Happy Monday!!! Back to the salt mines as my dad used to say. Today we are back at work. I know you guys are kick ass in the office, setting goals and accomplishing major boss stuff. However, I know we all have our off moments. So this week I want you to pay attention to your office etiquette and behavior and make sure you are not being a Joy Thief at work.
We all work or have worked with Joy Thieves. I’m sure you are imagining one right now as your read this. The thing is we want to make sure we don’t become the Joy Thieves. I have come up with a quick list of things you should avoid doing or stop doing so that no one imagines you when they think of the office Joy Thief.
How did I come up with this list? Unfortunately these are all behaviors that I have experienced or witnessed in the workplace in the last several weeks. So, if you are dealing with any of these bad behaviors or office etiquette violations know that I sympathize.
Here goes. Avoid these misdeeds and etiquette blunders so that you won’t become the office Joy Thief.
- Do not make decisions that you will not have to take responsibility for without informing the person that will responsible. This is pretty basic but it happens all the time. Especially since so many of us work in team environments where we all have different responsibilities on the team. Yet, one person will volunteer the team without actually speaking to the team member who will have to do the task. Don’t do that!
- Do not repeatedly ask for status on tasks that are not urgent. Let me clarify. When I say repeatedly I mean do not ask a person for status on the same tasks 4 or 5 different times with a single work. Especially if the task is not urgent but just something that you’d like to see done before you leave early or take personal time off. When you do this I guarantee you make your co-worker want to move your request to the bottom of their to do list. Also, when you do have something that is indeed urgent they will be less likely to act quickly. You know that who l boy who cried wolf thing.
- Do not, I repeat do not put someone on speaker phone without asking them first and briefing them on the issue. There is no worse feeling than having a co-worker call you to their desk or stop you when you are walking by and witness them hitting the speaker button to include you in the conversation when you have no clue who is on the line or what the issue is. I thought this was basic office etiquette but it happened to me just a couple weeks ago.
- Do not make passive aggressive statements to your co-worker in an attempt to get them to rank your stuff higher on your priority list. Here is an example of how this went down in my office. A co-worker asked me did I do something for them yet. I explained that I had a few other things then I’d get to it. A short time later the same co-worker see’s me respond to a notification on my cell phone and asks me did I have a company cell phone when they know darn well that only upper management is issued company cell phones. Needless to say the time it took for me to explain the way cell phones are distributed only further delayed me in getting to their task.
- Last but certainly not least do not submit the same task in different formats at the same time in hopes of getting it approved quicker. I don’t know about your office but at my office there are many ways to submit work to an approving official. Our system allows us to send work through one of our software applications. We can send an email. Some tasks allow us to print things out and place them in a in box or basket on a co-workers desk. We can write a note on a post-it and leave it on a co-worker’s computer. Lastly, can even go up to them and have a conversation. What you should not do is submit the same task in multiple formats at the same time. This will make your co-worker feel harassed. Here’s a tip harassment does not build trust and trust is super important when it comes to building great relationships at work and everywhere else. The best thing to do is ask how the approving official wants to receive work and submit it in that format.
As you get your work week keep these office misdeeds and etiquette tips in mind and Do Not Be The Office Joy Thief.
