Believing in yourself and your skills is important in any career field. You want to be the very best at the job you’re doing at all times. As an HR Newbie, there will be a lot of challenges while you’re learning the job, the workforce, the company, and upgrading your skills.
Walking into a new workplace and knowing nothing can be daunting, especially for an overachiever. You must understand and acknowledge how you come off towards others, and yes, in our profession, that is extremely important. An HR professional saying, “take me as I am” might not be the greatest way to start off a new relationship. Knowing your job is great, but it doesn’t make you better than anyone else in the building.
Confidence in yourself helps others grow their confidence in you. It is knowing that you can possibly be the best in the building and not turning others off or being selfish. Trust throughout your organization will take the HR department far, especially when you expand to working with more than just the CEO.
Being arrogant in the workplace will put the entire organization against you. Pride creeps in and destroys the work that you’ve done. Just because you’re new to the company doesn’t mean you don’t know what you’re doing, but there is also much to learn and much more that should be taken into consideration. Arrogance will ruin the culture of the company if too many people possess the trait and no one is willing to work as a team.
It is very easy to come off as an arrogant person when you’re actually trying to show confidence. It is the same with learning how to have a conversation in which you might not agree with something that is being discussed. When you’re new to the organization, you want to prove what you can bring to the team. If you’re not careful, it might be taken the wrong way, and yes, that is something you will need to deal with in the workplace from time to time. You can state your opinion – I’m not telling you to hide who you are as a person, but instead, helping you understand how to talk with others.
Listening is key in this situation. When you’re arrogant, you know it all, and nothing is necessarily wrong with having a lot of knowledge to share, but how you share it makes a big difference. If someone tries to approach you and you can’t take the time to listen to their opinions on the subject, you’re telling that person and your company that you’re not willing to learn. This also makes it extremely hard for others to come to you with an issue or an idea.
Being confident in your work is a beautiful thing, you should be proud of everything you’ve discovered and want to share it with others. Take the time to be a better person and a better leader.