The 3 People To Ignore At Work, According To A Job Strategy Trainer
Don't get caught up in anyone else's drama.
Pixel-Shot | Shutterstock Having friction with colleagues is an inevitable part of working with other people. Getting along with everyone sounds nice in theory, but in reality, it’s close to impossible.
A company’s social landscape can have a direct effect on your ability to get ahead. Yet there are ways to position yourself with your co-workers that can protect your professional livelihood.
Here are 3 people to ignore at work, according to a job strategy trainer:
Julian Cole is a strategy trainer who develops techniques to guide workers through the landmines of office politics.
He shared a list of people to avoid in the workplace, starting with Human Resources.
1. The HR department
“You never want to get it twisted,” Cole warned. “Their primary concern is for themselves and you second.”
Employees are often told to go to HR if they have problems at work, yet from Cole’s perspective, HR exists to support the company, not the people who work there.
According to a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, 37% of workers believe that HR advocates for the company over them.
The workplace concerns that people did feel safe sharing with HR were typical policy or compliance issues like sexual harassment, ethics, and discrimination. They reported feeling less comfortable bringing social or cultural concerns to HR, like interpersonal conflicts or concerns with the way company leaders communicate.
Harvard’s study highlights that many workers don’t trust HR to actually help them, and therefore they take Cole’s approach to avoid them as much as possible.
Alena Shekhovtcova / Pexels
2. Office gossips
Next on Cole’s list of people to ignore at work were office gossipers.
“If they’re willing to gossip about other people, they’re most likely gonna gossip about you, too,” he said.
It’s tempting to talk about other people, especially the people we work with, if only because it gives a little spark to a mostly monotonous schedule. Yet as Cole explained, taking part in office gossip can trap you in a web that’s hard to escape from.
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However, gossip isn’t always such a bad thing.
A joint study from the University of Maryland and Stanford University posited that gossip isn’t always negative. In fact, gossip can provide certain social benefits.
Past theories suggested that gossip can bond large groups of people together and foster cooperation, yet the way gossip benefited individuals remained unclear.
Xinyue Pan, one of the authors of the study, explained that gossip can be a force for good.
“Positive and negative gossip are both important because gossip plays an important role in sharing information about people’s reputations,” Pan said. “Once people have this information, cooperative people can find other good people to cooperate with, and this is actually beneficial for the group. So gossiping is not always a bad thing. It can be a positive thing.”
Even though gossip can foster connection, Cole recommends avoiding the people who fuel the office rumor mill as a self-protective measure.
3. Enemies on their way out
“When one of your enemies quits, distance yourself as much as possible,” Cole advised. “They’re often willing to take anyone out in the company that they can because they don’t care anymore, and they’re probably willing to throw you under a couple of buses on the way out.”
In a separate post, Cole explained why social politics affects workers so intensely, noting that the top source of tension in the workplace is relationships.
Most people encounter at least one toxic co-worker over the course of their career. These toxic relationships can cause bad professional outcomes, including poor decision-making and reduced creativity.
When one of those toxic co-workers leaves the company, it could be tempting to have the last word. But Cole believes it’s best to let that person walk away without getting tangled up in whatever drama they’ve created if only to protect your position and reputation from harm.
Cole’s advice helps workers stay focused on what’s actually important, which is keeping their heads down and not getting caught up in anything that might put their jobs at risk.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.