Behaviors that will Further Your Career Development

When last did you review your behaviors in the Workplace and identify whether they are serving you well and moving you closer to achieving your career goals
or contributing to your career stagnating, plateauing or even derailing from its career path?

Sometimes behaviors that were appropriate when we were growing up, often sabotage us as adults. One of the most insightful comments that I read on this
subject recently was " Success comes, not from acting more like a man, but by acting more like a woman, instead of a girl " (Lois P.Frankel, Phd).

How you Act, Think, Sound, Look, Respond, Brand and Market Yourself, that is - How You Play The Game, will determine the level of professional success
you will achieve.

Often smart, highly capable women unconsciously engage in self defeating ways detrimental to their career mobility.
Here are a few common behavioral mistakes real women, in business, engage in :

-> Avoiding office politics
-> Failing to define your Brand
-> Failing to capitalize on Relationships
-> Denying the importance of Money
-> Sharing too much Personal Information
-> Obediently following Instructions
-> Prematurely abandoning Career Goals
-> Staying in your Safety Zone
-> Asking Permission
-> Explaining
-> Taking up too little Space
-> Dressing Inappropriately
-> Taking Notes, making Coffee, making Photostats
-> Being too Patient

Let's discuss the first behavioral mistake, Avoiding Office Politics.

Politics isn't a four-letter word. Like it or not, it is inevitable. Politics is how things get done in business.
If you're not involved in office politics, you don't know how to play the game, and therefore can't possibly win.
 
Politics is simply the business of relationship and understanding the quid pro quo, (something in exchange for something else) inherent to every relationship.
Careers are made or broken in the workplace based on relationship. And when you need a relationship it's too late to build it.
You need to build relationships all the time and with different kinds of people. A successful workplace relationship whether with your manager or a colleague,
is one in which you clearly define what you have to offer and what you need or want from the other person. It happens all the time without naming it.
The trade is implicit in the relationship. Each time you go out of your way for someone or give them what they need, you've earned a figurative "chip"
that you can later cash in for something you need.

Coaching Tips

-> Approach political situations as you would any negotiation. Take time to find out what the other person needs, what you have to offer, and
     how you can facilitate a win-win situation.
-> Remember, quid pro quo, don't just give, think about what you want in exchange. Don't be afraid to cash in your chips, when required.
-> You can often win in the long run by giving up the smaller, less important points. When you do, you bank currency to be used by you at
     a later time.
-> Don't avoid what you perceive to be a political problem, people will only go around you.
-> Work through political situations in a way that allows others to see you as a problem solver, not a problem.
-> Follow the hidden rules that must be followed if you want to successfully maneuver the office political terrain.

Recommended Reading
 
The Secret Handshake : Mastering the Politics of the Business Inner Circle, by Kathleen Kelley Reardon.