You would think I’m crazy, and I probably am! But during these years, and listening to and reading about performance evaluation feedbacks, attending exit interviews, focus groups, etc. I found out that success in the path of someone in a company is a dance of two.
You have probably read in magazines stories about old couples, or perhaps your own parents or grandparents talking about that “secret recipe” for a long-life relationship. Well, I think that recipe is the perfect one to have a challenging and happy long-term path in a company.
Let’s see how the ingredients of that “secret recipe” can apply to an employee-employer relationship:
Passion
You have to believe in the project you are involved in, share the vision and the values the company promotes, taking them as if they were your own. This is the engine, “that thing” that keeps you motivated and with the energy to give all of you to look forward and to keep you always thinking about what else you can do to make things better.
On the other hand, the company must constantly feed that passion. Challenging you with new things to learn, new responsibilities to deal with, etc. And also, the company should reward and recognize your achievements and efforts, treating you as an individual and not as a number.
Communication
The company should keep you up to date about changes or news that occurs in the company related or not to your daily work. And why do I say this? Because if you feel as part of the project, you will need to know what’s happening around you in order to feed that feeling of “Being Part of something” and that your contribution matters to something big.
As well as the company has the responsibility for keeping you up to date with the latest news, you are also responsible for letting your manager know which are your feelings, what you like or dislike, propose alternatives when you consider somethings is not right, etc.
Honesty
Intimately related to the previous point, in an employee-employer relationship honest communication must always prevail. Don’t be afraid of letting the other know what you think, as long as you communicate respectfully, it won’t be taken in a bad way (and if it will, then probably it is not your place). Being honest with each other will contribute to building a trusted relationship. And if you have a trusted relationship, you will have the possibility to be more independent and new challenges and opportunities to grow will appear.
Negotiation
There will be lots of things in which you don’t agree with others, you won’t agree with everybody, never in any company!! But you can find areas of agreement, listen to each other, understand each point of view, expose your thoughts and show yourself open to finding a common solution.
Showing openness will help each part to be much more flexible to adapt or even change their ideas or thoughts.
Patience
A company is composed of lots of people with a purpose and a global goal in common to achieve. But in the middle, you have people with different priorities, different urgencies, a budget (never enough!), etc, etc.
With this complex scenario, it is not easy to come to a solution or a definition. It is necessary to be patient. Remind the other that you are waiting for a resolution, ask for status and expect an answer with solid content. If you receive feedback with a good explanation asking you to wait a little longer, then take a deep breath, and wait.
Don’t forget, as a couple is a dance of two, the same happens in a “company relationship”. Though in this case the company has more tools and power of decision, you should take the responsibility of doing your part. It would be a good idea to evaluate each of these points before complaining about something.
I hope you find this post useful, not only for your career but also for your personal life 🙂
