Careerbits Content

Developing quality relationships with your coworkers and boss takes effort. One of the things you need to watch in order to protect these relationships is your words and speech patterns. You probably remember being told to “use your words” as a child. There are some words and speech habits that you should not use at work.

Complaining

“I can’t believe he got that raise…” “She’s a terrible leader…” Not only is complaining unprofessional, it tears down your attitude and the attitudes of those around you. It’s one of the fastest ways to make your reputation crash and burn. No one wants to be around someone who complains and never seeks a solution to their problems. If you have an issue with someone, then you need to address them. Maybe you perceived your boss as being harsh; go and talk with him or her. You may have been passed over for a promotion. Don’t be envious of your coworker. Instead, be willing to congratulate them. Whether you’re able to fix your problem or not, never complain to others at work.

TMI

Sharing about bodily ailments beyond a headache or a cold falls into the too much information category. Getting too personal and talking about your latest relationship difficulties should be left out of your office conversations too. If you have a close relationship with a coworker, then some of that information can be shared with them. But please, don’t broadcast your many and in-depth personal issues to the office.

Gossip

Just as complaining can result in a loss of credibility, so does gossip. In fact, gossip is an even quicker career killer. A gossip is apparently unable to keep information to himself, and so lacks discretion. You wouldn’t trust a gossip, so why would your boss or your coworkers? Don’t give in to the urge to tell someone when you know a piece of information. Protect your reputation and say ‘no’ to this urge.

Inappropriate Jokes

This should be a no-brainer, but it is still a regular visitor at many offices. If a joke could be offensive to a group of people, then don’t tell it. It’s not worth the few uneasy chuckles you might get to insult someone and damage your relationship with them. Steer clear of crude or rude jokes. They’re really not funny.

Immediate Refusal

A boss or coworker may request something of you that seems unreasonable or isn’t within your immediate job description. Rather than quickly shutting them down, consider their request. If you feel it clashes with your workload, explain that to them. Be willing to hear them out, but also know how to communicate the stress it would put on you. If you can help them out with some or all of their request, don’t be unwilling to do a little extra work. Helping a boss or a coworker fosters goodwill, which is always good to have at a workplace.

Slang

Using slang is unprofessional in the workplace, even if it’s your normal way of speaking. If it becomes too much of a pattern, it can seep into your speech when it really counts, such as a presentation to the board.

Help yourself out, and keep others from discounting you because of poor speech habits. Be professional and courteous at work. Set the pattern for respectful and meaningful interactions at your workplace and show yourself a leader worth following.

Whether your workplace is a driven, get-ahead atmosphere or a laid back, friendly place, you need to be considering your actions if you want to be moving forward in your career. There are things that you are doing now that can get you that raise, better office, or new position. You should already know about these 6 things. Now it’s time to focus and put them into practice.

Have a Plan

You should already have goals for your career, but if you don’t, now is as good a time as any to start. Figure out where you want to go, and then plot out a route to get there. Be aware that you’ll encounter detours and sidetracks along the way. But while you’re trekking along, always keep your career map in your head. Making your plan and then following it will help you to keep your career moving in the direction you want it to.

Find a Mentor

This could be your boss, another coworker or another professional in your industry. Find someone who has been there, done that and is willing to pass on their knowledge to you. Then learn from them. What mistakes did they make and wish they hadn’t? What would they have changed?

Practice Confidence

It can be difficult to aspire to those places of leadership because self-doubt can crop up quickly. However, don’t let fear paralyze you. Be willing to take a risk and step out and try new things…new challenges. As you learn and do well at the new opportunities, your confidence will naturally grow.

Work Smart and Creatively

You don’t have to put in 60+ hours per week to reach your aspirations. Rather than working more, work smarter. Use your time effectively. Excel at using the time most others waste. And be creative. Seek new ways of doing things, if you believe the result will be better.

Nurture Your Network

Keep up on the relationships you’ve made with people. Whether it’s a coworker, a contact at another company, or the UPS delivery guy, foster those relationships. As humans, we thrive on relationships. So keeping those friendly contacts will help you as a person. You also never know how they could be useful to you down the road as you reach for new heights in your career.

Take the Lead

A great way to prepare yourself for that leadership position is by learning to be a leader now. Ask your boss if you can take point on the next project. If you start small but show initiative, your boss will see those leadership qualities in you. Be willing to demonstrate those by motivating your team and being willing to take responsibility for whatever happens—good or bad. Challenge yourself to be now what you want to be then.

Start practicing these career boosters. Show your boss that you’re in it to win it, not to just sit around. As you do your best for your current boss, your reputation as a reliable, excellent worker will grow, and so will your opportunities.

A strength is a strength, right? Well, taken to extremes, the strengths you’re proud of and have honed for years can actually become detrimental to you and the people around you. Certain aspects, when taken too far, can be a more harmful weakness to you than you might realize. These three strengths are most often the ones that are taken to harmful lengths.

1. Detail-oriented

This is a good trait. Being able to see to the details is important, and it’s not something that everyone can do. If you’re detail-oriented, you probably have a plethora of lists, on your phone, on your desk, on your fridge. Lists help you to get everything done, in the most efficient way possible. You’re good at following directions, and would not deviate from those. Here are the drawbacks you need to be aware of:

• Unable to bring others on board: Delegating can be a big challenge when details are your specialty. You have to be able to give up some control and bring others on board with what you’re doing.
• Unable to see the big picture: this can reveal itself in a variety of ways. Focusing only on your own job can make you miss the big-picture of the whole company. It’s easy to develop a narrow focus when you’re too detail-oriented because it keeps you from seeing the grander scheme of things.

2. Big-picture focused

This is the opposite end of the spectrum from the detail-oriented person. If you’re a visionary and are able to come up with ideas, then lists probably aren’t your thing. You’re able to think through solutions to your company’s problems, campaigns that will hit it big, and the next big go-to product. Thinking in a big-picture way and generating ideas is not something every person can do. But it’s not all roses.

• Unable to take the steps necessary: You can clearly see what the end results will be, but you can’t figure out how to get through the middle. You can get so wrapped up in what it should be, that you miss small things that will help you succeed.
• Unable to communicate the idea: As someone who can come up with ideas, you need to be able to communicate those effectively. However, big-picture thinkers often don’t allow for time for the other individuals on their team to get on board. Instead, they assume that, since the idea is so great, the rest of the people will fall into place. You must give your people time to get with you and provide them with the necessary information to understand your vision.

3. Good Work Ethic

Excelling at what you do, that’s something to be proud of. If you’ve got a good work ethic, you get the job done, and done well. No one follows up after you to make sure everything is taken care of. When you have this strength, you are dedicated to quality, so others can count on your work. However, that dedication can be taken too far. When perfectionism becomes the goal, everyone around you suffers.

• Unable to finish: A perfectionist becomes paralyzed by the urge to perfect and so they aren’t able to finish their tasks. Their excuses will sound like, “It’s just not ready,” or “I need time to make sure it’s perfect”. This paralysis quickly negates the perfectionist’s work, because it never reaches the delivery stage.
• Unable to accept lesser results: Perfectionism is a quick team-killer. If you’re a perfectionist, then you have the tendency to push yourself and those around you to unreasonable levels of production. Your teammates can’t—and won’t—take this, and you’ll quickly find yourself with a bunch of stressed colleagues and a body that can’t handle the push.

Know your strengths and hone them to be the best they can be. But be aware that your strengths can quickly turn to weaknesses if not checked. Avoid the pitfalls of these three, and let those qualities be just what they are: strengths.

Striking a balance. That’s never easy, no matter what you’re doing. As humans, we tend to swing the pendulum from one extreme to the other. Though it can be difficult, it is possible to strike that perfect balance between work and personal life. Here are five tips to find that balancing point for your work-life.

1. Unplug

The benefits of unplugging and getting away from any sort of screen time are enormous. Turning off, silencing, or leaving behind your phone will greatly help you to focus on your family. The temptation to check your email, and then wander into responding to a business email is great. But if you want to be happier and find that perfect balance for yourself, you’ve got to do this.

If you find yourself spending extensive time in front of a screen, unplugging can also help your eyes and brain adjust. When you spend long amounts of time looking at that glaring white light, your eyes become strained. This is an undisputed health issue in today’s increasingly technological world. You’ve probably even experienced this yourself. Go with the healthier option, mentally and physically, and choose to unplug, at least for a specific length of time, in the evening and on the weekends.

2. Prioritize

What really matters to you? What do you want to achieve in your work, your personal life? Knowing this, and having those things written down, can greatly help in knowing what to say “yes” or “no” to. You have a limited amount of time, how you spend it is really up to you. Define your priorities and talk with your family about those, so that there are no misconceptions. Then when someone requests something extra of you at work, if it doesn’t fit into those priorities, you can say “no” and clearly explain why.

3. Leave it at the Office

Part of what makes the average worker unbalanced is once they leave the office, they keep thinking about work. Instead of being able to shut off that part of their lives for a while, they’re constantly thinking about what they did that day and what needs to be accomplished tomorrow. If you’re afraid of forgetting what you need to accomplish or a key point you need to bring up in that meeting, write it down before you leave the office. Leave a sticky note with a to-do or reminder list there. Take these precautions so you don’t take those concerns and thoughts home with you.

4. Abandon Perfectionism

Perfectionism is a quick killer to a balanced life. If you’re constantly striving for perfection at work or having that required of you, you’ve got a problem. That’s not a healthy way to live. You’re only human, and as such, you have a life beyond work. Rather than trying to reach an unattainable level of perfection, go for excellence. Do your best at what you do, but when it comes time to leave, leave it there. Shut down thought patterns that agonize over whether that presentation is absolutely perfect or what have you. You’ll always fall short of perfection, which will result in a poor attitude. At that point, you’ll have already given up time at home, and what time you have will be colored by your apparent failure.

5. Exercise

Taking care of yourself, physically, mentally, and emotionally, is very important to this balance. Exercise has health benefits that extend to reducing stress and providing a healthier attitude and mindset. This is usually the first on your list to go when your schedule gets cramped, but if you choose to use this tool to help with your work-life balance, you’ll thank yourself in the long run.

Do you have a work-life balance? Or have you seen ways that you haven’t been using this list in your life? Use these five tips to create a balance perfect for you and your unique situation.

Are you in a leadership position in your company right now? Or do you aspire to be in that position someday? No matter where you are, these qualities can be worked on right now. If you want to be a good leader, they’re essential to your success.

Communication

How are your communication skills? Could your current communication proficiency even be called a “skill”? Communication as a leader is vitally important because your team needs to know what you need from them. Articulating what needs to be done, and then motivating your team to do that is an important skill. Also, being able to communicate to your team what they’re doing well and what they need to improve on is key.

Consistency

Do your words match up with your actions? Are you someone that practices what they say? If not, then your people won’t want to follow you. No one respects or wants to listen to a hypocrite. You have got to be willing to do those difficult jobs that most would avoid before you can expect your team to do them. A leader that leads by example consistently is one that people will want to follow.

Humility

No one enjoys being around a know-it-all. So don’t allow yourself to develop that mindset. Just because you’re a leader doesn’t mean that you’ve “arrived,” so to speak. You’re still just as human and prone to error as the rest of your people. Be willing to admit your faults, and learn from your employees. This will help them develop respect for you. Leaders who charge ahead and turn a deaf ear to the ideas and thoughts of their people won’t get very far.

Vision

What does your company want to accomplish? What is your goal in making that happen? You’ve got to have this nailed down. What are your ideas? In what way can you implement them successfully? First, you need to understand your vision and how to make it happen. Second, you need to be able to communicate and share that with your people. Help them to catch the vision, and you’ll all go far.

Goals

Don’t set vague goals. You want your people to feel a sense of accomplishment by reaching a goal, and that’s impossible if they don’t know exactly where that goal is set. Make clear goals, communicate those to your people, then help them work towards meeting those. Both you and your employees will feel a great sense of accomplishment when you reach those. This will also help you to stay on target and not get distracted.

Accountability

This one goes along with humility. Being willing to be accountable and setting that up is very important. You’re an employer, not a dictator. Let your employees know that they can bring up issues that they see to you. Establish that trust with them, so that they feel comfortable in approaching you respectfully with their concerns. It is very easy to become blind to things that are very close to you, so having those extra eyes on the lookout will greatly help in your success.

Learn

This is also tied in with humility, because your are always learning and growing. In this culture, there is always new data, new technology and new methods. If you’re unwilling to learn, grow and understand the new ways of doing things, you’ll quickly find yourself falling behind. Don’t allow yourself to get stuck in a prideful mindset that inhibits growth. Instead, purposefully look for ways to grow and set an example to your people.

There are plenty of leaders out there, but the exceptional, quality leaders are the ones who practice and grow these 7 areas in their lives. Be the best leader you can be and see what area(s) you need to work on.

Email has been around for a while now, and one would think, the errors would have gotten sorted out. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t true. There is still a need to understand what is and isn’t appropriate to include in an email, especially in the business world. Here are some things that you definitely should not include in a business email.

Informality

You are not emailing a friend. Even if your coworker is your friend, that doesn’t make it appropriate to throw all etiquette out the window. Especially if you’re communicating with clients or those higher up in your company….formality is very important. Using an informal tone, text-like abbreviations (lol), or emojis 😊, is just not appropriate. In fact, this annoys people. When you use this kind of informality, it conveys a lack of respect for the person you’re communicating with, as well as the information you’re communicating. If you want to be taken seriously—and not receive a reprimand—don’t use any form of informality in your business emails.

Misspellings, improper format, missing subject line

Misspelled words is a quick turn-off to someone reading your business email. It is seen as very unprofessional, and it damages your reputation. Spell check is incorporated into email these days, but that doesn’t let you off the hook. Always, always, ALWAYS read through your email once, and then twice to make sure that everything is spelled correctly.

Re-reading will also help you to catch improper format or bad grammar. If it was necessary to copy and paste text into your email, sometimes that leaves the format looking strange, so be aware. Additionally, unusual fonts or images will translate into something completely different to the receiver. Make sure that your font is professional and business-like.

A missing subject line is a quick way to find your email in the recipient’s spam. The email software could automatically send it there, and if not, the recipient may just as easily do that rather than open an unknown correspondence. Make your subject clear and to-the-point. This keeps your email from ending up in the spam box, and increases the probability of your email being opened and responded to promptly.

Angry or emotional messages

If a problem arises between you and a coworker, do not, I repeat, do not respond in an email. There is a disconnect between the brain and the keys that make you write things that would never have been said in public. Don’t give in to the urge to respond immediately in an angry fashion. Choose instead to let those emotions fizzle down, and then talk to that person either face to face or over the phone. Protect your reputation and keep from any embarrassment.

Quit Your Job

This is a deceptive way of avoiding conflict, but it will result in bridges being burned. When it comes time to quit your job, you owe your boss the respect of handing in your resignation face-to-face. Don’t take the easy way out—and earn a bad reputation—by quitting over email.

Those are four of the most common business email errors that you should avoid. Don’t let your reputation be hurt by this simple and useful tool for communication. Instead, start using proper email habits. Both you and your recipients will be glad you did.