formal and informal workplace communications tools you can use to make sure your input is considered in deliberations over your reputation and workplace identity. Suggested articles: You Can't Sit Out Office Politics 13 Signs of a Toxic Workplace |
L.E. BeckerL.E. Becker is an attorney and lifelong learner. ArchivesCategories |