Just in time for Halloween, a survey by Accountemps reports on what frightens employees. According to the results, 28 percent of respondents said making a mistake on the job is their biggest workplace fear.
Workers were asked, “Which one of the following is your greatest workplace fear?”
Here are their responses:
- Making errors on the job (28%)
- Dealing with difficult customers or clients (18%)
- Conflicts with your manager (15%)
- Speaking in front of a group of people (13%)
- Conflicts with coworkers (13%)
- No fears (3%)
- Other (7%)
- Don’t know/no answer (4%)
“Mistakes will happen from time to time, and a healthy concern for avoiding them improves job performance—as long as that concern doesn’t undermine one’s confidence,” said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Managing Your Career For Dummies(®) (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.). “Fear of failure holds many people back in their careers, but without smart risks new ideas would never take shape.”
You know your managers could do a better job if they were trained—and now BLR® offers you an easy and affordable way to get that done—with our TrainingToday® 24/7 online Leadership Library. Get more information.
Like successful trick or treating, navigating frightening workplace situations requires forethought and the right approach. Accountemps offers these five tips:
- Plan your route. A long to-do list would scare anyone. To ease workload-related worries—and be more efficient—prioritize your responsibilities and delegate, when possible.
- Ask for directions. When facing a challenging project or new responsibilities, make sure you know what is expected of you. If you have concerns, let your manager know, and work with him or her to develop a strategy for overcoming them.
- Bring a friend. Don’t be afraid to tap a mentor for advice when faced with a challenge. When preparing a critical project or communication, ask a confidant for his or her feedback.
- Say “thanks.” Whether it’s for candy or help with a difficult task, a sincere thank-you can go a long way toward building strong business relationships.
- Give out treats. Volunteer to assist overburdened colleagues, and be quick with praise for those who deliver outstanding work. You’ll make people—including yourself—feel good and foster an environment where colleagues help one another on a regular basis.
This survey was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with 420 working adults 18 years of age or older and employed in an office environment.
Notice that three of the top five fears involve dealing with difficult clients or customers, conflicts with managers, and conflicts with coworkers. Can you relate to these fears? Could you use some practical advice for working with and managing challenging personalities?
Worried about ever getting your managers and supervisors trained to be effective leaders? It isn’t easy to fit it in—schedulewise or budgetwise—but now there’s BLR’s Leadership Library for Managers and Supervisors. Train all your people, at their convenience, 24/7, for one standard fee. Get more information.
Meet the Challenge
There’s one in every workplace—that coworker who simply can’t get along, follow the rules, or abide by social conventions. They range from being a little annoying to being real trouble for a manager or employer.
Most organizations require teamwork, and even if the challenging personality in your workplace is considered a high-performer—a genius essential to success—the challenges he or she presents can undermine their successes and make working with them a detriment rather than an asset. Sometimes a manager would just rather avoid the problem, hoping it will go away. But it won’t.
And inconsistency in dealing with obnoxious or worse behavior can result in low morale companywide. Join us on November 7 when our presenter will provide concrete advice for managing challenging personality types, including how to deal with the difficult employee who can throw a wrench into everything simply by being himself and how to defuse the situations such types create.
“Managing Challenging Personality Types:
Dealing with Bullies, Idea Killers & Smart Slackers”
Live webinar coming Friday, November 7, 2014
1:30 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern/10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Pacific
You’ll learn:
- How to identify the challenging personality—diva, compulsive perfectionist, and more
- Specific tips for dealing with each of the following types of problematic employees:
- the Bully
- the Gossip
- the Passive Aggressive
- the Idea Killer
- the Saboteur
- the Injustice Collector
- the Challenger
- the Plow Horse
- the Problem Child
- the Avoider
- the Over-Achiever
- the Under-Achiever
- the Smart Slacker
- How to create a working environment that inspires employees to work as a team
- Strategies for predicting and defusing emotional blowups or meltdowns with employees, leaders, or client/customers
- How to address problems with challenging personality types before they become unmanageable
- How to create relationships that motivate employees, including challenging ones, to share the goals of the company
- Communication and listening tips that help him or her gain awareness of the problem
- How to assess the employee’s benefit to the organization
- Documentation strategies to use with difficult employees
- When termination may be the best option
In just 90 minutes, you’ll learn practical tips to ensure that your team is not adversely affected by the challenging personality in your group, no matter how integral that difficult employee may be to the organization. Sign up here risk-free!