JESSICA HIGGINS: Little Workplace Mistakes that Make you Seem Unprofessional

1.     The “pass back”

We all have that one coworker that passes the ball on work. You send an email for help and instead of answers, you get forwarded along, or told to go look somewhere else and essentially just figure it out for yourself. You may think you’re being efficient, but nothing can make you look more unprofessional. If you don’t even try to answer a question, or help someone out, it rings pretty loud and clear that you don’t care about your coworkers or your job.

2.     Interrupting others

Welcome to the post #METOO work environment. Let’s all just let each other complete sentences from now on. No matter how important you think you are, and what you have to say is, it’s never ok to shut other people down mid-thought. You come off as unprofessional, egotistical, and if you happen to do this more to your female coworkers well, surprise, you’re a chauvinist.

3.     Pulling rank

“The last time I checked, I pay you to do the work here.” – I actually heard someone say this recently. The world of work has changed, people have options, and work relationships must be mutually beneficial or you’re going to come off as irrelevant to the work cultures of today and the near future. And you will definitely lose your best employees along the way. Leaders must be mentors to thrive these days. That’s why everyone in the older generations is so scared of millennials because millennials demand this power dynamic. Rank is the new unprofessional.

More on Jessica Higgins:

Jessica is a speaker, author and business development expert. She is the Chief Operating Officer of Gapingvoid Culture Design Group, whose client list includes Microsoft, Zappos, LinkedIn, and many other leading organizations. Jessica has been an equality advocate for over 15 years, serving as the President of the Texas Pay Equity Committee in 2005 and now lives between Miami and San Diego, where she mentors and advises women in developing their professional careers. Her work has been published in Thrive Global, Huffington Post, USA Weekly, The Ladders, Workforce Magazine, Training Industry Magazine, HR Daily Advisor, and many other publications.