KMPH FOX 26 | Central San Joaquin Valley News SourceWork Behaviors That Earn Respect

By Louise Bauer Davoli

When you have worked hard to get that job you wished for, the last thing you want to do is commit career suicide. Wrecking your chances for a successful career can be far too easy if you make behavior missteps in the workplace.

Workplace problems are rarely rooted in a lack of knowledge or poor technical skills. The issue most often is connected to something much simpler, your persona or projection of self in the workplace, especially during your first couple of months on the job. Works and plays well with others is a skill as important today as it was in elementary school. Unfortunately, it is much too easy to make an awful first impression on your new colleagues. A negative first impression is challenging to shake once established.

Work behaviors that earn respect:

• Prioritize your work
• Do more than talk
• Listen
• Keep others informed

Develop a work plan. A solid work plan or action plan includes details about what needs to be done, when and by whom. Even if the project leader does not have a work plan for the project, you should personally develop a plan for all the projects you are involved in. Assuming you are involved in more than one project, you need to prioritize your work on a daily basis. Know what activities need to be completed and by when. Your work impacts those who are on your project team. Make sure that the important work is completed on time so that the rest of your team can carry out their duties smoothly and successfully. That contributes to the team's success and people will know that you have work behaviors that are reliable. They will begin to like you.

A problem with a lot of workers is that they talk more than they do. These people are likely to confuse busyness with achievement. They feel that the more they talk the more they have finished. When in reality, the only thing accomplished has been time wasted. An example of this is when meetings are conducted without an agenda, without clear action steps or a plan about what needs to be accomplished during the meeting, nothing moves forward. Talking more than doing is not just limited to meeting times. Do you hang out in the break room longer than needed chatting it up with others when that time could be put to finishing work related activities? At the end of the day, if your to do list looks like it did at the beginning of your work day, you may be talking more and doing less.

Listening is extremely underrated. When workers are new to a position or job they frequently are eager to prove their knowledge, and they speak without listening first. This results in projecting an image as a know-it-all with no regard for more experienced colleagues or coworkers. Learn how to really listen and understand what people are saying to you and need from you rather than focusing on your own agenda and making assumptions.