The 15 Traits Crucial To Your Success In The Workplace

Ah, the office: a strange and awkward transition from college. Welcome to the real world my friends; this place has a whole new set of rules and expectations. Long gone are the days where you could wake up to your alarm, hit snooze ten times and roll into class in your pajamas. You’re in the big leagues now -- there is no double-digit snooze option anymore, and there is definitely no pajama option.

1. Perseverance

How do you expect to succeed if you do not have a clear course of action? In all reality, you can’t; you must maintain a clear purpose. This trait is crucial in accomplishing office tasks. This is what will keep you motivated throughout the day.

2. Patience

Everyone is not going to understand your thought process or your reasoning behind certain projects. When you explain this to your peers, you need to have extraordinary amounts of patience since not everyone learns at the same speed. Be careful not to become frustrated and lash out at your co-workers.

3. Adaptation

This is perhaps the most important quality to have in the business world. Not every situation you encounter is going to be similar to the previous, so it is essential to be able to change your behavior to fit with that present situation. No matter how much you plan for something to turn out a certain way, there can always be anomalies. You must not be thrown off track by these curve balls; rather, you must embrace the change and learn to acclimate.

4. Respect

Respect leads to profitability, cooperation and synergy. Without respect in the workplace, all relationships are doomed from the start. If you don’t respect another person’s work and capabilities, how do you ever expect to prosper?

5. Leadership

A great work environment comes from great leaders. This is a vital skill to any company, as these are the people who are responsible for defining procedure and monitoring its progress. These are the people who manage and delegate projects amongst employees. Effective leadership is crucial in every aspect of business. Leadership breeds respect, and respect breeds prosperity.

6. Trust

If a leader's behavior contradicts his promises, he runs the risk of losing his followers. People do not want to follow a leader they cannot trust to fulfill their guarantees. Once trust is lost, it is nearly impossible to gain back. Trust is essential in any relationship, business or otherwise. To increase your leadership skills, you must maintain levels of trust.

7. Innovation

Creativity is an incredibly important characteristic in the work industry, as these people are capable of creating imperceptible solutions to a variety of challenges. Not all explanations are apparent, so this is why ingenuity is so important; you have to think outside the box in many instances in business.

8. Delegate

If you are able to allocate particular jobs to each member of staff, you can then spend more time working to push the business forward and generating more income to fund each staff member, as well as other expenditures. If you haven't got money, you have to spend the time; if you haven't got time, then you need to spend the money.

9. Thick Skin

The business world is a tough place, as there is no sugar coating here. If you botch up a proposal or a project, you don’t get a slap on the wrist, you may get fired. Co-workers and bosses are not always going to agree with what you have to bring to the table, so you have to be able to take criticism well. You cannot make the mistake of thinking criticism is a form of personal attack; you must realize this is a business and your performance affects every person.

10. Confidence

You must fully believe in, and stand behind, any project, opinion or task you wish to bring to your company’s attention. If you don’t believe in yourself, then how do you expect others to believe in you? You must have the confidence it takes to sometimes stand alone, as well as making tough decisions for the benefit of the group.

11. Motivation

You need to be able to motivate those that work alongside you. This is essential for productivity since you are only as strong as your weakest link. Making your co-workers feel important will encourage them to do things to the best of their ability. When someone believes in himself or herself, they are more likely to work hard to live up to that hype.

12. Organized

Organization is crucial to office success since the business world is continuously changing. You need to be able to manage all aspects of your business while keeping up with these changes. In a fast-paced environment such as this, you can understand why it’s vital to always remain organized. As things become cluttered, it becomes difficult to navigate through tedious paperwork and projects. It is all about efficiency!

13.  Communicative

Communication is the key to all successful relationships in life. If you can’t express yourself and what you want, how do you expect anything to get done the way you want it to? You have to remain vocal and expressive or people are never going to listen to your viewpoints.

14.  Detail-Oriented

It’s all in the details! Paying attention to meticulous details is important in any career field. A detail-oriented person can see the smaller parts in relation to the bigger picture, which helps a company have a productive output. If minimal details are ignored, you run the risk of having a faulty outcome and you will have to begin the task again. A person who demonstrates this skill set looks to understand the causes, instead of just the effects.

15.  Style

As superficial as this may seem, style is important in the working world. No one is going to respect you or take you seriously if you look like a bum. You need to have certain staples in your closet that you can whip out for a huge presentation. You always need to dress the part you are trying to play.