The Way of Workplace Etiquette - Office Survival Game Rules

Author: Xia Yuquan / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: "Exactly so," Chalmers continued. "Now, I want to tell you that your sales performance is exactly the same as it was a year ago: the same regions, the same targets, and the same business conditions. But your sales results are worse than a year ago. Whose fault is it? Yours or the customers'?" The salespeople answered in unison, "Of course, it's our fault."
"I'm glad you're honest enough to admit your mistakes," Chalmers said. "Now, I want to tell you. Your mistake lies in listening to rumors about the company's financial difficulties, which affected your enthusiasm. As a result, you didn't work as hard as before. If you go back to your sales regions and promise to sell 5 cash registers each within the next 30 days, the company will have no financial crisis. Will you do that?" Everyone said, "Yes," and they indeed achieved it. The excuses they had once emphasized—economic downturn, lack of funds, people waiting for the presidential election results to make purchases—disappeared entirely.
In the workplace, the same work environment can lead to different work performances. Many people, when they do poorly or face difficulties at work, often like to make excuses, proving their inability to succeed as unavoidable. Some are frequently late or leave early, blaming their distance from the office or traffic congestion. When they don’t work hard, are lazy, or fail to meet deadlines, they use the excuse of "too much work and heavy tasks." When leaders assign tasks, and they don’t take the initiative to figure out how to complete them, they claim the task is "too difficult." And so on.
In reality, the real reason for making excuses is a lack of effort. But when people make excuses for too long, it’s easy for their attitude toward life and work to become skewed, leading to a decline in ambition and responsibility. With a lackadaisical attitude and lax discipline, it becomes hard to achieve anything. In the workplace, if someone wants to grow and develop, they must overcome the habit of making excuses for failure. Can making excuses solve any problems? Can it turn failure around? Can it earn sympathy for success? Never!
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