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One of the problems I had at my new job was how to address people. For instance, we have a couple of powerful women in the front office, and I'd hear some people use their first names, others would say "Ms. ******"" using their last names. When in doubt, use an honorific.
In this case, even if people are calling them by their first name, I'd still call them Mr. **** or Mrs. **** unless they say to call them something else. A "yes/no sir" "yes/no ma'am" goes a long way too.
Some of the managers in the stores I support prefer Mr. or Ms., so that's what I use. I've known some of them so long, though, that Mr. Davis has become Mr. D and Ms. Jones has become Ms. J.
I would like to chime in on Being a quick study; I am guilty of acting as though I understand everything that is told to me the first time when I know that I didn't even remotely understand anything. I have gotten better at listening and hearing what was asked of me and I also ask lots of questions.
Someone shared a story with me that fits in with this thread. In fact I exhibited some of those traits but I finally learned that while displaying technical proficiency and efficiency are important most people are just as impressed with how you carry yourself, treat other people and respect their knowledge. I would drop a tidbit of knowledge around people and quickly learned that it did not matter.
The story: A newbie was given a position in a company and definitely came in guns blazing. He was a "I going to do this, change that, fix this, why don't you try it this way" type of person out of the gate before the ink on his first check dried (figuratively speaking of course). As a result many co-workers just preferred not to work with him or worked with him as little as possible. Not sure how the manager handled this.
Not that his talent or abilities were in question, but his approach to people and their work affected their view of him and most did not desire to work with him because they knew that he would try to dominate the discussion, take over the project or force his two cents into the equation and would frequently give recommendation on how to fix this process or change this program when no one asked for any input.
There are also reports that this person tried to manipulate other workers to get what he wanted and crossed technical boundaries on more than one occasion. As a result, he was viewed as untrustworthy by many colleagues.
I was told that several co-workers kindly took him aside to give him the pep talk about his work style, but he did not change. As far as I know he has not committed any fire-able offenses, and still works for the company, but his style of work may have cost him a promotion or two because that "I am smarter than you approach" has stuck with him.
Lesson learned, hopefully
The story: A newbie was given a position in a company and definitely came in guns blazing. He was a "I going to do this, change that, fix this, why don't you try it this way" type of person out of the gate before the ink on his first check dried (figuratively speaking of course). As a result many co-workers just preferred not to work with him or worked with him as little as possible. Not sure how the manager handled this.
Not that his talent or abilities were in question, but his approach to people and their work affected their view of him and most did not desire to work with him because they knew that he would try to dominate the discussion, take over the project or force his two cents into the equation and would frequently give recommendation on how to fix this process or change this program when no one asked for any input.
There are also reports that this person tried to manipulate other workers to get what he wanted and crossed technical boundaries on more than one occasion. As a result, he was viewed as untrustworthy by many colleagues.
I was told that several co-workers kindly took him aside to give him the pep talk about his work style, but he did not change. As far as I know he has not committed any fire-able offenses, and still works for the company, but his style of work may have cost him a promotion or two because that "I am smarter than you approach" has stuck with him.
Lesson learned, hopefully
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