Tattletale - Business Concepts Learned From Kids

The lesson in week three of my Business Concepts Learned from Having Kids blog series is all about learning to get along with each other. I know it’s impossible to do all the time, with every single person we meet, but it’s important for your career to get along with clients, co-workers, management and vendors. One of the best ways to make sure this happens is to not be a tattletale.

Building a good team at work is all about trust and communication. I touched on this in my last blog, but today’s content is specifically about not being a tattletale. Here are three reason why this type of behavior will hurt your career or your office environment.

You will quickly get a negative reputation with your co-workers

This will create undue stress on your co-workers and yourself. In the long run, the others in the organization will not be willing to help you when you truly need it. You will find yourself worrying about every move you make and not being an effective worker.

It ruins any sense of team unity

This is where trust is really important. Once you start tattling on a co-worker, they will not be able to trust you. If many people at the organization are taking part in this type of activity, top performers within your company will leave to avoid this drain on energy, morale and productivity. Make sure to keep communication lines open and as positive as possible.

Bosses will see your behavior as self-serving

No one wants to be the “kiss up,” but that is exactly how bosses will see a person who continually tattles on others at work. You will be too busy trying to help yourself, and most people in management will see through your actions…you will not gain anything from this type of behavior. With loyalty and trust at a lower level, your work environment will suffer.

If there is truly an issue going on at work that will cause long term negative impact on the company or team (such as a client not being treated properly or some illegal treatment of employees) then by all means, it is essential that you INFORM someone of this activity. Just remember there is a big difference between this type of situation and just being a tattletale.

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Image credit: Watches You (Then Tattles)#elfontheshelf by David Lytle (contact)