If you’re an up and comer in the business world, it’s easy to look at someone like Steve Jobs- a well known jerk – and think that you too should act that way to be successful. Not so, my friend. Jobs may have been successful, but he’s the exception to the rule.
Michael Hyatt, a well known coach and former CEO of publisher Thomas Nelson, offers these four reasons kindness can be good for your career:
1. A bully thinks he knows the answers so he won’t get ahead. If you’re focused on winning at all costs you can’t stop and see that other people can and will help you win. If you’re focused on knowing all the answers you won’t create an environment for innovation. You have to open your mind, heart and ears to what the team can offer.
2. A bully hogs the spotlight and takes all the credit. If you’re focused on getting more credit from the higher-ups than your team or peers, then you’re hampering enthusiasm. Everyone needs praise and to feel valued. If you hog all the praise because you’re taking credit for other people’s ideas, then you’re hindering production. You have to acknowledge others when they do something right, and tell the higher ups if a great idea wasn’t your idea.
3. Workplace bullies micromanage and mistreat people. There’s a TON of evidence that empowerment, empathy and respect are what get results. Micromanagement just doesn’t work. Focus on trusting your peers and your team.
4. Workplace bullies don’t set clear expectations. If there’s no clear expectations then people can’t get their work done. Clarity is so, so, so valuable to success of individuals, teams and the company at large. Without it, the team will fail. Be sure your instructions for work assignments are clear, your expectations about performance are clear, and your goals are clear.
