Have you ever wondered whether your co-workers are from another planet?
Or ask yourself how they were raised or brought up?
Ever wonder why they don’t always seem to get it…meaning why they don’t see things the way you see them?
What about those co-workers from Generation X? Ever wonder EXACTLY which planet they are from?
Ever get to work and wonder why the aliens are so dang chipper in the morning? Or why they don’t have alien school for learning how to wash their own dishes? Ever find yourself listening to them talk and all you can hear is blah, blah, blah? Ever wonder how they landed here in the first place…in your company? Ever go in your office, close the door and hope the earthlings have returned when you open it…well, not all the earthlings but the ones that dutifully follow all the rules, have personalities that compliment yours, the ones that are easy to get along with and pose no problems to your existence whatsoever. Ahhh…nice dreamy, thought. Wake up! Smell the coffee! It’s not going to happen. The aliens are here to stay. But if you consider the following tips, you will learn how to successfully cope with the invasion. You may also realize that you are an alien yourself and that others have to learn to deal with you as well.
First, you have to recognize that each of your alien co-workers was sent to your workplace for a different reason. Without any one of them, your pie would be missing an important piece. They were each given special talents and gifts to bring to your organization to help bring about your company’s success. Some were commissioned with counting beans, some with developing websites, some with writing skills, some with selling and some with just the job of entertaining you while you work. If you train yourself to focus your thoughts on appreciating and celebrating the unique contributions that each of them brings to the table, you might find yourself making friends among your alien-coworkers.
Secondly, you must recognize that personality differences bring balance and more importantly, humor to the workplace. If we didn’t have the narcissistic leader types, the nose to the grind workaholics, the cruising conversationalist, the grouchy don’t speak to me until after I’ve had my coffee types, the health nut psychotics and the ones walking around still trying to figure out what planet they landed on…we wouldn’t have any vision, wouldn’t get anything done, wouldn’t live long and wouldn’t have anyone to laugh at. Woven together, we make a beautiful pattern and our inter-dependency is evident. You have to open your vision and your heart to accept that our differences are really okay and actually necessary and vital for productivity and progression.
And finally, one has to realize that while you’re sitting in your office mapping each of your co-workers to a specific planet (Hmmm… I think Jane is from Mars. Chris acts like he’s from Jupiter and Lulu is definitely from Saturn), they are sitting in their office trying to figure out where you come from as well. “That Mara…she’s from outer space… period!”
