Your Personality and Success in the Workplace

Some leave the workplace to build their own business and be their boss. For some of us, we choose to stay and work for somebody else. Is one better than the other? Not necessarily. It is all dependent on what works for us and what makes us happy.

For us who choose to continue to work for somebody else, our success in the workplace is not only based on our ability to perform the job but also our ability to get along with the people we work with.

Our personality is essential in building good working relationships with the people we work with; hence we need to develop the personality type that helps us be successful in our chosen professions or field of work.

We need to understand employer expectations and the possible causes of failure in the workplace so we can adapt to fit in and be a productive team member.

We cannot choose our supervisors and our coworkers. So it is for us to adapt and develop the personality to avoid stress, conflict, and miscommunication. We need to have developed a positive personality versus a negative personality.

From the book Personality Development for Work written by H. Wallace and L. Masters, they identified 15 categories of the highest importance to our success in the workplace.

15 Categories to be Successful in the Workplace

1. Ambition
2. Cooperation and Helpfulness
3. Adaptability and Resourcefulness
4. Consideration and Courtesy
5. Independence, showing initiative
6. Concern for quality of work and accuracy
7. Carefulness, Alertness, and Perceptiveness
8. Pleasantness, Friendliness, and Cheerfulness
9. Responsiveness; the ability and willingness to follow directions
10. Perseverance, Patience, and Tolerance
11. Emotional stability, Poise, and the ability to use good judgment
12. Neatness and Orderliness in Appearance and Manner
13. Dependability, punctuality, responsibility, and reliability
14. Efficiency, Speediness, and Productivity
15. Dedication, Loyalty, Honesty, and Conscientiousness

Workplace Success

We spent significant time in the workplace, so we must manage that time beneficial to our families and us.

Writer Annie Dillard famously said, “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.” For many of us, many of our days are spent at work; in fact, the average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime. It’s safe to say our jobs can make a massive impact on our quality of life.

Since we spent so much time in our workplace, we must have and are guided by the different categories for workplace success so we can live the life we want. A life that is balanced, happy, and stress is managed appropriately.

Source
Wallace, H & Masters, L. (1989). Personality Development for Work. 6th ed. South-Western Publishing Co. Cincinnati, Ohio