I’m going to venture a little vulnerability for a minute in regards to my own personal psyche in the workplace.

While it manifests itself in all parts of my life, I think we can all identify with the concept of having someone in your corner. We have them at first, someone had to hire you in the first place. It doesn’t last forever, does it?

The hiring manager that was so high on your resume or experience learns a little of your quirks, the co-workers stop laughing at your jokes, or your pitches fall a little flat for a period. There are a million examples of the shine of your new gig getting a little dull. How do we pick ourselves up from that?

Some people don’t allow any sort of negativity to enter their minds. An old boss, who is still a friend of mine, won’t even speak negatively on a personal level. Regardless of whether we want to admit it, negativity enters our minds one way or another. Can we just keep stomping it out? Of course not. As a result, we are left with options of letting it out on people outside of the office (which damages our personal lives), venting during solo activities (like exercise), or letting it rot us from the inside out (which happens to more of us than we want to admit).

Instead, I am someone who chooses to see negativity in the office as an opportunity to bring us together and work through whatever issue brought it up. Even in this enlightened day of self-actualization, people sill struggle with how to properly confront things that come up. Regardless of how people in the office are viewing you, we all have the opportunity to be our own personal champion.

That sounds just as hokey as the other ideas mentioned above, and has the tendency to foster arrogance or a need to deflect blame, so please let me finish. I am saying we champion our cause by talking with people in and out of the office about your own part of the issue. We reject passivity, accept responsibility and allow our vulnerability to show we are indeed human. 

Instead of arguing why an office policy, product decision or personell choice should go our way, make sure of your motivations. Did you want it your way because it was the right decision or because you wanted to be right? Smart motivations lead to smart decisions. Show your humanity by apologizing in the delivery and back up your reasons. If it still doesn’t go your way, that doesn’t make your idea bad. Many times, it will come up again and your humility won’t go unnoticed.

Champion yourself correctly and your savvy pay dividends.