I don’t expect perfection from my co-workers, employees, managers, etc.
I don’t expect days free from stress.
I don’t expect all work to get done accurately.
I don’t expect work to even get done on time.
I do expect composure.
In fact, I demand it.
Most of the situations I deal with in employee relations distill themselves down to someone (or a group of someones) losing their composure. It’s the typical “taking it to the next level” At first it was just an inaccurate report and then it became “well I didn’t like the way she talked to me!” My role then becomes resolving the operations/mis-communication issue and then tell all parties involved they could have handled it better.
But it happens all too often in the workplace, imo. Perhaps lack of sleep, being hungry, and stress just swirl together like a ticking time bomb until BOOM it explodes as an outburst. Some outbursts are downright explosive and obvious “You can take this job and shove it!” and some are like a slow leaking gas line waiting for a spark “Perhaps if I had been made aware of this before…”
Regardless, I think the biggest mark of someone who can be successful in the workplace is a person who maintains their composure among the chaos. The person who doesn’t take it personally. Doesn’t scapegoat. Doesn’t act irrationally. They just focus on moving forward and getting the job done.
In short – Gravitas.
Gravitas in the workplace is priceless. And those that learn the graceful art move up the ladder quickly as someone who can get shit done, despite the horrendous amount of white noise going on around them.
Do you have gravitas?
HRTact 