Mistakes to avoid making on your first day of work

You have just recently changed your employment with another Company. The day before you commence your work, you would get the butterflies and anxiety wondering how your first day of work will be.

You ask yourself if you should just be yourself, or should you be friendly. You pause and then think to yourself what if they think I am overly-friendly? Would they have their own usual lunch gang? You start to worry.

Here are the following tips to making your first impression at work

ASK QUESTIONS

You’ll likely be asking your new colleagues about questions at work instead of their own personal life on your very first day. This would be the most interaction that you would have with your new colleagues. It is most definitely all right to ask questions as jargons could be overwhelming an intimidating. If you are concerned that it will make you look stupid, then you will really end up being stupid because even the most experienced people ask questions – which shows you are curious enough to learn.

Secondly, do not even apologize for asking questions. It will just appear very negative to your colleagues. Instead, you can thank them for their time. This will allow you to start on a good start with your new colleagues for appreciating them.

BEING SITUATIONALLY READY

If you feel you are still too shy to ask too much questions, or if you feel that your colleagues or managers are always unavailable because of their tight schedules, you can ask them to divert you to someone who is more readily available to share information with you, or resources. Therefore, onboarding process is crucial for new hires.

ATTENTION YOUR EMAILS ONLY TO THOSE WHO NEED THEM

One of the most annoying thing is clearing emails, obviously. One email do not have to be copied to everyone. Generally, your emails should only be send to someone who you are expecting a response from. The others in copy of the email are basically kept in the loop but need not respond.

If you are replying emails, keep it short but not too short. You do not need to type paragraphs to convey a message across, but it need not just be “noted” as well. Take your time to understand how your email can value add your colleague’s time.

FORGETTING PEOPLE’S NAME

It is perfectly all right if it’s your first day and you forget people’s name. It will not be all right if it is after a week. Secondly, if people correct you with regards how to address them – it will be good to have an apology although you might be embarrassed. People will appreciate that.

PRETENDING TO KNOW YOU KNOW A LOT AND PROVE YOUR OVER CAPABILITY

If you are tasked to do an assignment, it is all right to ask for guidance. What bothers is when you agree to complete to do the tasks, but has clearly taken the wrong direction to complete the tasks. That will be a waste of everyone’s time.

If you share that you are unsure of how to complete the tasks, it shows you are courageous, honest and able to identify your personal strengths. It is also important you understand your flow of work and understand how your work can affect your colleague’s deliverables as well. It is fundamental for you to understand the rationale and the roots of why you are doing what you are doing.

If you are overloaded, talk to your boss about it and assist them to help you prioritize what is more important to complete. Making mistakes and knowing your limitations will help your colleagues respect you better. If you have made a mistake, it is important you acknowledge it rather than hide from your mistakes. Acknowledge the mistake and keep moving forward.

Building a Successful Company Culture

Empathy, a common word but also often a skill that companies might not practice. Employers should be aware of own's and employee's feelings, needs and concerns. Research has shown that being empathetic helps boost morale, reduces misunderstandings and disputes while building a long-lasting relationship all together. 

To practice empathy in a workplace, one has to take note of the following points.

Be attentive

It's human nature that we usually forget to consider how others are feeling, which is usually the reason why misunderstandings and disputes happens creating a stressful working environment. One needs to take time aside to understand each other's feelings before passing comments about any issue.

Always be mindful about how the other party is conveying the message, which include their facial expression, gestures or any other factors verbally and non-verbally and revert in a supportive manner.

Lend a listening ear

Listening is one of the key factor to a successful business. Listening to others helps redirecting one's personal goal into those of the team, which would help company's career advancement leading to a successful company.

Staying on the same track

Studies shows that empathy is the most essential factor when comparing to job performance.

Getting to know your employees better helps the company work towards the common goal, resulting in a more efficient working culture.

Even though profit plays a big part for a business but working in a profit oriented company would mean that its success is driven by the expenses of its employees, which will lower their morale and productivity, making them emotionless and always in great pressure.

Employees plays an important role in any successful business, engaging in a more empathetic approach would help boost the productivity to create a more conducive working environment leading the business to success.  

Effective Exit Interviews

Exit interviews are conducted on the last couple of working days with the employees and are administered by the Human Resource (HR) department. We should give exiting employees that we are keeping information in strict confidence and they can speak their piece of the mind.

You are not conducting exit interviews to keep the employee nor persuade the employee to retract the resignation. You want to find out on what can be done further to mitigate or reduce the rate of resignation.

Always explain the purpose of exit interview

We need to address to the exiting employee that the exit interview is not conducted to put blame on anyone but to prevent further losses to valued employees. You want them to speak the truth as much as possible to have an accurate assessment or analysis for any changes ahead.

Conduct in private, and must be one-to-one

Never let employee think that you’re ganging up with someone to forcefully question him. More interviews might look intimidating and exiting employee might appear less reluctant in honest speeches.

Have a set of standard questions ready.

You need the information for further assessment and analysis. Set standard questions, however, if you feel that you need the employee to elaborate further, you should write it in where appropriate. The set of questions may change accordingly for different level of employees. You might want to understand a different point of view from the rank-and-file and also the management and executives employees.

Keep all info in strict confidence

As much as you don’t like others speaking behind your back, then do not be the shit-stirrer. No matter what the employees has said, all information should be dealt properly with strict confidence. Assure the exiting employees that information is used for assessment and be used anonymously. This shows the professionalism of the HR team too.

Tabulate all information

If the reasons on why the company cannot detain valued employees and are the key reasons on highlight, you might want to set up a committee from different HR functions to come together to explore possible ways to prevent further losses. Some actions can be acted upon immediately but of course, if there are major improvements to be acted upon, it takes time and justifications to convince the management for approval.

Recharged on Your Off Days!

Taking a break is the best way to keep yourself going in your career. Let go of all work-related matters, from emails to phone calls to messages. Never check any of them to re-energize your body and mind. If you keep going back to your work matters, you’ll probably get back to work and felt you have never rested!

Think through what you want to do on a good rest day, never stumble off with a list of things to clear and yet again, rushing through the short frame of time that you must clear the list.

Never Check Emails.

Start your rest day with a piece of mind. Stay away from the electronic devices to check on your emails. Yes, some of our works will require us to return responses as soon as we can. But that again, you know it’s a rest day, you get back when you are able to respond. If there is anything that is urgent, the other party should have rung you up and not wait for your respond over emails.

Prioritize on the important errands.

While you are trying to clear up your personal errands on a rest day, never allow it to take up the whole day. Before you realized that you are done with the errands, you are already exhausted to even catch up with yourself.

OH, and one thing to remember - try keeping the errands around the proximity so that you do not spend too much time running from point to point.

Hit the Gym! Sweat it out!

The rest day gives you the chance to restore yourself physically and mentally, so never get yourself stuck in front of the TV or computer, like any other typical day in the office. It does not help because you get back to office with the same old lethargic motions.

Even if you do not hit the gym, go for a jog or brisk walk, to sweat it out. Make the heart beat like never on a normal day! Exercises do help in increasing positive endorphins and help you clear the stressful mind to ease your anxiety.

Rekindle Friendship.

You can even use this time to meet up with long-lost friends who may happen to be their rest days too. As you grow up, you come to realize that your friends are busy with their daily lives and catching up with time after work, which leaves totally no time for others.

When you meet your friends after work, we will always be looking at the time ticking away, worrying for the last bus or not catching enough sleep to focus at work. Meeting in the day time can gives achieve a more productive catch up, no need to rush home for work on the next day, making it more fruitful.

3 Simple Tips To Have Better Water Cooler Conversations

Interactions between colleagues is one of the ways to quickly grow a conducive working environment. While safe topics about work and weather reports are common in the office, it takes more than that to be able to establish yourself as a co-worker and friend. Being able to hold good conversations in the office helps to lighten the mood, introduce yourself as a valuable personality to the rest, and can be especially helpful in awkward elevator situations.

Of course, one must balance out their time between doing proper work and talking to others at the office, unless it is a networking event. There are usually short amounts of time one can chat freely, such as lunch breaks, or crowding around the common water cooler. While it is tricky to turn short nuggets of conversations into meaningful chats, there are certain ways that can guarantee better exchanges between the two parties.

START THE BALL ROLLING WITH THEM

It is the end of a long weekend break, so there is no time better than now to ask what’s new with your colleague. Starting the conversation with a genuine interest in the other party is a powerful way to get the ball rolling as people like talking about the topic they are most comfortable with: themselves. It also helps you to get to know your co-workers better, and builds a mutual sense of respect and trust. Although, be careful not to be too intrusive as it might be touch on some private aspects of their lives, so finding a neutral balance is key here.

CHOOSE TOPICS THAT ENCOURAGE OPINIONS

Getting someone’s opinions create an opportunity for one to embrace differences and learn from the other. Sticking to topics that are routine or ordinary will get the conversation flow nowhere, usually leading to stagnant common ground. Instead, try to bring in topics like favourite television series or cuisine genres, where you can make certain stands and voice them out. This encourages healthy debates that can strengthen and stimulate the mindsets of both sides. At the end of it, new information may be shared during the process to help colleagues learn from one another, which can either help to augment standing opinions or form entirely new ideas.

FOLLOW UP ON OLD CONVERSATIONS

There is nothing more sincere than remembering an old conversation, perhaps one that got interrupted previously or left hanging for future catching up. If the conversation is worth a rehash, bring it up with your colleague to connect with him or her on a deeper level. It shows that the conversation is important enough to be recalled, or that you have new things to add to the conversation, like additional titbits or other information. It also allows for you and your co-workers to develop fresh perspectives on an old topic, encouraging a more meaningful exchange this round.

How should you handle favouritism?

The interesting thing about this article, is that it is for the one that is shown favouritism as well as for the others affected by it. How bad can it hurt right if you are the one receiving the compliments? At the very least, you know you are performing in your manager’s eyes.  However, do you want your career progression to be based on how well you are performing in the role or would you rather it be because of how good of the relationship you share with your managers?

Think about your co-workers. How would they credit your promotion? Would they have been given equal growth opportunities for career advancement? Would they have thought that performance is linked to career advancement?

Give the benefit of the doubt

Understand if this is a usual practice, by your managers. Try to understand if the treatment is specially for you, or do your managers encourage the others in their little ways as well. Is the manager showing you more interest compared to your colleagues? Do your other colleagues perceive your treatment as unfair as you deem it to be?

It is of this stage that you should also distinguish Favoritism from performance recognition. Have you been given the extra attention because of the overtime you have put into the company, or that you have went beyond what was expected to earn the confidence of your managers?   

Talk to them, Tactfully

Being the one that your manager would be more receptive to, you could have the power to recommend an objective approach. You could probably recommend justifying who should be the one who should be taken the role, or even the key client to the rest.

You could also encourage a more inclusive team, whereby you could propose names on taking up certain responsibilities, as well as be the one sharing positive reviews of other colleagues, whose effort could not have been realized by your managers