Practical Practice Management A Division of Top Practices

A while ago I read an article called 10 tips for better karma at work.

Sometimes you can just feel it when you go into a place of business that there is just something not quite right there.  It could be bad karma hanging over the workplace.

We probably have all experienced what I am speaking of, the office just feels a bit toxic.  The hard part can be trying to put your finger on what is causing the toxicity.

After reading the article above I realized that these 10 tips for creating good karma in the workplace were also 10 good reasons, if they weren’t followed, why the workplace can become a toxic dump.

Take these three tips for example;

1. Talk less and listen more.  By practicing this you not only hear more you learn more about those you work with.  You also will hear more about what is going on in your workplace.  Just the opposite when you work with someone who talks all of the time and no one can ever get a word in, they become like a dripping faucet that is annoying and you just want to turn them off.  Get a couple of this type in the office and you can bet that more talking is going on than work is being done.

2. Avoid controversial topics.  This sounds like a great rule to follow in creating good karma anywhere.  Again, there are those who like nothing more than to bring up issues to people they know do not agree or it is upsetting to them.  I worked in a place that several of the employees liked a certain football team and one employee did not.  Every Monday when the other employee’s football team didn’t win this one employee would parade up and down the workplace talking about all of the mistakes the other team made.  Now if you are a super sports fan you would not like this at all and it was totally unnecessary.  He did it just to get the other employees upset.  Keep the peace at work no matter what it takes.  Leave controversial topics at home.

3. Seek clarification. This is always the best policy when you want to know exactly what is going on.  Then there are those in the workplace that like to tell stories of what they think they heard or what they think they saw.  They love stirring the pot of uncertainty and adding a bit of gossip to go along with it.  Instead of buying into what they say, let them know that you are going to go straight to the “horse’s mouth” and find out for yourself what was said, and then do it.  This will stop people with this bad habit right in their path.  They will think twice about telling you something that they think they know, this type can really create BAD karma if allowed to continue their bad habit..  Seek clarification and then get back to work.

Take a look at the article to see the other 7 tips on how you can create better karma at your workplace.

2-10-20