Help People First

Happy Monday, Sisters!

This week’s tip is something I’m passionate about, and something that I will always insist will help make our corporate world a nicer place. And it works.

This doesn’t mean that you should do nice things for people/coworkers so they’ll owe you something in return. What I’m saying is if you’re kind to people, and you make other’s lives easier, they’ll be more willing to help you and work well with you in the future.

Think about your coworkers - on your team and on other teams - that you work with frequently. Who would you be willing to go out of your way to help? Who will you respond to fastest when they message you a question? Who will you get deliverables to first? Definitely the people you like! And what makes us like coworkers? They’re easy to work with, they make your job easier, and you just simply get along with them. 

Now flip that scenario. If you make other people’s lives easier, they’ll make yours easier! Offer to help cover something while they’re on vacation, or take something off their plate if they’re overwhelmed one day. They’ll (maybe subconsciously) return deliverables to you more quickly, respond more quickly, or be willing to step in and help with a project that you’re working on. The math is there, people! Take the first step.

It doesn’t have to just be that you go out of your way to help people with things that aren’t your job; you can simply make sure you’re doing your job well enough that it’s allowing other people to do theirs. I’ll give an example:

Let’s say you’re a copywriter for a newsletter. If you’re late turning in the copy, the person publishing the newsletters might need to rush to get the emails scheduled as a result. You’re making their job harder. (Luckily, I only have myself to blame since I’m currently both).

But let’s say you’re ahead of the game, and you’re consistently several weeks ahead on the copy (my dream!). Then they can get ahead on scheduling, and no one’s stressed! This is a very basic example, but you get my drift. 

Here’s the big picture: you don’t have to wait for someone else to start the trend. The kindness and collaboration will make its way back to you!

Until next week, ladies! Remember, you can either kick this week’s ass, or let it kick yours.