Workplace Wisdom I ...Just do your own thing

For eight hours a day, day after day, you see the same people. Coming from diverse backgrounds, you are thrown together to pursue n common goal.  Except for this goal, you may not have anything else in common.  This situation can become unbearable or enjoyable – depending upon your attitude and that of your colleagues.  If the intention is to try and be one up on your fellow workers, there are problems ahead. On the other hand, if it is to stand shoulder to shoulder and discharge your collective responsibility amicably, there is fulfillment and a sense of satisfaction.  Peer group dissonance stems from a feeling of insecurity.  Instead of doing your own thing, you are worried about how your colleague is faring, how many times the boss sends for him, how many of his assignments he has to complete and so on.  This constant and supposed threat to your position diffuses your concentration which affects both your performance and your relationship.

The first thing to realize here is that each of you has been selected for a specific job and the very fact that you are there is a pointer to your being needed.  Your work does not get better or worse vis-à-vis the other person’s work.  You are playing different roles which are perceived as such.  Instead of competing with your colleagues, how much better for your blood pressure and peace of mind if you could co-operate with them, complete your own task and be friends. Thereis plenty of food in the plate, no one need grab it. Avarice for the others’ share breeds suspicion, mutual dislike and envy.  We want for an opportunity to put down our colleagues and this is as bad as letting down the side.  Why is there this constant urge to be a winner at the expense of making sure someone else is portrayed as a loser?  It is this tendency which takes you off the straight and narrow path and instigates you to resort to underhand means to gain recognition. Instead of concentrating on your work, you will start looking for ways of ingratiating yourself with your bosses, doing things other than the job you’ve been hired for. This results in mediocre performances.  “That’s the only way to stay ahead of my colleagues” is the rationale but why should we stay ahead of another while we have our own pace to keep? For most of us there is little time left for social life after work.  Our maximum interaction is with the people with whom we are thrown together during the best part of the day. The better we get along with each other, the happier the day is spent. You are more likely to complete your day’s task if you work in a congenial atmosphere because you’re thinking faculties function better.

 Piled- up trays and pending jobs are often a result of a disturbed mind which keeps plotting

and planning to put the others down.  May the better man or woman win!

Chances are that it might be you!