Travis Bradberry* lists a string of social habits to be avoided in the workplace if we want to succeed in the 21stcentury.
Experience and knowledge are rapidly losing their relevance to success in the workplace.
Harvard economist, David Deming studied workplace tasks from 1980 to the present day and found that those that emphasise social skills grew by 24 per cent.
At the same time, tasks requiring technical know-how and intelligence experienced little growth.
He also found that salaries increased the most for jobs that placed extra emphasis on social skills.
It means those that lack those skills stand out like a zebra in a field of horses.
We all know the types: The person who won’t stop talking when you’re trying to meet a deadline.
The one who blatantly takes credit for your ideas.
Or the one who callously leaves you to pull an all-nighter to fix their mistake.
There are a lot of otherwise intelligent people who can’t stop shooting themselves in the foot.
Their lack of self-awareness and social skills are massive detriments to their careers.
Social skills and self-awareness are matters of emotional intelligence (EQ). Those who lack it are at a significant disadvantage.
There are certain types of people whose lack of emotional intelligence harms their careers more than others.
By studying them, you can avoid becoming one of them.
Do you see bits of yourself in the following profiles?
If you do, use that knowledge to build your self-awareness, make adjustments and grow as a person.
The coward:
Fear is an extremely powerful motivator.
In the workplace, people overcome by fear resort to irrational and damaging behaviour.
Cowardly colleagues are quick to blame others and to cover up important mistakes, and they fail to stand up for what is right.
The Dementor:
In J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Dementors are evil creatures that suck people’s souls out of their bodies.
Whenever a Dementor enters the room, it goes dark and cold and people begin to recall their worst memories.
Ms Rowling said she developed the Dementor based on highly negative people — the kind who have the ability to walk into a room and instantly suck the life out of it.
Dementors impose their negativity and pessimism upon everyone they encounter.
Their viewpoints are always glass half empty, and they can inject fear and concern into even the most benign situations.
The arrogant:
Arrogant people are a waste of your time because they see everything you do as a personal challenge.
Arrogance is false confidence, and it always masks major insecurities.
A University of Akron study found that arrogance is correlated with a slew of problems in the workplace.
Arrogant people tend to be lower performers and more disagreeable and to have more cognitive problems than the average person.
The group-thinker:
Group-thinkers choose the path of least resistance and are famous for propagating the “this is how we’ve always done it” mentality.
If you find yourself getting brainwashed with what everyone else believes, be careful; the status quo never leads to greatness.
The short-changed:
They are quick to blame their lack of accomplishment on a lack of opportunity.
While a lucky break may put a little wind in a successful person’s sails, they got where they are through hard work.
What the short-changed don’t realise is that their attitude is what’s short-changing them, not their circumstances.
The temperamental:
Some people have absolutely no control over their emotions.
They will lash out at you and project their feelings onto you, all the while thinking that you’re the one causing their malaise.
Temperamental people perform poorly because their emotions cloud their judgment and their lack of self-control destroys their relationships.
Be wary of temperamental people; when push comes to shove they will use you as their emotional toilet.
The victim:
Victims are tough to identify because you initially empathise with their problems.
As time passes, you begin to realise that their ‘time of need’ is all the time.
Victims actively push away any personal responsibility by making every speed bump they encounter into an uncrossable mountain.
The gullible:
You can’t help but feel sorry for the gullible type.
They’re the ones who find themselves babysitting the boss’s kids the morning after pulling a late night of work . . . on a Sunday.
For whatever reason, gullible people (often newbies) go with the flow until the gentle river becomes a tumultuous ocean.
It’s okay to negotiate your salary; it’s okay to say no.
You’ll earn a lot more respect if you stand up for yourself when the time is right.
The apologiser:
For every person out there who owes an apology, there’s another who apologises too often.
People who lack confidence are always apologising for their ideas and actions.
They fear failure and believe that apologising will act as a safety net.
Instead, unnecessary apologies cheapen their ideas and make them less likely to stick.
None of this behaviour is a career death sentence because they can be eradicated through improved emotional intelligence.
All it takes is a little self-awareness and a strong desire to change.
*Travis Bradberry is the co-founder of TalentSmart, a provider of emotional intelligence tests, emotional intelligence training, and emotional intelligence certification. He can be contacted at TalentSmart.com.
This article first appeared on the TalentSmart website.
