Are You Perceived As Being Too Easy To Work With?

Are you perceived as being too easy to work with? Think about it.

Yes, you focus on being a team player. And you always try to do “whatever it takes” to acquire and/or serve colleagues and customers. Yet colleagues and clients just do not take you as seriously as you wish to be regarded (and respected). Why?

In your quest to be regarded as easy to work, you can fall into these two professional pitfalls.

First, you are too compliant. Sure, you want to fit in and run with the pack because you are agreeable. However, you also become known for not rocking the boat, standing out, or being contrarian because you rarely, if ever, push back on what is proposed. Consequently, you are left out of the strategy conversation. Why? Because colleagues and clients assume you will go along with whatever they decide to do. You are a follower rather than a leader. Are their assumptions about you correct, or not?

Next, you are too pliable. Consequently, clients assume you will be overly flexible about pricing (think low-ball or caving in). Or you will easily adjust time frame, specifications (yikes!) or quality (double yikes!!) because you wish to please.  Similarly, you are easily influenced by colleagues to say and do nothing while they take short cuts to close sales, retain an account, or deliver a sub-par solution. As you reinforce your behavior (and theirs), are you also compromising your professional integrity?

When your need to be professionally respected outweighs your need to be a bit too easy to work with, it’s decision time. And that decision is yours alone to make.

Let’s say over the past year you choose to upskill and reskill. Then again, you discover you enjoy working remotely and are stressing over the mandate to return to a physical workplace. Also, you discover letting other people define who you are and what you do does not help you develop your true sense of professional purpose, value, and integrity.

Gradually, you form a different perspective about what being “easy to work with” is all about. Consequently, remaining too compliant, too pliable, and too silent feels like wearing clothing that is three sizes too small. You become uncomfortable about being too easy to work with.

You hit your one millimeter moment. When you respect yourself, first, you better serve colleagues and clients, together. Because you acknowledge you no longer are comfortable being dismissed, marginalized, or intimidated as a perceived follower. Instead, you are ready to take your seat at the leadership table. Why not learn to actively collaborate so colleagues and clients can get to where they really need to go, together with you? Click here and let’s get started together.

Searching for a coaching catalyst to get you unstuck professionally? Looking for a meeting or event speaker focused on what is new and next? Then engage me to present a One Millimeter Mindset ™ program! Delivered virtually or in-person.

Change Agent | Collaboration Catalyst | Complex Problem Solver | Professional Innovation | Cross Functional Leadership | Speaker, Consultant, Coach, Author |

Babette Ten Haken’s One Millimeter Mindset™ programs catalyze people who solve problems differently to collaborate more successfully. Become more professionally visible, cross-functionally relevant, and strategically valuable as you create and implement innovative and robust business outcomes together. Babette is a business-oriented STEM professional, qualitative Voice of the Customer facilitator, PMI-certified Wicked Problem Solver, and Six Sigma Green Belt (Quality). She is a member of the ASQ, SHRM, PMI, the National Speakers Association. Her playbook of cross-functional collaboration, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Contact Babette here. Image source: Adobe Stock.