Ditch the drama

Every organisation has its share of ‘drama’; office politics, managers with big egos, constantly complaining staff; fact is we each occasionally contribute to this ‘drama’. But to be seen consistently as a drama queen or trouble maker can hurt your career. Here are some typical ‘drama’ behaviours to avoid.

TOO EMOTIONALLY INVESTED: Engage with your organisation, your job and the ongoing priorities and important projects. When you are too invested, you take things too personally. Emotion is important to keep the workplace ‘human’ but so are logic and commonsense. Operate with a good balance of ‘head and heart’ so that you don’t you don’t feel let down or think the ‘system’ is being too hard hearted. Also to check that you are being over sensitive.

TOO FOCUSSED ON SELF: Whether you work alone or as part of a team aim to work well with others and consider the needs of others alongside your own. Sometimes you have to look out for yourself; and that’s fine especially if there are circumstances concerning you personally that you need redress for but as rule of thumb, make team work a priority.

QUICK TO BLAME OTHERS: When you point fingers for what’s going on( or not going on) with you, you create unnecessary tension. ‘Blamers’ often assign motives to what others do and often judge these motives negatively. You demonstrate your ‘drama’ when you feel you act like you are on the receiving end. Start looking at things objectively. It can be hard, commit to it, it’ll pay off.

INFLEXIBLE IN THE FACE OF SURPRISES: Unpleasant and inconvenient surprises come up all the time. The speed of change these days is such that to expect that your work day will go according to the way you have planned it is to set your self up to be frustrated. Learn to adapt and expect that up to some of what you set out to do on any given day might to be overtaken by other work. Being open to the unplanned makes it easier deal with it.

BEING A PROBLEM MONGER: Such people don’t seek to find solutions but can’t seem to help telling others about problems that exist including their own. There might not be anything inherently wrong with letting people know about problems if the intention is to generate answers. Otherwise, it raises stress levels unnecessarily. Discuss problems with those involved with the solutions or with friends( not everyone in the corridor) if your aim is to let off steam.

NOT TAMING THE EGO: The ego in full bloom wants approval, attention, applause, validation. And where these are not forthcoming, they sulk and are unhappy when others get attention. A healthy workplace would normally give appropriate praise and recognition where due but when you constantly seeks it you become ‘emotionally expensive’ for your employer; as peace loving colleagues spend time feeding that ego instead of getting work done.

Now take action: What negative or excessive behaviours do you need to drop?