Follow these 3 simple practices and win the respect of your colleagues and seniors at office.
You must have experienced a lot of your friends and colleagues, while discussing their work life, complaining about lack of respect, aggressive and non-cooperative behavior of their co-workers and a general atmosphere of unpleasant-ness at office. May be you also have experienced instances when you thought that you are working in a jungle where everyone is after eating you alive. While reflecting on some of these instances, you genuinely felt that people were mean to you without any reason although that you are “usually” nice to them.
In the following lines I will talk about developing 3 practices which if followed regularly will tremendously help improve the response of co-workers towards you and make your day at work something to look forward to.
Gain EXPERTISE. Ann Landers said that "opportunities are usually disguised as hard work so most people don't recognize them". A lot of people work so they can get a paycheck that can settle their bills and help them live a certain lifestyle. This is obviously important however it should not be the only reason or the main reason to go to work. In my experience, the most cherished (and most successful) workers by the organization are those who are extremely good at what they do. They are not the people who work halfheartedly and just come to office to kill their time but are those who feel pride in their work and try to deliver the best possible product. They continuously learn what is required for a good delivery by putting extra hours and efforts to excel in their trade. As a result of all this hard work and commitment, they are taken as experts in what they do and are respected and consulted by everyone around.
Stop Backbiting. Some people try to improve their own image, in the eyes of colleagues, by downplaying the personality and productivity of others. It has never worked in the past for anyone and it will never work in the future. The most respected workers are the ones who never badmouth anyone and if faced with tough situations, they admit of their own weakness instead of putting the blame on others. These people may lose the argument at the moment but win the hearts forever.
Have Patience. The great poet and Sufi master from 13th century Turkey, Rumi (www.rumisays.com) has this beautiful quote on the worth of patience “Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process. It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn”.
After doing their part of work, namely developing expertise and refraining from backbiting, the smart person does not try to rush things and show impatience. Rather he/she lets the time element play its role and sow the seeds of respectfulness and pleasant feeling in the hearts of co-workers and seniors. Fruits of these seeds are plenty, sweet and delicious.
At the end it all boils down to the type of energy you are emitting out to the space and the world around you and the type you are receiving and absorbing back. When your heart is willingly ready to accept people around you and treat them nicely and with respect then nine times out of ten they will do the same to you i.e. being nice and respectful. The tenth person will also come around after sometime...due to your quality of being patient!