The Disruptive Behaviours That Can Stop Your Career
If you’re looking to advance in your career, whether it’s with your current company or another, there are some things that you need to make sure you’re not doing to make the most of your chances.
Moving your career forward requires some sacrifices. Indeed, you often need to be ready to pack and move to follow the best opportunities. Unfortunately, if you have a family, this can be an impossible decision. Nevertheless, being able to demonstrate exciting skills and knowledge can help you to get that promotion you’ve always dreamed of.
Admittedly, to be in a position to show skills worthy of career progression, you often need to make time for training. From boosting your marketing profile with free Google marketing certifications to going back to university to get a business master’s degree, knowledge acquisition demands time and dedication time – time you can’t spend with your relatives.
Similarly, you also need to be stress-resilient, as moving your career forward is synonymous with new responsibilities. In short, keeping a cool head at the office can help you to climb on the professional hierarchy ladder.
However, there are situations when, even though you’re qualified for the role, you never managed to move your career forward as the result of other people’s behaviour. Indeed, have you ever stopped to consider what people could do that would block your career? Here are 5 of the most common disruptive behaviours and how it can affect your professional life.
Work-related injuries
Regardless of your particular work setting – whether you work in a factory, an office, or an office – it’s fair to say that you’ve probably encounter slippery surfaces. Falling on a slippery surface is a common accident in the workplace, whether the kitchen floor was wet or there has been an oil leak in a machinery room. But even though falling might be quite frequent, it doesn’t mean it should be taken lightly. In fact, many people can experience lasting injuries as a result of something as banal as a slippery floor.
Soft tissues injuries are the most common and can rank from minor ankle or wrist strains to tears in ligaments. If you’ve hit your head in the fall, you might have a concussion. Finally, broken bones and spinal cord injuries are less frequent but can be devastating. As a result, your career is put on hold while you recover. But you might want to find out if you have a work accident claim for your injury, especially if it was caused by someone else’s negligence. Indeed, claiming compensation can help you to adjust to recover medical fees and also to ensure your comfort if you need specialist equipment at home. More importantly, it also means that a colleague’s disruptive behaviour – aka not mentioning or dealing with the slippery floor – doesn’t have to put an end to your professional life.
Bullying and sexual harassment
Only 14% of people in the workplace have reported sexual harassment. However, according to eh BBC, the majority of victims – both male and female – prefer to keep their incidents secret. The reason, of course, is embarrassment. As a result, many employees leave their job roles to escape from a harassing boss or colleague, which can put their career at risk in the process. The definition of sexual harassment is vague and ranks from sexual comments to actual assaults. It’s fair to say that you need to be cautious, and not to confuse an innocent comment made in a candid conversation with harassment. However, it is easier to get in touch with the HR department to discuss your options.
Additionally, bullying is a severe issue in the UK with almost one-third of workers who claim to have been the victim of workplace bullying. With bullies using gender, disability, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation as a justification for their behaviours, nobody is safe from workplace abuse. These disruptive behaviours can drive people to depression and affect their career chances. If this happens, you can file a grievance with the HR department.
Workplace loneliness
It can seem strange to talk about workplace loneliness when offices have never been that crowded. However, more and more employees find it difficult to feel like anybody on the team cares whether they’re here or not. When lunch breaks are spent essentially watching a screen, it can be challenging to create a bond with your colleagues.
Contrary to the argument that claims you should suck it up and do your job, emotions affect your work performance. Feeling alone at work triggers emotional withdrawal from your company. As a result, you don’t act anymore as a committed member of the team and the effectiveness of your professional interactions suffers.
Unfortunately, most managers choose to leave you alone if they notice a withdrawal pattern, which doesn’t help to solve the situation. While it is your manager’s responsibility to ensure that you feel like you belong to the team, it’s fair to say that you will not find many bosses who will try to get you emotionally involved again. Consequently, it’s crucial that you look for friends on your team or outside your team to rebuild your emotional commitment.
Accent discrimination
Your accent can affect the way others perceive your competences. A northern accent, for instance, can land you in a position where employers don’t take you seriously. in fact, 38% of British employees feel they have experienced personal and professional prejudice over the way they speak. In other words, you might be discriminated against in the workplace because of your accent. You’ll be surprised to know that up to 80% employers make decisions based on your regional accent. But things look even worse for foreign accents. Non-native accents create a stigma that unfairly marks speakers as less competent than native employees.
Gossips
Gossips can dramatically damage the workplace atmosphere. Unfortunately, there is always plenty of gossip material for those who are happy to complain about a manager or a colleague. Unfortunately, gossips can damage your career in significant ways. If you take part of it, it makes you look less professional. If you’re the victim of rumours, you will find that these can harm your professional image. It’s key to learn how to stop rumours before they stop you.
From negligence to gossiping, the workplace is filled with unhealthy disruptive behaviours. Your best chance to combat these attitude is to be aware of them and understand your best course of action. Don’t let your career fall into the trap of negative colleague behaviours!