6 Ways to Kill your Career (Without Knowing it)
There are many reasons why people lose their jobs. Most of these reasons, such as stealing, harassment, absenteeism and poor performance, are pretty obvious and can be mitigated against. But there are some hidden career killers that can blindside you and destroy your career without your awareness, even though you have been showing up at work every day, meeting all your KPIs and refraining from theft or harassment.
Becoming aware of these secret career killers is the first step to gaining victory over them. The second step is learning how to combat them, so you don’t fall victim to them.
Below is a list of largely unknown career killers, with well-researched tips on how to avoid them and preserve your career.
1. Clustering in cliques
There is this feeling of belonging and security that you get when you join a clique, whether it is in school, church or even at work. But being in an office clique can be dangerous for your career when you become branded for your clique, and not for yourself. In such a situation, anything any member of your clique does will impact your career. If a member of your clique falls out of your favour, is not being targeted for a leadership position or is laid off, it will have an impact on your career as you will be painted with the same brush as other members of the clique.
In a work environment, it is better to mix with people and broaden your network, instead of deepening it. Develop relationships with people that are outside your aea of expertise and expand your network outside your industry, your area of expertise and your comfort zone. Doing this will help you develop innovative techniques that will protect your career from the effects of career destroying cliques.
2. Low emotional intelligence (EQ)
Emotional intelligence is the new holy grail for office environments. You need to be emotionally intelligent. This goes beyond being able to work with others or refrain from fighting. It also involves the ability to control your facial expressions. You should not be broadcasting your boredom, anger or irritation on your face in the office, even though you are bored, angry or irritated. And if you think someone is saying something stupid but you don’t want to interfere, don’t let your thoughts show on your face. It is important to be self-aware and to refrain from belittling others or being overly emotional as doing otherwise will make people tiptoe around you and could do great harm to your career.
Also try not to spread negativity or moodiness as this would make people uncomfortable around you, which will not do your careers any favours. A survey conducted earlier this year
revealed that employers value the ability to coordinate well with others and regard it as one of the most priceless, much sought after skills that are needed to excel in the work environment in 2020.
3. Trying too hard to be interesting
Sometimes, in a bid to make people like you, you might find yourself trying to make yourself look interesting. This is not a bad thing of itself. It becomes a bad thing when people can tell that you are putting in effort to look interesting as this makes you seem self-centred and desperate. When that happens, your efforts will end up having the opposite effect from what was intended by putting people off you.
Instead of trying hard to be interesting, try looking for sincere reasons to like other people. Ask them questions that show that you are curious about them. This will in turn, make them curious and interested in you.
4. Over-promising and under-delivering
It is very easy to over-promise to your colleagues, clients and bosses. Most times when you over-promise, you will genuinely believe that you can achieve the goal you are over-promising on, and won’t realise that you have over-promised until it is time to deliver and you are unable to.
There is no point in creating additional pressure on yourself and making yourself look bad.
If you promise to do something in 2 hours, and you know that the thing usually takes 4 hours, but somehow you are able to do it in 2 hours 30 minutes, you will think you did a good job, because that is a new record. But it is still bad, because the moment you promise something to someone, they expect nothing less. Even when you deliver fantastic work in realistic deadlines, if it is less than what you promised, the recipient will be disappointed.
It is better to set realistic and achievable deadlines and goals so that when the time comes, you will be certain of over-delivering on the realistic expectations that your co-workers have of you.
5. Sucking up to your boss.
This is a sure way to kill your career. For a healthy boss-employee relationship to work, it must be based on merit, on authenticity and on respect. When you are constantly stroking your boss’s ego and sneakily trying to earn his favour, you will earn the ire of your co-workers who are trying to earn his favour on merit, and you will lose the respect of your boss.
Yes, it is important to have a good relationship with your boss, but not by underhanded gestures that have the effect of undermining your colleagues.
Perform your job function exemplarily well. Treat your boss with respect and make his job easier for him by being an exemplary employee, and watch as he automatically starts to favour you. But don’t try to sneakily earn his affections as this is likely to backfire on you and ruin your career.
6. Fear of change
People say that change is the only constant thing in life. Whether you like it or not, you work in a constantly changing industry, with new innovations springing up here and there. You need to be poised and ready to innovate or you will be rendered obsolete. Do not become one of those employees who says “But that is not the way we do it”, when there is no reason to keep doing it that way.
According to a recent survey, 91% of respondents believed that the most successful employees are the ones that can easily adapt to the dynamic workplace. You don’t have to love change, just stop resisting it and start adapting to it. Don’t hold on tightly to the status quo as it can cost you your career.
So there you have it, five sure ways to kill your career. Arming yourself with this knowledge is the best way to protect yourself and ensure that you don’t fall victim to any of these career killers as you navigate your office environment in this new decade.
Becoming aware of these secret career killers is the first step to gaining victory over them. The second step is learning how to combat them, so you don’t fall victim to them.
Below is a list of largely unknown career killers, with well-researched tips on how to avoid them and preserve your career.
1. Clustering in cliques
There is this feeling of belonging and security that you get when you join a clique, whether it is in school, church or even at work. But being in an office clique can be dangerous for your career when you become branded for your clique, and not for yourself. In such a situation, anything any member of your clique does will impact your career. If a member of your clique falls out of your favour, is not being targeted for a leadership position or is laid off, it will have an impact on your career as you will be painted with the same brush as other members of the clique.
In a work environment, it is better to mix with people and broaden your network, instead of deepening it. Develop relationships with people that are outside your aea of expertise and expand your network outside your industry, your area of expertise and your comfort zone. Doing this will help you develop innovative techniques that will protect your career from the effects of career destroying cliques.
2. Low emotional intelligence (EQ)
Emotional intelligence is the new holy grail for office environments. You need to be emotionally intelligent. This goes beyond being able to work with others or refrain from fighting. It also involves the ability to control your facial expressions. You should not be broadcasting your boredom, anger or irritation on your face in the office, even though you are bored, angry or irritated. And if you think someone is saying something stupid but you don’t want to interfere, don’t let your thoughts show on your face. It is important to be self-aware and to refrain from belittling others or being overly emotional as doing otherwise will make people tiptoe around you and could do great harm to your career.
Also try not to spread negativity or moodiness as this would make people uncomfortable around you, which will not do your careers any favours. A survey conducted earlier this year
revealed that employers value the ability to coordinate well with others and regard it as one of the most priceless, much sought after skills that are needed to excel in the work environment in 2020.
3. Trying too hard to be interesting
Sometimes, in a bid to make people like you, you might find yourself trying to make yourself look interesting. This is not a bad thing of itself. It becomes a bad thing when people can tell that you are putting in effort to look interesting as this makes you seem self-centred and desperate. When that happens, your efforts will end up having the opposite effect from what was intended by putting people off you.
Instead of trying hard to be interesting, try looking for sincere reasons to like other people. Ask them questions that show that you are curious about them. This will in turn, make them curious and interested in you.
4. Over-promising and under-delivering
It is very easy to over-promise to your colleagues, clients and bosses. Most times when you over-promise, you will genuinely believe that you can achieve the goal you are over-promising on, and won’t realise that you have over-promised until it is time to deliver and you are unable to.
There is no point in creating additional pressure on yourself and making yourself look bad.
If you promise to do something in 2 hours, and you know that the thing usually takes 4 hours, but somehow you are able to do it in 2 hours 30 minutes, you will think you did a good job, because that is a new record. But it is still bad, because the moment you promise something to someone, they expect nothing less. Even when you deliver fantastic work in realistic deadlines, if it is less than what you promised, the recipient will be disappointed.
It is better to set realistic and achievable deadlines and goals so that when the time comes, you will be certain of over-delivering on the realistic expectations that your co-workers have of you.
5. Sucking up to your boss.
This is a sure way to kill your career. For a healthy boss-employee relationship to work, it must be based on merit, on authenticity and on respect. When you are constantly stroking your boss’s ego and sneakily trying to earn his favour, you will earn the ire of your co-workers who are trying to earn his favour on merit, and you will lose the respect of your boss.
Yes, it is important to have a good relationship with your boss, but not by underhanded gestures that have the effect of undermining your colleagues.
Perform your job function exemplarily well. Treat your boss with respect and make his job easier for him by being an exemplary employee, and watch as he automatically starts to favour you. But don’t try to sneakily earn his affections as this is likely to backfire on you and ruin your career.
6. Fear of change
People say that change is the only constant thing in life. Whether you like it or not, you work in a constantly changing industry, with new innovations springing up here and there. You need to be poised and ready to innovate or you will be rendered obsolete. Do not become one of those employees who says “But that is not the way we do it”, when there is no reason to keep doing it that way.
According to a recent survey, 91% of respondents believed that the most successful employees are the ones that can easily adapt to the dynamic workplace. You don’t have to love change, just stop resisting it and start adapting to it. Don’t hold on tightly to the status quo as it can cost you your career.
So there you have it, five sure ways to kill your career. Arming yourself with this knowledge is the best way to protect yourself and ensure that you don’t fall victim to any of these career killers as you navigate your office environment in this new decade.
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