3 Ways to Avoid Drama At The Workplace

Dating Colleagues

This suggestion comes from personal experience. Involvement with a colleague, whether you work with them or not, is just a bad idea. Rumors are inevitable, not to mention all the he said, she said crap that gets distorted as the rumors travel. There’s a chance of a positive outcome, but those chances are very slim when compared to the vast majority of work relationships that turn out sour. Since I work in the IT department, special rights give me the ability to access almost any workstation in the network. The thought of crossing ethical boundaries ran through my mind several times, and fighting those intentions was something I’d rather not have dealt with.

Follow the Chain of Command

Managers and supervisors, private and public sector, really disapprove of skipping a link in the chain of command. If an issue arises that demands the attention of a higher up, go to your direct report, not the CIO. Even if a delegation of authority exits, refrain from mentioning the issue to the delegated authority if at all possible. There’s an excellent chance the delegated individual has twice the work load, and unless your issue is mission critical, they don’t need or want to hear about it anyway. Incorrect flow will more often than not cause discrepancies between you and your direct report, making the work environment a little bit less pleasant for both of you.

Keep Your Personal Life Personal

Each day I can’t help but overhearing mindless non sense about nothingness. The new high score achieved on Guitar Hero the night before, or how much was spent on lunch the previous day and the debate on whether or not to start packing sandwiches. SHUT UP already, it’s not relevant to the task at hand and accomplishes nothing. Go sit down and do what you’re paid to do instead of wasting your and my time talking about absolutely nothing, and yes, it’s nothing because the minute you leave my office, it’s all forgotten, fortunately. There’s absolutely no need to share your desire for cats whenever I’m forced to leave my computer to send a paper fax that probably won’t go through successfully the first time. Keep these irrelevant, useless comments to yourself and do what you’re expected to do - WORK.

References to church or some other righteous organization you participate in during your pathetic weekend isn’t worth mentioning either, just stop it, please.