Bring : Your sense of humor . Leave at home : Your off-color , racist , ageist or sexist jokes , or others that discriminate against any groups of people .
SHUTTERSTOCK ILLUSTRATION
Bring : Clothes that reflect your personality and your culture . If you like bright colors , wear bright colors . If you want to wear all black , wear all black . Leave at home : Clothes that are not professional for the field in which you work .
Bring : Your passion for projects and purposes . Leave at home : Your disdain for people who disagree with you . If it ’ s OK for you to say , “ I ’ m passionate about cause A ,” then other people need to feel comfortable saying , “ I ’ m passionate about cause B .”
Bring : Your ideas . If you ’ re new to the job or the company , your ideas may get rejected because you simply don ’ t have the experience to recognize the pitfalls yet . But do speak up . Your company hired you because you have knowledge , skills , abilities and a background that it thought would be a good fit . Leave at home : Whining , interrupting others and trying to take credit for other people ’ s ideas . Don ’ t bring up the same thing repeatedly because you think it ’ s the best thing ever , even when your manager rejected it .
Bring : Food from your culture and your background . While office potlucks may not return to the workplace for a while , feel free to bring your favorite foods for lunch . If it has a strong smell , put it in a tight-fitting container in the break room fridge . Leave at home : Demanding that people adjust their diets to your whims . Vegans and omnivores get to share the fridge . Likewise , table manners can vary from culture to culture , but it ’ s unlikely that your culture is OK with you being a slob . And even if it is , you have to change when you work with other people .
Bring : Your experience . Leave at home : Your belief that you know everything . You don ’ t . Be open to new ideas . Remember that you need to be flexible with other people ’ s opinions and cultures if you expect them to be flexible with yours . You ’ re all working together , so work hard to be part of the team .
Bring : Your goals . You can accomplish great things . Be prepared to learn and grow and make mistakes and grow some more . Leave at home : Your pride . You ’ re not perfect . Your way of doing things isn ’ t always going to be the best .
Bringing your authentic self to work also means accepting that we do things differently sometimes to work as a team . It means you strive to be better at your job and a better human .
Suzanne Lucas spent 10 years in corporate human resources , where she hired , fired , managed the numbers and doublechecked with the lawyers . On Twitter @ RealEvilHRLady . Send questions to evilhrlady @ gmail . com .
How does your workplace encourage employees ’ individuality ?
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May 2021 | comstocksmag . com 17