Why You Should Be Nice To People At Work
Posted on December 3, 2009 in Productivity
(last edited on April 29, 2014 at 1:26 am)
(last edited on April 29, 2014 at 1:26 am)
A bit of unexpected wisdom from Miss J. Alexander, a runway model coach that is best known for his appearances on America’s Next Top Model, on why you should be nice to people on the job:
The worst habit a model could have is not being polite to the people that they’re working with, and not respecting them or the job. Some girls come into the job and don’t have a nice attitude towards the people that they’re working with. When you create great harmony at work, everyone gets the job done. I think a model should be able to come in and feel comfortable and make people feel comfortable around her.
** HEADSLAP **
I have never once thought about trying to create great harmony at work. I’ve tried to be nice to balance my tendency to be scarily analytical, but the scope of my ambition was merely to put individuals at ease. A greater harmony, though, is what I think we all seek on the job, which is the precursor of the flow state where everything’s going great and humming along. Must reflect on this more.
4 Comments
I completely agree with you here, but I find that in real life, it’s too hard to create that kind of harmony at work. It takes the cooperation of everyone, and one rotten apple can spoil the bunch.
I grew up in the South and the cardinal rule of etiquette is to make everyone as comfortable as possible. We’re even nice to people we can’t stand, it’s just minimal nice. It’s either very Zen or passive agressive, pick one. When you are cooperative with people at work, sometimes you get synergy, but mostly you get rid of all that negativity that creates a drag on the system.
A slightly related peeve for me is how nicely people treat wait-staff. I interview prospective partners, employees etc and if possible I like to see how well (or not) they treat a server at a restaurant, it is amazing to me the true read that provides.
I agree with this principle. I believe people do get more done when they work together in harmony. Thus, making more profit for the company.
I am lucky enough to work in an environment where people treat each other with respect. We know we each have a job to do and trust that we’ll do it well. It doesn’t hurt that we get along outside of work too. :-D
P.S. For tips in achieving harmony in business or in life, visit http://budurl.com/79e2.