Stop These Annoying Habits to Accelerate Your Career
Have you ever noticed some annoying habits of your peers that make you crazy at the workplace? Have you considered that management may take an even less positive view of employees who exhibit these traits? A recent survey confirmed your worst fears.
The Survey
Joseph Grenny, co-author of the popular book, Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success, created a telling online survey about this subject. 972 people responded with rather startling results and comments.
A full 97 percent responded that they have one or more career limiting habits (CLH) that have cost them compensation increases and/or promotions. Grenny also learned that most managers are skeptical that their employees will change these habits. Results indicate that managers report that only 10 to 20 percent of their staff ever makes meaningful changes.
Career limiting habits are those that often create an artificial “ceiling” on your ability to progress at your current employer and, probably, with future companies. While the survey identified a plethora of these habits, you should be aware of the most prevalent and career destructive tendencies.
The Most Annoying Habits to Avoid
Do any (or all) of these sound familiar? The combination of manager and employee respondents “agreed” that these were the top (worst) career limiting habits you could practice.
- Unreliability
- “It’s not my job” comments and philosophy
- Procrastination
- Resistance to and vocal dislike of change
- Negative attitude
- Disrespect
- Lack of focus
- Selfishness
- Passive aggression
- Risk aversion
These habits, particularly those in the top half of the list, have proven to generate career progression problems. Employees with any of these habits must change them if they want their career to accelerate. Should they continue exhibiting these habits, their careers will face serious long-term road blocks.
The responses from management, representing 50 percent of all respondents, indicate that career derailments will happen when employees exhibit these habits. This should dictate that employees avoid these annoying habits at all costs.
Should you already be afflicted with one or more of these, your challenge escalates. You must make long-term changes to eliminate each of these habits. Grenny offers some suggestions that others have used to defeat and eliminate these career killers.
- Commit to dogged, determined motivation. You must want, above all else, to change and jumpstart your career. Often, estimating the amount of money you will lose and the authority you’ll never enjoy by continuing these habits will keep your motivation strong and enduring.
- Develop skills and behaviors that identify you as a top performer. Most new habits also require new skills and abilities. In this case, you may need advanced training, seminar and workshop attendance, books, and/or Internet education. Understand that this step is not a complete program, but only an important component of your habit-changing plan.
- Walk with the hard workers and dump the workplace annoyers. Align yourself with the other high performers at your workplace. Surround yourself with the hard working doers and lose any relationship with the annoying peers who exhibit one or more of the behaviors noted.
- Locate an internal or external mentor. Everyone benefits from having a trusted mentor. If you can find one inside your company, you might also enjoy direct assistance up your employer’s career ladder. Even an external mentor will offer valuable support and knowledge that help you create more positive habits.
- Start a personal reward fund. As you reach short-term goals to change these habits, reward yourself using dollars from your personal fund. This component can become an additional strong motivational tool for you.
- Create a personal workspace that magnifies your motivation and performance. While you may have only limited control of your workspace environment, try to maximize the power of your surroundings. By improving your space or moving to a better location, you’ll find your new positive habits easier to adopt, internalize and follow.
The troubling habits the Genny survey identified are more than mere annoyances. Should you question the power of their negative influence, simply look inside your company. Consider the top performers and achievers. You will notice that most, if not all, high achievers do not exhibit any of the habits noted. Avoiding or changing these habits will open your career pathway. You might even jump on the fast track.
Eliminating these habits will improve your personal outlook and help you perform better. You’ll enjoy the workplace once again, while finding challenge and fulfillment with your job. You will notice a difference in your outlook, the response from peers and a newfound interest in you from management.