What’s the most important skill you can demonstrate at work?
I’ll give you a clue – it’s nothing to do with photocopying your arse.
It’s showing integrity, by being straightforward and honest.
It’s saying you are going to do something then doing it.
This is not the same as saying you will try to do something – that’s just bull. Making a commitment to doing it or not is the only way to go.
Saying you are not going to do something is fine too. It’s sitting on the fence that will do the damage.
I bet we have all worked with someone who says they will complete a task, today. And when tomorrow comes, guess what…it’s still loitering around. It’s bloody annoying – right?
I bet we have all been in the situation where we said we would do something, today. And when tomorrow comes, oh crap…I forgot about it. That’s even more bloody annoying – right?
If either of these happen once then it’s not so bad, but if this is a pattern in a colleague or yourself then there are big problems just around the corner.
It would be better to say upfront that you are not going to do something, than to say you will and then not deliver. People will respect you much more for saying no in the first place.
Let’s play a game.
Dilemma 1. During a meeting you realise you’re not adding any value and your time would be better spent elsewhere. Do you:
Stay in the meeting, say nothing
Get your phone out and update your Facebook status to ‘I’m still a twat’
Give your reasons and leave
Dilemma 2. Your colleague keeps saying that they will do something today, but they don’t. Do you:
Stop asking them about it and make a mental note not to ask this person to do anything for you in the future
Do 1. and also bitch about them behind their back
Be curious and open by asking them about it.
Dilemma 3. After spending longer than expected completing a level of angry birds whilst taking a massive dump, you realise you are 5 minutes late for a meeting. Do you:
Not go to the meeting and when asked later pretend you got called away to work on something more important
Crawl along the floor commando style into the meeting and hope no-one notices
Stroll in to the meeting and say ‘sorry about that, I was doing a massive dump.’
As per De La Soul’s hit ‘3 is the magic number’.
Ask yourself this – would you rather spend time with someone who tells it like it is or someone who tries to bullshit you?
Who would you rather be?
If everyone was even 10% more straightforward and honest, (I have no idea how we could actually measure that!) it would be so much better at work each day. If we told the truth to each other about how we felt. If we stopped sitting on the fence and thought about making a commitment we can stand by before saying we will or will not do it.
Well it all starts with us. Today.
I commit to showing integrity at work today. Do you?