Career Advice
Building a successful career is no walk in the park. Competition
is fierce. Pressure and stress are always lurking around, ready
to make things more difficult. Tempers get frayed. Good manners
are often overlooked in this environment. It doesn't take a
career coach to know that rude people foul the nest for
everyone. By the same token those who are civil and considerate
in the work place have a leg up on the competition. Here are
some examples of rudeness one often encounters on the job.
Bad Telephone Manners
One of my clients for career advice declared: "One of the
rudest, most irritating case of bad manners is when a co-worker
stands in the doorway of my office, while I'm on the telephone,
and expects me to read his lips or decipher his hand signals.
Then when he walks away, I have no idea what he was trying to
communicate; and I have lost the train of thought I had with the
client on the line.
"For all I know, the client on the phone could have threatened
to fire us or my co-worker might have been telling me the
building is being evacuated."
Another example: You are a guest in another person's office when
your host constantly interrupts your discussion to take
telephone calls. The lack of consideration is compounded when
your host assures, "This will only take a minute," and then
chatters on for ten times that long, including an update on his
golf score. You are left sitting, pretending you are not
listening to what is being said. What about the times you answer
the telephone and your caller's secretary says, "Please hold for
Mr. Jones. He will be with you in a moment." Five minutes later,
you are still holding the line. This can be particularly
annoying when the caller wants to sell you something.
No less irritating is the secretary who demands to know who you
are and what you want before she will put you through to her
boss
Bad manners on cell-phones are too numerous to even begin to
list.
Bad-mannered Bosses
Bosses can be among the rudest and most inconsiderate people in
the workplace.
For example, your boss asks you to come to his office at 9
o'clock. He wants a status report on your top-priority project.
You arrive at 8:57 sharp because you don't want to keep him
waiting. His secretary informs you he is running a few minutes
behind schedule.
"Just have a seat," she days. "He will be with you shortly."
At 9:45, she reassures you that Mr. Big is about ready. At
10:15, you are ushered in to see him.
"I only have about 15 minutes until my next meeting," he says.
"Just give me an abbreviated version of your report?"
More Rudeness
Another chronic breach of etiquette has to do with late arrivals
at meetings. How often do you drop everything else to get to the
session on time, only to have to wait for two or three of the
other participants to show up? Sometimes they have to be called
and reminded that the group is waiting. When they do come in, it
is with little more than a flip, "Sorry, guys, I got tied up on
the 'phone. You know Pete, you can't get him off the line."
Common courtesy is ignored at meetings when there are several
side conversations going on at the same time someone is making a
presentation.
What about the boss who takes the occasion of a staff meeting to
chew out to a subordinate? Bad manners plus.
And, by the way, whatever happened the common courtesies of
"Please" and Thank you"
3 Steps To Minimize Damage
Here are three steps you can to minimize the negative impact of
rudeness and help build a successful career.
1. Practice good manners. Set an example.
2. Accept the fact that there will always be rude people who
would disrupt your career if you let them. Consider the source
and then ignore these people.
3. If the rudeness is more than you can tolerate, speak up. Go
into your more diplomatic mode and tell the person involved that
you find their rude practices to be disruptive to your best
effort to do your job.
I can't promises you this career advice will put a stop to
rudeness, but you will feel better in made a common sense effort
to deal with it.
