Entering the World of Work

Chapter 1: You and Work

Smart Tips

Real-World Connection
Constructive criticism is an opinion about your work that is carefully considered and meant to be helpful. Destructive criticism is an opinion about your work that is intended to damage or hurt rather than to be instructive.

You can give constructive criticism to someone by using the following steps:

1. Think about what you want to say before you say anything.
2. Ask yourself these questions: Will what you have to say help the person? Is it meant to help the person improve their work performance? Is it necessary to say anything?
3. Use kind words and phrases that are helpful. Tell the person how to do the work in the right way. Do not just say the person is doing something wrong. For example, say: “Let me show you a way to do that more easily,” rather than saying, “You are doing that wrong.”

Point of View
Think about the situation in the past where you showed skill at getting along with others. Write down in a few sentences what that situation was. Then think about what would be fair for everyone in the situation. Think about all the options each person has in the situation. Imagine that you are one of the other people in the situation. Do this with every person in the situation you wrote about. Would you act differently than they did if you were one of the other people? Try to think like the other person was thinking at the time. If you knew how the other person was thinking, would you act differently?
         Think about how you get along with others. What are some of the most important skills that you use? Make a list of them. Next apply those skills to the situation you wrote about above. Did you use all your skills to get along with others? Did you see the other person's point of view? Were you able to help the other person see your point of view?

Making Good Choices
Think about what is fair for you, Farad, and the company. Is it fair to use company time for personal e-mails? Does that hurt all the employees? If Farad's work does not get done, what will happen? Will he get into trouble? Will everyone in the department get into trouble?
         Think about all your options. You could tell your supervisor about Farad's e-mail activities. You could talk to Farad. You could do the extra work and say nothing. You could refuse to do Farad's work and let him get into trouble. Perhaps you could talk to your supervisor and ask him or her to keep a closer watch on personal e-mails in your department.