Human Resources professional Elisa Garn has advice on being a good employee without being a brown noser.
1. Be genuine. Your coworkers can sense if you`re being phony and you will likely lose their respect and interest if they feel this way about you.
2. Remember details - Especially names (and use them)! Expressing an interest in others is a great way to show you are engaged and want to know more about those you work with. Just be careful not to break rule #1.
3. Integrity, humility, accountability and attitude are the 4 pillars of success for any employee, at any level, in any company. If you have these 4 characteristics (which can`t be taught or trained), you are guaranteed to do well in your career.
4. Practice good listening skills. There is an expression that says, 'God gave you 2 ears and one mouth for a reason - You should listen twice as much as you speak.' Good listening skills are difficult and take a lot of work and self control. Since most people hear others and wait to respond, it is challenging to really focus on what they are trying to communicate without unintentionally hijacking the conversation by interrupting.
5. Avoid sacrificing relationships for personal gain. Although it can be difficult not to tattle on your colleagues or managers, understand professional maturity in the workplace is something most businesses are starving for. With 5 generations now mixed into our working world, it has become difficult to establish and maintain trust and understanding across generational and cultural gaps. Unless the information you have is potentially damaging to the company or could hurt others, keep it to yourself. Remember the advice from mom? 'If you don`t have anything nice to say, don`t say anything at all.' Avoid office gossip at all costs and give your coworkers the benefit of the doubt. After all, you would hope they would do the same for you.
