Business is difficult, whether you work in an office or run a home business. I have learned a lot about running a business, both the right way and especially the wrong way.
As I've mentioned, I've had a few jobs that were really pretty miserable. It comes down a lot to how you're treated from the top down. If you're at the bottom of the pile, you can still feel happy and satisfied with your job if you do your best and people recognize that and treat you kindly. When you are asked to do menial tasks and people do not appreciate the effort you put forth, it makes it very hard to feel like you are a productive and welcome part of a team. When you're running a home business, it is still important to make the people working down your line feel important and listened to. The more positive and supportive you are with people, the more productive they will be.
Another issue with working in an office is when people simply cannot divide their personal feelings from their professional issues. It's normal and natural to get aggravated, frustrated, upset and even resentful of coworkers when there is a dysfunctional work environment. But if you can't make decisions or mediate without letting your heart take over where your level head should be working, you shouldn't be in a management or superior position. This makes the employees working under your care angry and resentful. They feel like they haven't been listened to and that they have nothing to offer the company. Keep your head calm and cool. Act, don't R E A C T. You can't control how people work, their actions, or what they say. But you can control how you react to a situation, and you can listen to all sides of the issue to carefully and logically reach resolution. You can either lose your cool and probably some respect and credibility, or you can stay calm and handle things at your very best. It's up to you. Only you can decide how your environment affects you.
Some great tips for working with people in general:
- Be kind. If people look up to you, you want them to respect you and feel comfortable talking to you about anything.
- Have great communication. You might not like everything you hear from people you are working with, but listen anyways. You never know when something important will come out of someone's mouth. And if you have a problem with someone, work it out. It NEVER works out when people bottle things up and let them simmer.
- Be helpful and supportive. People are often propelled by encouragement, positive feedback and having someone back them up. We, as humans, are insecure with ourselves as it is. If you find someone is great at what they're doing, let them know!! When did it stop being okay to give an "attaboy" now and then?
- Leave your home life and your emotions at home. Don't bring it to work. It's okay to make friends at work and have great relationships with people, but the more people know about your private life, the more you're asking for drama. Drama belongs on TNT, not in the workplace.
Now, I'm not a professional motivational speaker or life coach or anything like that. But I've had my own experiences, and I've had my share of feeling like gum under someone's shoe. It's not a fun place to be. I hope that I never in my life make another person feel that way, and if I did, it would never be on purpose. I would also hope that someone would be able to come to me and say "Hey! You're being a jerk! Knock it off!"
Next week will be more about approaching customers and clients, especially in the home marketing business aspect. I've had some great training and inspiration given to me over the last year or so, and I can't wait to share. Have a great rest of the weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment