Hi, everyone, hopefully you're having a wonderful week. My name
is Shevonne. And I talk about productivity work life in
general. And I delve here there are things about management, and
career. And that's what I want to talk about today, right now,
everyone is probably going through the performance review
period, or is ending, if not, is probably starting up soon,
especially for the younger generation that's up and coming.
I wanted to give you some tips that I think will definitely
help you in your career. And these are more not really having
to do with career path and those type of things more about just
how things work at work, and I'm going to be honest with you, is
not going to be pretty. But guess what, that's what it is to
be an adult, things are not pretty. It seems like you think
you leave it behind when you leave elementary school and high
school and stuff. Sometimes you think that you leave the
bullying and all that stuff behind, but you don't. So let's
get started talking about some insightful advice that I would
give my kids, my niece, my nephew, about work, the first
thing is at work, you have to be very professional, there
probably is situations that if you were outside of work, you
would probably handle differently. But at work, you
can do those things, you have to have a level of professionalism.
Even if someone is pissing you off, you have to basically check
them in a way that is not insulting is not degrading, and
it makes you cover yourself. The first thing that I would do is
anytime that you're meeting with someone, especially you're
having some type of conflict with them, make sure you follow
up via email, because you don't want it to get to a point that
it escalates. And then you don't have any paper trail to back you
up. Make sure that you document everything. It might annoy the
other person, but who cares, this is your career. This is you
making sure that you cover yourself. So anytime you speak
with someone make sure that you send a follow up email in that
email, they can respond if they think that there is something
that you didn't really get, right. But at least you have a
paper trail that goes with that. So if it ever escalates, you at
least have documentation to support you. As well as never do
I ever want it to get to this point. But I know that in my
career, I have met people who have had to escalate to even a
higher level even one time, there was one woman who had to
actually hire attorneys. And that is why it's so important to
document the other thing as well is do not get involved in the
office gossip. If someone comes to you talking bad about
someone, especially if it's your boss, smile and walk away or
smile and just say like, Hey, I feel a little uncomfortable with
this conversation. Let's just end it right here. You do not
want to get involved with that. Because I know that in high
school, I used to love gossiping in high school and man, it bit
me in the ass. And now as an adult, I'm like, Oh my God, why
the hell did I do that. But you know, as a teenager, you don't
you don't think about it. So you don't want it to get to that
point where someone's bashing someone, you get involved in
that bashing. And then when it gets down to it, that person
that was talking, all this junk will go to the person,
especially if it's your boss, which you never want to do, and
tell them like she said this and that she said that. So don't get
involved with that life is too short. You don't want to get
involved in that drama. I'm not gonna lie to you. I don't like
getting involved in the drama, but I'm the person with the
popcorn in the back. Just watching. I love reality show.
So my nephew. And I always joke about that, like, we don't like
to be involved in the drama, we just like being on the side just
like eavesdropping or just like eating popcorn. But no joking
aside, just don't get involved in that it is not going to serve
you at all. And the other thing too is I have met like I still
am really great friends with these two women that we
basically started our careers together and we actually worked
in the same place and that's how we became friends. But that is
usually not the norm.
So one thing to be cautious about is the fact that you can
be friendly with your co workers, but don't be over
friendly. And I mean in the sense of don't talk about your
personal life. I'm a very very private person, and like pulling
teeth to get things out of me. And I think the reason why is
because I saw how some of my family members just blurted out
their business to everyone. And it really hurt them doing that.
One thing is, is just keep your personal business to yourself.
Don't tell them about your family in the sense of like the
negative things that are happening. Don't even tell them
about the positive things that are happening. Yes, you could
say like, oh, I went on a trip with my with my family, or Oh,
my kids and Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, like those type of
things, but don't get involved in telling them like the deep
level, the type of stuff like I'm having issues with my mom, I
paint my brother, oh, my gosh, let me tell you this dirty
family secret. Just don't, because people tend to sometimes
use things against you. So keep those conversations to your
therapist, other family members who you trust, and to your
friends. Do not ever talk about your personal business,
especially the deep level stuff to your co workers. The other
thing too is you want to treat people the way you would like to
be treated. So if you don't like being treated a certain way,
don't treat other people that certain way either, especially
when you get higher up and you become get into more senior
level positions. There are people who get let that get to
their head and man, their ego gets huge. Don't be that person
be a little humble. Remember where you came from, remember
the struggles that you've had to deal with because a little
secret the majority of us, we're going to have some struggles in
our careers, anything in life is not perfect. So you're going to
have to struggle, you're going to probably end up with a toxic
boss, you might end up with a toxic co worker or a toxic work
environment or a toxic client, but is the way that we handle
it. We are not people that are not in control of our lives. So
don't ever get to that point where you go tit for tat, do the
type of like revenge thing, just don't get involved in that just
treat people the way you want to be treated. Be very nice. Try to
help the people that are up and coming, help them mentor and
coach them. I've seen some people that they try to keep
everything to themselves, so they won't be expendable. Guess
why it doesn't matter, you're still expendable. So my thing
is, is you'll actually be more respected. And if it ever comes
down to it, they probably will keep you more than someone who
is very hard to work with. So just be a good person, be kind
to your co workers, be kind to your team members help the up
and coming people, it will pay off just being kind and I'm not
saying do it. Just for the accolades No, do it because you
just want to be a nice person. And that is very important than
just anything but is mainly at work. Because yes, people
especially the higher up, they get their egos get big as crap.
And it's just so disheartening to see. So just don't be one of
those people. And the last tip that I'll leave for you is,
Don't be one of those people that say that is not in my job
description. Especially if you work in a smaller company, you
want to be that person that helps other people. A it will
help you figure out what you really love to do, especially if
you don't really know what you want to do in your career, it
will help you because you'll be delving into areas, B people
will see how amazing you are and that you really are trying to
help the team. So you will, if there ever is a position that
comes up, guess who will be the first person that people think
about you. So just think about that and just consider that as
well. I hope that that that was helpful. I probably have other
tips out there. Let me know if you'd like to hear them. I have
been working since I was 15. And I'm in my 40s now. So it's been
a lot of different jobs, different positions that I've
had. And I've definitely learned a lot throughout that. I will
say that even last year, I'm different. And I feel like I'm
better than I was last year because I am someone who's very
self aware of the things I need to work on.
I love constructive feedback. I don't understand why people
don't. If someone is being very respectful of their feedback,
take it because it will help you times. So let me know if you'd
like to hear these advice that I have learned throughout my over
20 plus years of working and I will talk to you next week. Bye