Getting Along with Colleagues and Getting Ahead at Work
As a Spiritual you remind those around you of the bigger picture and their higher purpose. Things become challenging, however, when colleagues’ choices appear to be in opposition to your core values or beliefs. While it can be tempting to opt out of the conversation or project, using the tools below may help you learn more about yourself, regardless of whether you end up altering their beliefs or the outcome of the project.
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While it’s important to turn the results of your actions over to God/Yahweh/Buddha/Krishna, etc., it’s critical to remember that it’s just the results you’re turning over, not the work itself. Your part of the bargain is to show up and give your colleagues and your projects 100 percent of your time and talent.
When you see those around you making choices you find inexplicable, it can be difficult not to want those choices, or the situation, to change. Recognizing that your desire to have them choose differently is no different from their desire to have you choose differently can help you maintain your equanimity.
Because you work hard to see others’ point of view and keep the big picture in mind, it can be difficult for you to speak up when others ride roughshod over your beliefs and ideas. In moments like those you do yourself (and the project) a disservice by not speaking up. Stating, “I see that our opinions differ — but that doesn’t make one more valid than the other,” can help pave the way for a productive discussion.
