“I’m not one of those who do this…”, “That’s not for me…”, “I’m very bad at names…” are phrases I frequently hear in professional environments. Those who say them, probably believe they are defining themselves by hoping that others will not demand from them what they no longer want or cannot do.
Defining our boundaries is totally appropriate and acceptable. People will know our skills and what they can ask from us as well as what level of commitment they will obtain from us. It is the way we create an identity and differentiate from others.
We work all the time to define who and how we are, believing that this is how we build the “certainties of our life”. Certainities do not exist because the environment is always changing challenging our beliefs in unpredictable ways. Furthermore, it is natural that the more we grow, we tend to learn less, to develop fewer skills. We may have already achieved recognition or a position that we believe will last for long and ultimately, because the mind is comfortable and can settle for all this.
Thus, we are subject to the Darwinism of adapting or excluding ourselves and if the latter occurs, we die at work. For example, it could have been valid when we started to interact with clients, not learning their names quickly; but it won’t be after a few months when someone who comes to work alongside us learns them and displaces us.
So, as I’ve said here, while it is convenient and useful to have limits like:
- honesty, responsibility and respect, which are principles basically developed in our homes;
- define ourselves professionally with respect to the values that characterize the organizational culture to which we belong to make a difference as a brand or
- accept the characteristics of our work role as our own so that everyone knows what to expect from us and how we behaver with our colleagues,
It is not so convenient to frequently establish everything that we did not learn, we will not do and we will not achieve. We risk – without realizing it – being excluded from being candidates for our next job opportunity. It is as if we started eliminating sugar one day, salt another, fried foods another (without medical reasons, of course) until one day they don’t invite us to dinner. And for sure, as long as we have professional aspirations, we will want to be invited to dinner.