実践ビジネス英語 Friday, January 18
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Teenager's Life Lessons at Work (6)
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1[S]: Now in our current vignette, the H&B staff talk about "first-date" rules that their parents taught them that also apply in the workplace. These include being courteous to people around them, dressing nicely and being punctual. Were you told such things by your parents, Heather?
2[I]: Yes, though, more in the context of life in general, as I recall. My mother's most frequent advice about dating was always have enough money to pay for dinner and a cab ride home. That way, if things went badly and my date left me in the lurch or I wanted to get out of there, I wouldn't be stuck unable to pay the restaurant bill or without a safe way back to my apartment.
3[S]: Hmm... very sensible. Did your parents tell you something else that's proved beneficial at work over the years?
4[I]: Certainly. One of the most valuable pieces of advice they gave me was not to try and spin my mistakes. Of course, no one likes to look bad, and the instinctive desire to escape can be very strong, but it's just counterproductive in the end. No one is perfect, and honestly admitting our mistakes leaves a far better impression than trying to weasel our way out of them.
Fessing up lets other people know they can trust what we say. Spin makes us look fallible and sneaky. I also remember my father telling me when I left the U.S. for Japan after college, "Don't look back, and remember that everything tends to work out in the end." And the years have certainly proved him right. We should learn from the past but not harp on it. And many developments or situations that I thought were the end of the world at the time were ultimately resolved just fine. Or if not, they at least taught me something important I needed to change about myself.
5[S]: The H&B staff also discuss the importance of listening to others, a practice Bill Nissen describes as something of a lost art.
6[I]: That's very true, and in the aforementioned spirit of full disclosure, I will admit that I'm often not the best at listening myself. I've actually chosen this as one of my New Year's resolutions for 2013 to make a conscious effort to speak less and listen to the people around me more carefully.
I've often read that it helps to make resolutions as specific as possible. So I'm thinking of a target along the lines of "ask at least one question for every statement made by my conversational partner."
I have also been guilty of multitasking when people spoke to me in the past. Uh... though I've been making sure not to do that for the last few months. One of my coworkers actually called me out on it recently. And he was quite right. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just trying to be efficient. But as Breakstone says at the end of the vignette, it is rude.
7[S]: Another point made at the end of the vignette is that wearing headphones at the office is highly detrimental to one's career.
8[H]: It absolutely is. I worked with someone once who wore headphones at their desk and it made a very bad impression on everyone in the office. This person seemed to be saying, "I'm not one of you. I don't need to be engaged in what's going on around me." I often listen to music on the way to work, but my earphones come out the moment I enter the lobby. As far as I'm concerned, once I pass that door, I'm not the "private me." I'm the "employee me." And I have to act accordingly.
