What Signals Do You Send In The Workplace?

An Interesting Train - The Fat Controller, a photo by oddsock on Flickr.

We slog through our morning commute on automatic pilot. And some of us stay on cruise control throughout the workday, focusing on and worrying about meeting deadlines or the creation of more PowerPoint decks, but not thinking too hard about what others are thinking about us.

Make no mistake about it—whether we intend to focus on the team dynamic or not, we can’t help emitting signals about how we manage ourselves at work and how we feel about our team. We all wear our personal agenda on our sleeve.

These signals have an impact on our ability to get promoted, and they also impact our ability to keep our jobs during reorganizations or budget-slashing measures. Some days we’ll feel like playing nice in the sandbox with our coworkers; other days we aren’t as pleasant and we shrink back. But bosses and teammates are watching and listening—so it’s important to pay attention to the signals you are emitting.

I’m not a fan of putting people in boxes. But for the purpose of this post I’d like to identify three categories of productive workers that might give you an indication of how you’re being perceived:

The Lone Ranger. This member of the team doesn't place much importance on what others think about how he or she performs the job; they march to their own drummer. The Lone Ranger survives mainly because they are very good at what they do, and so their bosses put up with their aloof behavior or their histrionics. Don’t expect any warm and fuzzy signals from this coworker in terms of project collaboration, or commiseration when you feel like bitching about a difficult client. And if you share your Great Idea with a Lone Ranger, don’t be surprised if they announce some iteration of that same idea at the next team meeting, calling it their own.

The Fixer.  This worker enjoys fixing tough dilemmas on the team—including problems that aren’t necessarily theirs. Still high from the adrenaline rush of conquering the latest insurmountable problem, they look for new ones to fix, including projects that might belong to others. While Fixers generally mean well, they don’t recognize their own boundaries and won’t be happy until they insinuate their personal solutions on everyone else’s projects.

The Collaborator. This member of the team finesses what they were hired to do and executes it within the boundaries of their job description. And while they’re successfully completing their tasks, they consider the bigger picture and offer their assistance to others on the team (but they don’t foist it). They work respectfully on shared projects and believe that the power of many voices is greater than theirs alone. They thrive on the synergy of multiple ideas and the power of teamwork.

Which kind of employee would you want to work with? More important, which kind of employee do you want to be?