Have You Looked in the Mirror Lately?
Last night my supervisor started giving out performance reviews and pay raise notices. Some people were satisfied with their reviews and pay increases, others were not.
It’s amazing to me how many people think their poor review or low pay raise is the direct result of what someone else is doing or has done.
They don’t see the correlation between their own attitude and actions and the results. For instance, if there is an exceptional worker in the area the exceptional worker is at fault for setting the bar too high. If there is a person of a contrary nature who argues with everyone, that worker is at fault for being so hard to get along with. And if there is a worker who never seems to carry her share of the workload, that person is at fault because you’re so busy doing her work you can’t do your own.
You may work with people like I’ve just mentioned. I know I do! But to say that my work performance is directly impacted by their actions or attitudes is giving those people way too much power over me.
Let’s face it… if there is a high achiever around, you can do several things… you can watch and learn and improve your own performance; you can start competing with yourself at a higher level than you have been; or you can sulk and complain about how it isn’t fair that you have to work harder to keep up with the other person.
And what about the person who complains all the time? You can handle this person in several ways… you can remain professional and civil in your conversations but keep contact to a minimum and focused solely on work; you can share your woes; or you can sink into a gloomy, unapproachable mood that makes you just as difficult to work with.
As for the lazy person… I think their are people who don’t carry their weight in every workplace. You can approach these people in several ways… you can recognize the person’s good points; you can stop enabling the person to slack off by not doing his work for him (I know this often impacts what you can accomplish, but you can find a way); or you can let your work ethic slack off since the other person is getting away with it.
Where I work, I see people stepping in to the victim role. They aren’t at fault for their poor performance… someone else made them do it.
To that I say: “Phooey!”
Take a long, hard, honest look in the mirror… Are you doing all that you can do produce quality products or service? Does your attitude help to make it a comfortable work environment? Are your actions efficient and effective?
More than likely you’ll see that it is your own attitudes and actions that are contributing to your success or failure.
The good news is that you have control over your own attitudes and actions. You can make a difference in the results.
