A common mistake that I see too many people making is that they think their role means that everyone else in the organization should revolve around them.
Take for example a Human Resource Professional, a Communications Manager, and a Sales person.
- The business doesn’t revolve around HR. HR is supposed to be supporting the organization in building and developing a talented workforce that enables the business to succeed.
- The business isn’t about corporate communications. Corporate communications is supposed to define and execute on a strategy that supports other business units.
- The business isn’t about sales. Sales is supposed to help customers get what they need while helping the organization generate revenue.
All of those roles are extremely important. I’m not saying they aren’t. I am simply saying, understand your role. Understand your purpose. Understand who you are supposed to serve. And don’t mix that up with making the rest of the organization revolve around you. When people make their role all about them and forget that they are there to support others, they lose sight of the overall team and organizational goals and, as a result, lose focus on where people, money, and resources should be best allocated.