The Seven Professional Career Assassins

1-     Mediocre Implementation:

The quality of your work defines who you are, thus, if you seek acknowledgment as a professional in any field: you must execute your responsibilities with very high accuracy, consistency, and quality otherwise you will be known as an executer and not a competent and reliable handler.

Always remember "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit" Aristotle.

2-     Personalizing work issues:

Yes, your work defines you but its not you. Your work is an essential part that is integrated with other parts creating a masterpiece.

know that all stakeholders are discussing how each part can integrate cohesively to attain an objective not how you personally do things, thus focus on the below:

• -Ask for and Accept constructive feedback: to further enhance and develop your work in the manner and direction needed to ensure synchronicity.
• -Enhance your argument to show the ROI (Return On Investment) not prove your personal perspective on any matter.

Always remember "Its You and Me Vs. the problem not Me Vs. You". Anonymous

3-     Limiting your network:

One of the strongest assets of a professional is his network’s reach, quality, and reliability. Utilizing your network allows you to be more efficient. Just think of all the times you had to wait for something to get done because you do not know who to reach out to ??.

Example: You want to get a verbal confirmation on something and the person responsible is on vacation. Knowing his phone number will sure help; In case you do not have his number you will wait a whole day for a Yes Or No or search for his delegate.

Conclusion: Expanding and strengthening your relationship with your colleagues will definitely help you and guarantee a win-win situation (Your job is done and your colleague feels appreciated for helping you).

Three ways to strengthening and expanding your network:

• -Smile and great those around you.
• -Offer to help and support when possible.
• -Thank, appreciate, and give credit to those who support and help you.

4-     Acting upon assumptions:

One of the most dangerous things that you can do in both personal or professional life is acting upon an assumption.

Its much better to build your actions on facts that can be rationalized and the beauty of a professional work environment is that there is never a response like (mind your own business); simply because it is your business to know and understand otherwise you won’t be able to fully fulfill your role, however, sometimes you can get an answer like (Confidential), though at that point no action is usually required from your side anyways.

Always remember: Ask instead of assuming -- understand before you act.

5-     Stealing credit:

Literally most people take credit steeling as being bullied, thus, at some point they must retaliate and hit you were it hurts. Being robbed of your efforts and hard work makes people feel less motivated and engaged in their jobs, as a result, their performance declines, therefore, you will go down either because there is no credit to steal, Exposed for stealing other colleagues efforts, or finally you go down as a bad leader who cannot attain results.

Always remember: “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation” Herman Melville

6-     Personal development dependency:

Many employees make the mistake of depending on their employers/managers to generate a development plan for them to follow, however, what if they are not interested in developing you!.

We are all in a job because of our competencies and aptitudes, thus, it makes sense that a positive relation between our skills and our market value exists, therefore do not be lazy honing your skills by depending on others. Understand what would boost your skills and help you advance in your career; consult your employer/manager on the best way to attain your goals but never stand still otherwise you will find the gap between what is new and what you already know increasing constantly.

Always remember: Take the initiative towards advancing yourself and responsibilities, otherwise, you will be personally decreasing your chances of getting a promotion or a bigger role!!

7-     Throwing the blame

NOBODY LIKES A BLAMER; Specially when its work related. Everyone is trying their best to get the job done so when you point a one finger at them be sure that three others are pointing back at you!!

We are adults who live, learn, and develop therefore, taking responsibility and using it to your advantage is the best strategy to advance. Think of it this way:

• -  Take responsibility for your issues.
• - Understand what is wrong and work on fixing it.

As a result you will earn the following:

• - The trust, respect of your superiors.
• - Score a quick win by showing that you can learn from your mistakes.
• - The support of your coworkers.

Written by Ahmed Heikal in Sep-2020

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