Themes discussed in this episode

• The quality of your professional presentation and behavior
• The importance of emotion or mood management
• The quality of your work output
• Getting the work done vs creating the best possible work

Episode Highlights

Timestamped inflection points from the show

2:30 – Presentation is everything: ALWAYS remember that you are being paid to behave on behalf of your employer, and that means representing your company with positivity and professionalism.
5:30 – Mood management: Paying attention to your behavior at the office will help you grow past emotions so that your emotions are no longer controlling you. When it’s inappropriate to express them, you put them aside.
8:30 – Improve quality of your work: Is your work accurate, is it thorough, and are you making the effort to produce quality work at all times?
10:00 – Don’t just get it done: Meeting deadlines is important, but making sure your work is the best it can possibly be while meeting deadlines is way more important.

Top Quotes

3:40 – “You are being paid to be there, and you’re also being paid to build productive, effective relationships with the team, and that’s something that a lot of people miss.”
5:10 – “It’s really good for your humanity to be forced to be patient with people, to be forced to be compassionate, and that’s one of the things that paying attention to your behavior at the office will help you do. It will help you grow past emotions, so that your emotions are no longer controlling you. You control them, and when it’s inappropriate to express them, you put them aside.”
6:15 – “Self-awareness will serve you really well in managing the quality of your behavior at work.”
10:00 – “However, the best way to think of it is to make sure it is done and done well. And that takes a little bit longer. It takes more effort, it takes more focus. It takes proofing.”
10:50 – “It’s a competition in some ways, not necessarily direct, but it can be a competition, and your behavior and how you present is one aspect of it, and your quality of your work is another.”

Links

Transcript

00:00
Hello, I’m Lori Jo Vest. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Work Mom Says, Don’t Be an Idiot. I have been doing this podcast, I think, for three or four years now. I really love to share what helped me rise through the ranks in my career and helped me get to new levels of success regularly.

So that’s what this podcast is about. I want to teach you how to play the emotional contact sport of business because it is an emotional contact sport. There are things that will stand in your way. There are emotions that you will have that will cause you to perhaps behave in a way that is not as productive as you should be if you want to succeed in your career.

So there are a lot of things we can talk about, but today, I want to talk about the quality of your work and how and why that’s so important. There are so many people that come through companies that are early in their career that you can tell they just don’t get it. And by that, I mean they’re still in the college mindset, or they’re still in the mindset of, you know, I am myself everywhere I go, I behave the same way everywhere I go.

01:30
While that may sound appealing and it may sound like the advice people are giving you when they say, be authentic, it’s really not. When you are in a work situation, you are being paid to act and behave on behalf of that company. So if you keep that in mind at all times that you are representing your employer during business hours and at business events, you will behave in a more strategic fashion.

And one of the things that that means is you will look at the quality of your work, and for this episode, I want to talk about the quality of your work in both your presentation and how you behave and how you talk and build relationships at work, as well as the quality of the actual work you’re doing.

Say you’re a copywriter, you’re a welder, you’re a mechanic, you’re a customer service person. So there’s two different aspects to this. One is how you present, and when I talk about the quality of your presentation, again, think about it this way, you are being paid to behave on behalf of your employer, and with that comes some responsibility, and the the more you represent that brand, with positivity, professionalism,

03:00
You want to be able to express the culture. you want to be what I call on, and what that means is you are presenting your best self, your best behavior, so that when someone comes up to you in the middle of your day, they can interrupt you in the middle of something.

You’ll say, “oh, excuse me, just one minute. Let me just finish this one thing,” and then give them your full attention and be positive, even though you may be slightly annoyed. That’s not how you will present, and that’s not how you will behave.

You are being paid to be there, and you’re also being paid to build productive, effective relationships with the team, and that’s something that a lot of people miss. I’ve seen it, and if you pay attention to this podcast and other career advice resources, you’re going to hear a lot about your behavior and how you think plays into your behavior.

04:00
So for example, I just gave you a story of someone or a time when you might be really annoyed because somebody interrupted you and you were on deadline, and oh, my God, you’re late. And and so you feel that bit of emotion coming up based on the fact that you are wanting to be a stellar employee and wanting to rise through the ranks of the company.

To be successful in what you’re doing, that bit of emotion would be put to the side, because, again, you’re being paid to behave and a certain way, and by managing how you feel, it’s easier to behave your way to success.

So for example, it can be so annoying when somebody, for example, I mean, I was talking to my husband earlier today, and there was a guy I used to work with that if you asked him a question, maybe he had to explain a process to you, and it was eight steps long, and you got to the fourth step and you had a question,he couldn’t answer your question without going all the way back to the first step and going through it, 1234, now, this man knew his stuff.

5:00
He was so valuable and had such a incredible depth of technical knowledge that you had to put aside that annoyance and just be patient. And honestly, it’s really good for your your humanity to be forced to be patient with people, to be forced to be compassionate, and that’s one of the things that being paying attention to your behavior at the office will help you do it will help you grow past emotions so that your emotions are no longer controlling you. You control them, and when it’s inappropriate to express them, you put them aside.

That’s the kind of thing you want to learn in order to have quality in your work relationships. It’s really important. It’s called mood management. Emotion management. It’s basically getting to know yourself and then pushing your own limits.

How much can I reframe what’s happening in this difficult situation, and act in a way that’s positive and creates a connection, even in high conflict. I mean, I have been in really high conflict situations in the office. It happens. Mistakes are made.

6:00
People get angry, people get sad. You know, people have emotional breakdowns. People get depressed. I mean, things happen that are related to emotions in the workplace. So you want to focus and on learning about that aspect of yourself.

Self awareness will serve you really well in the quality of your behavior and managing the quality of your behavior at work. So that’s part one.

Part two of this is the quality of your actual work. And what I mean by that is, if you’re an accountant, do you turn your reports in on time? Are they accurate? Are they thorough? Do they follow all the accounting rules? Do you turn them in on time in the format that your employer desires.

07:00
If you’re a copywriter, are you putting in your best effort to write really good copy in the right voice? If you’re a journalist, are you digging deep to find more information, instead of just writing the who, what, when, where? Why are you going deeper than that so that you’re writing something that has more meaning. If you’re a musician, are you practicing enough? Are you really focused?

If you are the front desk receptionist, are you presenting a solid, wonderful face for the company that you represent at the front door? The people that man those front desks and security stations, in my opinion, never get the right amount of attention and kudos, because when if they’re going to do it, well, it requires someone who can just consistently be on and just say good morning every day, remember names, make an effort.

And you can see how that making an effort to to produce quality work plays out in several different types of job categories, so the quality of your work is really important. You are in a competition with other people that want to get that same boost up the career ladder that you do, and if your work isn’t at the highest quality, you won’t get there.

8:30
So what can you do to improve the quality of your work? I’ve got a couple great tips as a writer, and I know this is just as effective for people in accounting, other aspects of business, problem solvers. If you feel like you’ve come up with the best solution, you’ve written the best thing of copy you can in your first draft, your first attempt, and you think you’re done,

You’re maybe not done. Maybe go away from the job for a couple hours, turn to another project for a couple of hours, and take your attention focus off of that particular thing so that you can come back and see it with fresh eyes.

9:00
And in a lot of situations, not just copy, but, you know, in all kinds of business situations, maybe a letter to a client, maybe you’re developing a report, you’re doing an Excel spreadsheet, or you are, you know, building a frame for a door.

You may find that when you come back with fresh eyes, you see something you didn’t see before that could make it better, or that could correct a mistake, or make it more efficient, make you look better. And it’s really important, especially early in your career, that those details get attention.

I have some new people on my team. I always have new people on my team, and there are constant situations where the new person turns back in a work product, and I look at it and there’s typos and there’s maybe some, maybe it’s not quite what was spelled out in the written instructions.

10:00
People can very, very easily get in the habit of focusing on getting the work done, and that’s a great thing. I mean, the work has to be done. You’ve got to meet your deadlines. However, the best way to think of it is to make sure it is done and done well. And that takes a little bit longer. It takes more effort, it takes more focus. It takes proofing.

If you’re a welder, you don’t just slap the stuff on there and you’re okay, I’m done, and keep moving, because people will see that weld. You want it to be the best possible weld? If that means you have to practice, if that means you have to get advice, you have to research materials or temperatures.

Then, as a person who is career oriented and wants to do better in their career and make more money, you will practice and you will do that extra work that makes your work shine above your competitors, because that’s what the work world really is.

It’s a competition in some ways, not necessarily direct, but it can be a competition, and your behavior and how you present is one aspect of it, and your quality of your work is another. And I’ll tell you something really funny. I had a client that had a young assistant that they hired, and this woman was just delightful to talk to.

11:30
She was so positive, and she was so gracious and pleased and thank you and and we really enjoyed working with her the first few weeks. And as time went by, we realized that she wasn’t really doing the work the way she was supposed to be doing the work. It was thrown together. It was late. She would forget.

And when you confronted her on it, she was so sweet. I mean, just sweet as can be, so you’d feel bad being angry at her. And I used to threaten my team, because they would get really mad at this woman, because they had to create newsletters and and do work based on what she gave them, and it was always like, half done or lots of errors or not done at all.

And so they really struggled with her. But I was the only one that was ever on a call with her, and I used to threaten the team I’m going to make you get on the call with, let’s call her Sharon, so that you can see how perplexing it is to work with someone who presents so well and is So, you know, fun and kind, but whose work product is horrific, but you couldn’t hate her.

So, I mean, there’s just some really interesting situations. You don’t want to be that person who does, you know, really crappy work, but everybody likes them, because really crappy work will not keep you at your job, and it also will not get you that promotion or that higher-paying new job. Part of your reputation is your behavior and your presentation.

13:00
The other half is the quality of your work. So work mom says that over and over and over again, the quality of your presentation, who you are, how you behave, the relationships you have, deserves just as much emphasis as doing the best quality work you can, putting in the extra effort, showing up early, meeting your deadlines, asking the right questions, those two things together will make you soar. I swear it’s just amazing.

When I meet a young person that has both sides of that coin, they’re unstoppable. So you want to be unstoppable too. So keep following me.

If you’re watching this on YouTube, I would love it if you would give me a subscribe and hit that like button and maybe even share something that I said that you, that resonated with you.

14:00
I also have a website at workmomsays.com and that is where I share all the episodes of my podcast as well as, you know, helpful articles. And I have a contact form there if you’d like to get in touch with me. And last but not least, LinkedIn, I’m an open networker there. Would love to hear from you. Just let me know that you know that you are a listener to the work. Mom says, podcast and YouTube channel, so thanks again. I will see you again soon.

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Who is our ideal listener?

This podcast is for young professionals who want to learn to play the emotional context sport of business and experience less drama and more success.

How can you be more logical and less emotional? Be strategic, and Work Mom Says can help you.

“I tell people to back up, put down the magnifying glass, and look at the big picture when you’re responding to something,” said Lori Jo Vest, Work Mom. “In doing this, you will understand that what’s really upsetting you right now will be something you don’t even remember next week.”

What value can people get from listening to this podcast?

Listening to Work Mom Says can help you grow your mood management skills, grow your ability to reframe situations, and look at things from a strategic point of view. This makes it easier to go into a work situation and get the most positive results.

On Work Mom Says, we also offer tips and tricks for creating connected positive relationships that last over time. People will want you on the team if you can create connected positive relationships and work environments. You become an asset, and you will be more successful when you’re an asset.

“I also like to talk about developing traits like optimism, persistence, tenacity, stick-to-itiveness, sticking with things, and approaching every project with a curious mind instead of a fearful mind,” said Lori Jo Vest, Work Mom

                                                                                                     

Why do I do this? A few more words from Work Mom

I do this because I naturally fell into the Work Mom role when I worked in the ad agency business and had so much fun with it. I also realized I had made just about every mistake there was to make. I don’t hold myself as a stellar example of truth and how you should be. I hold myself out there as someone who has been bruised, battered, and beaten up and learned some important lessons. I’d love to share these lessons with young people, so they don’t have to make those same mistakes or be the idiot I was.

I also want to help young professionals realize that many things our culture prioritizes aren’t really important. We talk a lot about what should be important and how to present your best face at the office so that you can succeed.

I’ve learned so much throughout my career, and it’s gratifying to share that with young professionals and help them avoid some of those mistakes and get to that success sooner.

Episode 26 – “The Origin of Work Mom Says (Plus a Sneak Peek at My Upcoming Book)” appeared first on Work Mom Says.