(Photo by lhuiz)

I once met a client from Australia. She is a very capable lady who holds herself well in professional settings. There is also something about the way she carries herself, which sets her apart from the others; something that makes me conclude that she is going to achieve something great in her career in the future: she is in harmony with herself and others.

What do I mean by that?

To be successful in your career, you need to be seen as capable and yet not threatening.

This is one statement she made which left a lasting impression on me. I still remember it today and it pretty much sums up the idea of harmony that I am talking about today.

HARMONY – A CRITICAL ATTRIBUTE

At work, it’s common to run into disagreement with others; clients, vendors, peers and even superiors. The critical attribute for professional success depends on how well you handle disagreements and ability to get along with people despite the differences in mindsets and opinions.

I’ve seen many driven and highly capable people out there who display most of the 9 traits for professional success that I’d mentioned before:

• Business knowledge.
• Flair for communication and presentation.
• Continuous learning.
• Produce results.
• Diligence.
• Strong interpersonal network.

However, their capabilities and drive sometimes get in the way of handling disagreements at work. Some take disagreements too personally and get defensive; they don’t know how to allow room for others’ opinions or ideas, especially when it conflicts with their own.

This lack of harmony shows up as anger, frustrations, and tensions during meetings or group discussions. It is destructive as it directs the group’s attention from constructive value creations into destructive defenses of self-interests.

WHAT IS HARMONY AT THE WORKPLACE?

Merriam-webster defines harmony as:

Pleasing or congruent arrangement of parts…

In the context of our workplace, harmony means the ability to:

• Balance differences in interests of others and yourself.
• Balance differences in interests of members of the same team.
• Balance differences in interest of your client and your company.
• Balance differences in interests of the vendors and your company.

Essentially, it means that you are able to work pleasantly and congruently with others; be it clients, vendors, peers or superiors.

HARMONY WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOUR CAREER

No matter how outstanding your current work is, if you don’t practice harmony, then your career is doomed to stagnancy.

Napolean Hill states that,

If one has a personality which pleases and serves in a spirit of harmony, these assets often make up for deficiencies in both the quality and the quantity of service one gives. Nothing, however, can be successfully substituted for pleasing conduct.

Andrew Carnegie also stressed that of all factors leading to professional success, harmonious conduct is one key necessity. He also stressed that he would not retain any person, no matter how great a quantity or how efficient the quality of their work, unless that person worked in a spirit of harmony.

Having managed teams before, I can truly appreciate where Andrew Carnegie is coming from: I have seen very capable and outstanding individuals, who because of their inability to work harmoniously with the team, are passed over for promotions and greater responsibilities. Why is this so?

THE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE OF THE 21ST CENTURY

To understand this, you have to put yourself in the shoes of a manager. The job of a manager is to rally people towards common goals. To do this, a good manager has to balance the needs between individuals within the team. .

Yet increasingly, employees are getting more autonomous and well-educated. The top down dictatorial management style is increasingly becoming ineffective.

With good education and access to information, knowledge workers of this age require a different management style. One of which includes making them feel respected and valued as a contributing member.

This means top managers must provide a conducive environment, where people are able to get along with each other, and at the same time, allow for unique strengths to contribute to common goals. He must maintain team harmony

If you make it difficult for him to maintain this harmony, then you are already at odds with his objectives. In such a case, promoting or rallying for a member who is not in harmony with the rest of the team actually puts the manager at high risk of not running the team well.

HOW TO DEVELOP HARMONY

Having seen the justifications to develop harmony, here are some ways you can develop it in your character and at work:

• Be Humble – you have to acknowledge that you can be wrong sometimes; that you can make mistakes. You also have to recognize that there are things that you do not know and will have to depend on others to help you. In any great business endeavors worth pursuing, it often requires more than just one brilliant individual to make things happen. It takes a brilliant team.
• Be Patient – you cannot always have things your way. People are naturally resistant to changes. You must realize that time is required for people to buy-in to new initiatives and ideas. Just because you don’t get the results you desire the first round, it doesn’t mean you have failed. If it’s something worth pursuing, try again.
• Respect Differences – appreciate the fact that people are different. Mindsets, culture, thinking, interests, motivations, desires are all difference factors influencing people at the workplace. People have their rights to their opinions. Nobody likes an idea forced down their throat. When disagreement happens, agree to disagree.
• Being Authentic – To be able to balance so many conflicting factors and interests, you have to first know yourself. Know which are the things that do not matter to you and you can compromise on; also know which are those things that TRULY MATTER and you will never compromise on. Ultimately, you have to be true to yourself.

WORKING IN HARMONY

Working in a harmonious workplace can be a very liberating and fulfilling life experience. I know because I work in a harmonious work environment. All thanks to the great people whom I work with.

If you desire great success in your career, then you first need to consider the interests of the people whom you work with, only then, they will take care of you.

This blog is about leading a balanced life focusing on career, relationships and money. You can read more about balancing your life here. These articles are written for you. If you find them useful, feel free to subscribe for regular updates as new articles are posted. It's FREE. :)