EPISODE 42 (50) HIGH MAINTENANCE - it’s short-sighted to be high maintenance at work

Being hard to manage can be toxic even for people brilliant at their job.  Nor will your talent always protect you from losing out on significant opportunities.  Being labelled as over-demanding or problematic to work with can damage your prospects. It may place an invisible question mark over your head about your long-term aim of being a success. 

Those responsible for handling challenging behaviour at work say things like:

·        “She spends more time looking for another job than the one we gave her” 

·        “She’s convinced that nothing we do for her is good enough.”

·        “Yes, terrific in the job, but he always acts like he’s indispensable.”  Once you acquire a reputation for being high maintenance, people will start avoiding you. At first, you may not notice, but they may even exclude you from events, discussions, or sharing vital information.  

Soon, you're out of the loop because nobody wants to be around someone selfish, complicated, or insensitive.

What are the signs that you might be high maintenance? First, you get by delivering only enough to give others hope that there will be more, but it never comes.

Second, you keep offering up inferior work compared to others. You may not know that right away and assume that all is well. 

A third warning sign is that you keep making mistakes. While forgivable, these force others to keep doing damage limitations due to your deficiencies.  Hoping it will get better or not caring will be a poor strategy for success. 

The opposite of being high maintenance is being easy to work with. People gravitate towards you, and new opportunities keep coming your way. There are many small steps you can take to be anti-high maintenance. Andrew lists a few of them in today's podcast, and you can check them out by re-listening it at the website www.50Ways.site.

A takeaway from this : Become aware of what makes a high-maintenance person at work and make sure people find you easy to work with. You'll also learn how to obtain the relevant e-learning mobile unit to consolidate your learning further. All 50 Ways podcasts end with three actions you can take today to do better. COMING SOON!

•  Assignment Addict—never refuse an assignment.
• Feedback friendly Dealing well with negative feedback.
• Pay rise—how to get one and will it make you a success?

Can't wait for Series 2 to run its course? Then buy Andrew's new book, published on Amazon, and there's also an Audio version. Further reading and videos: Andrew recommends some useful follow-through material which you can find for each episode at

www.myhappinessatwork.com/reading/categories/research-reading

and

www.myhappinessatwork.com/watch. BOOK: The 50 Ways to Succeed at Work book is a standalone companion to Andrew Leigh's weekly podcasts. It's an essential resource for all job starters and those at work for a few years. Dip in and out and take what seems helpful.

www.myhappinessatwork.com/book