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6 More Ways to Counter Back-Stabbers!

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:00:16 +0000

Backstabbers are always the lurking danger in the workplace. We don’t have all the time to catch all of them else nobody will be doing actual work in the office! Furthermore, anyone can become a back stabber as time passes or a series of events happening to the potential individual. That is why, it is more important to focus our energy to become less likely targets of potential back stabbers or deter their negative emotions against us. Previously, we have mentioned 5 preventive measures against them. In this post, we have an additional six to get you prepared against them.

Keep your emails – The most simple thing you can do at work. Keep all your email conversations and archive them if you run out of space. These electronic emails will be useful as evidences and proofs against biased remarks made against you in the event that calls for it! J
Document all conversations in the workplace – Document all verbal and phone conversations in an email and send it to the party that you spoke to get their consensus on the conversation content. Being the same as keeping emails, it will become useful as evidences and proofs in future!
Be sure to have someone to standby you in any major decisions make – Find someone to back you up in any decisions you make. Why? First, you want to have a witness in your decision and when things go against you, you have a witness to standy you. Secondly, you may not be able to make a major decision alone. If you do, you might get yourself into trouble and that may be used against you in future. Therefore, get someone to share the risk with you! If it involves management, the troublemaker will have to think twice as there are consequences to it. J (Part of deterring these troublemakers is to make them think of the consequences and the risk versus effort taken)
Attempt to covered most of your loop holes in your work – We cannot cover all the risks. But at your best effort, cover all risk and loop holes. You do not want to be uncovered of loop holes by your back stabber, right?
Always hang around with the “neutral” guys of the organisation – Avoid the “bad” or “loud” guys of the organisation. It’s birds of the same feather flying in a flock. Generally, “bad” or “loud” groups tend to be at some kind of office power competition (of any kind). Therefore, you can avoid being becoming a pawn in the struggle by not joining the group. However, having said that, it’s still up to individual preference on their social circle. J
Be neutral in most situations – Being friendly and not siding to anyone leaves you safe from most office power struggle. If you do have a point you want to drive across, be firm but at the same time give room for alternatives to those potential back stabbers. Give them options to choose that will beneficial to them. If you do not do that, you may end up making enemies instead!

5 Preventive Measures Against Backstabbing!

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:00:27 +0000

Backstabbing occurs everywhere in all workplace. You maybe unknowingly back stab by people that you do not know, you know, or even closed colleagues. You do not really know who are your friend and foe. Friends can be foes as well if you are not careful too! Therefore, it is essential to learn key survival skills against these underlying dangers lurking in the workplace. We want to protect ourselves against them. You never know who are the two-headed snake and sly foxes that are scheming to cause disruption to your career. Here, we have five preventive measures against backstabbing before it really happens.

Be sure of what you are doing – Always be sure of what you are doing. Be sure of what you are handling. If you do not know what you are doing, it’s advisable to find out more and be sure about it. You do not want to be caught being vulnerable with being unclear of what you are doing, right?
Be sure of what is going on around you – That is, being sensitive to the surrounding, the going-on of the organisation, the management, the people, and your peers. You want to be aware of the situation around you and not be vulnerable for your lack of awareness in the organisation.
Be humble on your achievements – Do not go around the office and tell everyone about your achievements and success story. Ok you may not be shouting out to everyone, BUT are you in every conversation with your peers, trying to inject the topic of your individual success into it? If you are, curb that habit! Be humble and modest about it. Let other’s know your success stories through words from your peers, not you!
Be always on your feet to sharpen your skills – Do always take time to improve yourself and skills. Bring your skill sets to another level or learn another area of expertise. The more proficient and knowledgeable you are in your field of expertise and experience, the less “surface areas” for the troublemakers to use your proficiency to exploit as a point of weakness. Also with a new skill sets being acquired, you are more knowledgeable and prepared against their scheming attacks!
Be always increasing and improving your relationship with your colleagues – Do always increase your network of friends. Also take time to improve and maintain the existing ones. You want to knit a stronger and wider network that you can have support from. With this network, you would have also established yourself a strong credential in the organisation. This is a preventive measure against individuals that want to exploit your weak credentials in the organisation. With a strong credential, they will not be able to exploit that easily.

These are preventive measures against prospective backstabbers. There will be other methods of prevention as well but the list will certainly help you fend off or deter most troublemakers. What is your method of prevention against backstabbers?