Ey, kasimanwa, do you know how to succeed in the workplace? Just because you’re qualified for the job doesn’t mean you’re fit to lead or entitled to a promotion already. Even though you have an extensive amount of experience and skills, how great are you at communicating with people or dealing with aggressive clients?
Here are various snippets of articles you need to read now to succeed at work and in life.
How to practice respect in the workplace
Every employee wants to belong and feel respected by their colleagues. Showing respect to your peers is one way to gain their value from you. In addition, respecting your comrades ensures a healthy, professional, and productive workplace.
Even when colleagues become overly-friendly at work or at unease with each other, one must maintain a professional distance and good opinion in the office.
So, how to practice respect in the workplace?
1. Treat your colleagues with courtesy and professionalism
Despite not seeing each other eye to eye with your coworkers, you need to treat them with proper courtesy. That means, talking behind their backs at work or dissing them to your boss is a huge no. It talks more about your personality than theirs.
2. Be conscious of how your body moves
Sometimes your tone, expression, and hand gestures can make or break a person even though you’re not aware of your actions. Are you being too aggressive, loud, or disgruntled? If you have a hard time distinguishing your actions, you can ask a coworker to talk it to you.
3. Give praises if your colleague or team has achieved something
Encourage recognition in the workplace as it boosts morale and productivity. A simple thanks or recognition for a job well done is enough for someone to make his or her day.
4. Encourage coworkers to contribute to the team
Do you know how to succeed in the workplace? Giving your colleagues a voice or opinion on the problem or task on hand gives them a boost of positivity. As you acknowledge their presence, ideas, opinions, you gave them a sense of respect and gratitude for being with the company.
5. Maintain cleanliness in shared office space
Most workers share a cubicle or desk when they work in the office. If you’re one of them, avoid clutter and misplacing your coffee mugs, supplies, or notepads on your coworker’s space. Laying your belongings in someone else’s space is a clear violation and lack of respect, privacy, and professionalism.
6. Make minimal noises during work hours
Avoid playing loud music, laughing, loud talking, and making food noises that can distract the office. Keep your noise to a minimum or excuse yourself out if you can’t contain your noise.
7. Treat people equally
No matter what their religion, race, gender, or age, you should treat your coworkers with respect. Do not criticize, ostracize, or put people down because they’re different from you.
8. Don’t overstep their boundaries
Don’t take their working time with idle chat especially when they have deadlines to catch. In addition, don’t disturb your colleagues when they’re on the phone with a client or chatting with another coworker about a project. Lastly, avoid prying into their personal lives.
9. Maintain professionalism even in office parties
Getting drunk or getting closer to another office employee is no way to fire up professionalism. You can have fun while keeping a respectful distance between officemates. Do not overindulge in office parties, act rudely, or say something inappropriate that may ruin your reputation.
10. Value communal learning
Sharing your knowledge and taking time to help your colleagues at work show you value being with them. Also, try asking for their help when you’re in need. It shows that you trust and look up to them for their knowledge of that particular field. How to succeed in the workplace is all about communal learning and equality.
Working with diverse coworkers, here’s why it matters
When you’re working in a diverse office, what’s the first thing that goes into your mind? Many people think it’s more of gender, race, religion, cultural background, and more, but it’s also age gaps, beliefs, and personalities.
Managing such a workplace environment can be tricky and fickle, but at the same time, rewarding. Hiring people with different personalities can bring a lot of creativity, talent, and skills to the table. Here’s why it matters a lot.
More talents, skills, and experiences
People from different backgrounds can provide a unique set of skills, talents, and experiences that may prove helpful to the organization. Some might come across it as exceptional, odd, or unorthodox, but a set of fresh talent can be beneficial to the organization. Your team can also learn and improve their own skillset from one another.
Improves employee-workplace performance
Employees will feel appreciated when in an environment where they feel included, respected, and encouraged. When that happens, they’ll be more productive, happy, and inspired when carrying out the daily task set out for them.
Increased profits
When employees are happy, they are more productive. And, when employees are more productive, they’d rake in more profits for the organization. In addition, the more the talent pool you have, the larger the number of business opportunities you’ll have. For example, those with different languages and cultures can be an opportunity for you to expand business on a global basis.
Reflects positivism on organization reputation
An organization that is open towards diversity in the workplace, will gain a reputation as a good employer. This is will snowball into having more sales, positive recruitment, and gaining more business and profits because of its good imagery.
Access to new clients
Working in a diversified environment lets you access new market segments and divisions on your customer and client base. Expanding company operations with a diverse team can make that happen. For example, you want to reach the children, fitness, or community industry – hiring people with education, health or social welfare skills can be beneficial.
Strategies in promoting diversity in the workplace
Promoting diversity in the office sets you up on how to succeed in the workplace. You may not be an employer or manager, but you can instill respect by practicing these strategies individually.
Educate yourself about diversity
Learning about lifestyle, background, and cultural traditions will help boost your knowledge of your colleagues. You’ll get a sense of cultural appreciation and sensitivity at work. With that, your coworkers might offer valuable insights through a vast diverse background experience. You might find a new way to solve a solution to the problem.
Develop policies about diversity while retaining the company’s goals
Clear out any diversity issues like harassment, bullying, disability, race, and color discrimination. You need to communicate fully with your team and reinstate these rules from time to time. Make sure to invite colleagues and co-workers to take part in highlighting in promoting and accepting diversity.
Go in for a team-building exercise
People might grit and groan over team-building activities, but, it will help strengthen the bond between coworkers. Your team will greatly benefit from learning from each other and take it with heed when they work together.
Observe events and traditions
Creating a fun event calendar for your team to observe will get everyone in the spirit of belongingness and camaraderie. Even as simple as a birthday greeting or well wishes is enough to lift someone’s spirit.
Create opportunities for a diverse team
Creating jobs, appointments, or tasks for your diverse team can make them feel appreciated and needed in the workforce. It gives them a sense of fulfillment that they are able to render service back to the community.
How to deal with angry clients
No matter which industry you’re in, you’ll encounter angry, emotional, and distressed clients one way or another. Customers may get rude and throw tantrums, but how you respond is what matters most.
Here are the steps on how to succeed in the workplace by handling hot-headed individuals.
Stay calm
When the clients start yelling, the worst thing you can do is shout back at them. To defuse this already-tense situation, keep yourself cool and don’t raise your energy level. It will only escalate the problem if you do.
Remember:
- Take deep breaths
- Don’t yell or raise your voice
- Mask any irritation and frustration boiling within you
- Don’t make side comments or sarcastic remarks
- Maintain a soothing tone void of any anger
Listen to their grievances
No matter how exaggerated or unreasonable their claims can be, listen to their complaints. Sometimes, there may be a kernel of truth behind those overstated lines. It was simply blown-up to that scale because of their agitation.
In addition, listening can help defuse the situation when the customer’s complaints are acknowledged. After they vent out their concerns, summarize what you’ve learned, and ask if you miss anything else.
Keep your body language professional. This means, standing or sitting up straight, keeping eye contact, nodding along, and showing concerns over the issue. That’s how to succeed in the workplace!
Be professional and don’t take it personally
Your client’s anger is directed at the service or product he or she is availing – not at you. If you can set aside your personal feelings and act professionally, then, you can resolve this problem in one way or another.
Try putting yourself on the customer’s shoes. If you can step back and see the whole situation, be objective about it.
Apologize and look for a solution
Whether the claim is exaggerated or irrelevant, apologize profusely and make a concrete plan on how to solve the person’s problem. That’s learning how to succeed in the workplace.
Once the client has expressed his concerns, it’s time to find a reasonable solution you can all agree to. If they make foolish demands or unauthorized requests, you can call a manager and see if the client can have it. If not, strike a compromise and find a common ground where you can settle on.
Take a break
After the issue is solved, find a five-minute break where you can rest and gather your momentum. Dealing with aggressive clients can be stressful. Take a walk or have a snack until you are ready to engage with a customer. Is your job seriously stressing you out? Learn how to meditate at work and beat stress at the office. (Related article can be found here.)
You can meditate the issue on hand, but don’t let it affect you. Let it serve as a learning experience in dealing with distressed clients, answer their problems and how you would handle it again next time. Yes, there’s always the next time.
Tips on handling difficult clients
Want to know how to make things easier next time or what to do instead? Here are tips you can follow for a seamless transaction and how to succeed in the workplace.
Don’t evade the personal space of the customer. Keep a certain distance between you and the client. Standing or sitting too close can mean aggression or not caring at all for their concerns. Stay behind the counter or sit at the table with an appropriate space between you and the client.
Don’t touch the customer. Touching the customers makes them feel belittled. It means your opinions, and not theirs, are more important. A violent client further sees this as a threat and would retaliate back.
Adopt a friendly body posture. Your hands should be at the side and down, with your body facing the client. Keep eye contact and nod appropriately. Show emotion fitting at the condition, but don’t scowl at the client’s aggressive behavior.
Don’t argue with the client or rush them. Arguing with the client will only make the situation worse. Rushing them to finish their story is also a sign of disrespect.
Keep other clients safe from harm. If you’re dealing with a violent customer, make sure other people around you are out from harm’s way. You can also structure your office, hall, or building where you can place alarms.
Call security if the client becomes too violent. If everything feels unsafe, or if the client is disrupting everyone and the business, call for security. Don’t detain your aggressive client unless you have to. Just stay calm and walk the client out if necessary.
How you can improve your career development
There’s a difference between being on a job and growing a career. The former is fine – while the latter lets you maximize your success on the field. How to succeed in the workplace? By building a successful career requires passion, work, and determination to be where you want to be.
Career management is the process of planning to acquire new skill sets and experiences through work, training, or volunteering. If you want to improve your career, pursue these tips.
Never stop learning
Successful people never stop learning. They look for opportunities on how to hone their skills and how to succeed in the workplace to stay on top of current trends and developments in their industry. Here’s what you can do:
- Read blogs, books, e-books, and how-to tutorials
- Attend lectures and workshops in the city
- Volunteer and share your skills while learning at the same time
- Look for opportunities for training
- Showcase your talents and skills on fairs
Meet new people
Expanding your personal network is a great way to tap people associated with your field of choice. These thought leaders can give you insights and valuable tips on how to tackle a certain issue or opportunities in the market. Joining conferences, trades, groups, and associations will help you leverage your skills.
Improve people and communication skills
You can try to be vocal about your dreams and goals in life to your family, colleagues, and boss. They might refer you to someone or to an event, or group where you can hone your current skill set. Just remember, share your goals with someone who genuinely wants to see you improve yourself! Not many people want to hear you how to succeed in the workplace.
Research skills to attain goals
What are the experiences needed to attain the position you wanted in the company? Or, what skills are needed to top up your cooking game in the restaurant? Knowing which ability and expertise required in the industry can leverage your way through your career and how to succeed in the workplace.
Get a mentor
A mentor on the field can be your friend, boss, colleague, or teacher who can give you insights about the industry. He or she can further train and enhance your skills for the career you’re aiming for. Why not train with your colleagues in the other departments?
If you’re aiming to have a business career later in life, having a perspective of that department can help you make decisions later on for your business. What does your IT department do? Or, Research and Development? Packaging?
Tips and insights for career growth
It takes patience, strategy, and determination if you want your career to fly. At the same time, you need to smartly strategize your way in attaining your goals. Here are tips and insights for career growth and how to succeed in the workplace.
Determine what you want. Know your goals, dreams, and aspirations! People who proactively identify and go after their ideal careers are the most successful and happiest. It’s because they have a clearer picture of what they want to accomplish.
Make plans on how to achieve goals. Not making a plan will get you lost, dejected, and unmotivated. Plus, how can you benchmark and review your measures to progress?
Make a schedule or timeline on how to manage your career. Developing a timeline can pace up the momentum of achieving your goals. But you don’t have to pressure yourself for accomplishing little or much. Setting a deadline for your dreams can also turn out detrimental to your career. Make a schedule where you are comfortable and can commit yourself to see your goals get achieved.
Join company programs for career growth. Some companies offer programs to help employees develop their skills and experiences to further expand their proficiency and ability. Company programs can be in-house training, cultural exchanges, scholarship, and more.
Build your reputation. Make a name for yourself by being professional, skilled, and dependable. After honing your skills, why not share them with the world? Attend conferences, write articles, train fellow employees. Your growth can further heighten your career path and how to succeed in the workplace.
Leadership skills needed to succeed
People believe that leaders are born and not made. But leadership is a quality you can learn by developing certain skills that can enhance that ability. Even if you’re not a manager, team, or project leader, mastering leadership on your own can define your career path later in life.
Here are 10 leadership skills you need on how to succeed in the workplace.
1. Respect
Treating your colleagues with respect shows utmost courtesy and professionalism. Even if you have a diverse team (e.g. color, race, religion, gender, and age), or with someone you dislike, extending your smiles and manners says a lot about your personality. Keeping everything professional shows you care about the work and the goal of the company rather than besmirch someone else’s reputation. Showing control over your emotions shows profound leadership.
2. Selflessness
The difference between a boss and a leader is that the former mostly thinks about himself, while the latter tirelessly encourage individuals to be the best they can. Being selfless does not necessarily mean putting others before you, but rather helping everyone out to achieve a common goal.
3. Flexibility
Being flexible doesn’t mean working beyond the 9-to-5 pace in the workplace. It also denotes a leader being open to ideas and technology that can boost the productivity of workers. Flexibility is adapting to changes beneficial to the company or all.
4. Having a vision
How to succeed in the workplace depends on the leader who can visualize the team or company’s goals can better direct them in the long run. The pursuit of vision can have the leader capitalize on ways on how to improve the personnel and business venture further on. Rather than finishing the work or day off, a leader should consider what the future hold for employees, customers, and the company.
5. Listening, Speaking, and overall Communication
These soft skills are needed for interpersonal interactions where leaders can connect to these individuals for the better. Without proper communication, misunderstanding, arguments, and lost goals will ensue. That’s why it’s important to be aware of your tone, words, body language, and proper letters and documentation to express your point.
6. Culturally literate
A culturally-inclined leader is well-adjusted to the variety and unique presence of the company or team. He or she welcomes the diversity of the individuals and see to the fact that each of them can contribute to the success of the company. What’s more, a culturally-literate person is aware of the historical, political, environmental, religious, artistic, and social issues, and uses his skills to adapt.
7. Integrity and trustworthiness
Employees need to feel the empathy of a leader and not to experience the destructive nature of a boss that affects work productivity and business operations. In order to be trustworthy, a leader must honest, confident, conscientious, credible, reliable, and accountable to his or her mistakes. Humility is one aspect of how to succeed in the workplace.
8. Creativity
Creativity is considered a soft skill; nevertheless, it’s a huge ability needed in every company. When leaders are faced with a difficult situation, they need to think outside the box. Employees are always inspired by a leader who finds non-traditional options to solve a problem. Generally, creative leaders are analytical, curious, innovative, visionary, and critical thinkers. They see perspectives and opportunities where no one else can.
9. Commitment
A leader should be determined and committed to start and finish on what they do. They are not stubborn, but rather, passionate about what they do. A committed leader knows how to prioritize schedules, people, and activities accordingly. They have respectable work ethics and professional development objectives in the long run.
10. Self-awareness
Leaders get a sense of who they are and better interact or advise themselves with other people. Having self-awareness is actually the first step in being a leader and how to succeed in the workplace. If you don’t know yourself, you’ll get lost and confused about how to deal with others later on.
Leaders are learners! What are the top learning habits to form?
Do you know how to succeed in the workplace? Learn something. Learning encompasses beyond the four walls of a classroom and can be gained later in life whether that would be in social situations, work, and relationships.
Everyone can be learners – but, there’s a certain standout on successful ones and those who practice the right learning habits.
Whether you’re an employee or employer, here are habits to know and follow of highly effective learners that help them expand their knowledge, develop their skills, network with people, and keep learning new things.
Enjoy learning
Successful learners have a positive outlook on the learning experience and topic on hand. Even if it’s boring, tedious, hard, or unacceptable, they try to see the best side of it. They don’t have to force themselves to love it, but they won’t quit if it means necessary. Successful learners know that learning never stops and thus, further motivated them to continue learning new things every day.
Seek to learn more
Your education and knowledge aren’t confined within the textbooks you have in school. You need to go out and observe the current trends or events happening soon in your industry. Maybe you can even volunteer in an animal shelter or community center. Your hands-on experience helps you how to succeed in the workplace and can put your perspective to place as well.
Reflect on yourself and the learning approach
So, some people are better at mathematics, communications, or social gatherings. And, you’re not. By reflecting on yourself, you get to understand your inner strengths and weaknesses – what you can and can’t do. But rather, ignoring their weaknesses, pushing themselves to do it, or punishing themselves, they accept it and take baby steps to learn it.
Learn with the resources available
It’s understandable that you don’t have all the necessary tools for your learning experience – but, don’t let that stop you! You can borrow a book, listen to podcasts or audiobooks, volunteer, or attend a local seminar you can afford within means.
Why not write a letter to someone in your industry and apply as an intern, volunteer, or assistant for that matter? You’ll later form connections with someone who can help you how to succeed in the workplace.
See problems as challenges
Expect that your learning journey wouldn’t be smooth-sailing. Instead of being salty over your problems, take a step back and work on solving them in the best way you can. Don’t let it hinder you and stop you from reaching that goal.
Accept failures
Despite what you do, you will eventually fail at some point in your life. Successful people see failure as an experience and a learning tool where they can keep trying until they’ve succeeded. Failure might get you down, and that’s okay. Just remember to pull yourself up after a letdown.
Don’t cram or procrastinate
Don’t cram what you’ve just learned and apply it the next day. Got a test or project deadline tomorrow? You should have studied or made it days, if not, weeks ago. Learning takes time as your brain gets fried easily when overloaded with tons of information.
Visualize a goal
The goals and objectives of the learning experience motivate you to learn about a specific subject in the first place. What’s your goal on why you want to be a community carer? Or someone who wants to be more communicative in nature?
Participate, collaborate, teach, and network
The best thing to do on how to succeed in the workplace? Seek partnership, mentoring, or tutoring to and with other people. Sharing your knowledge and letting other people share their knowledge with you is the best way to learn more about the world.
What leaders should know about workplace safety
The International Labour Organization reports that about 17 out of 18 workers of the country’s 38.8 million workforce suffered fatal traumatic injuries which resulted in the loss of.
The latest information showed that workers within the postal, transport, agriculture, fishing, and forestry industry suffered the most.
Learning how to succeed in the workplace calls for the need for workplace safety. Even as simple as floor slips, chemical waste segregation, or use of clothing equipment and gear can be a life-changer.
Why employers should care about workplace safety
Keeping employees safe is essential to preserving their health and to your business’ operations as well. Keeping your workers hearty and hale sees to the:
Lowering operational and labor costs. When an employee or gets injured, that means they can no longer work – thereby causing the company a loss of labor in operations. Your business might recruit someone new to fill in the responsibility, which results in expenses from recruiting a new member and to give subsidies to the injured employee.
Observation of the law. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) oversees the national policy in improving health and safety to workers across the country. They ensure that every workplace if free from harm and hazards that may cause unintentional injuries in the company. All businesses should comply in accordingly and follow the
Company reputation. Any incident that may arise in your company will reflect on your business’ reputation. Your customers might have seen it and pass the news around about the incident. Even your employees might spill the beans about the company and how you treat workers.
Legal liabilities. Legal cases against your company may arise if you don’t know how to treat your employees and workers right. DOLE sees the condition of workers and takes note of a company’s operations. Wan to how to succeed in the workplace and care for your team? Read DOLE’s Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Standards here.
Employee morale. An accident in the workplace will lower your employees’ morale even if there aren’t the ones injured. Nonetheless, it leaves an uncomfortable feeling among your workers that it can happen to them – thus, worrying about their own safety.
What businesses can do
How to instill safety in your business? In the workplace, you should treat safety as a proactive method rather than a response to an accident. Integrating safety practices gets your hazards systems in place, and the less it will happen again in the long run.
What can you do to integrate office safety and how to succeed in the workplace?
Provide safety training or drills.
Safety drills consist of knowing where the fire exit is, how to use the first aid kit, and what to do during fires, earthquakes, or storms. You can even hold monthly lectures on health and safety and do a little team building activity afterward.
Not only this gets you to integrate workplace safety and how to succeed in the workplace, but it also boosts employee morale – which leads to higher productivity.
Safety options, gear, equipment
Giving your workers safety options like manuals, gear, clothing, equipment, and special aids when accidents arise is vital especially when they work in a hazardous environment. Workplaces within the construction, mechanical, or agricultural industry highly need special assistance from the company.
Integrate with company value and practice it
If you consider workplace safety your company’s value, you get to communicate it along with your employees, and they, themselves get to practice it. This shows that you indeed value safety in your working environment.
Keep the workplace or site clean, clutter-free, or plainly safe
While nobody can avoid accidents, one can minimize the incidents or pain caused by the casualties. For example, you can place a slippery or warning zone if an area is being renovated, keep equipment in working condition, or make worksite debris-free and give workers a place to rest. Even as simple as cleaning the office can be a huge help on how to succeed in the workplace.
Identify and control the threat
If you can point the cause of the hazard, make records or logs of the incident, object, complaints, you can find the cause and be able to control it. Make sure to prioritize the hazards you found and find steps to correct them. Evaluate the changes you made and re-survey the workplace for safety.
