One Unconscious Mistake, Your Career Dies
By: Irfan Ali
Tags: Communication Skills, Management, Work, Productivity, Body Language

One Unconscious Mistake, Your Career Dies

How negative facial expressions killed my rating!

Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash

I entered the cabin.

Me: “Sir! You gave me a low rating on my evaluation, but I did the most important job…and I did well.” Boss: “Yeah! I did give you a low rating.” Me: “So what happened? Why did you rate me low?” Boss: “Irfan! It’s all about your negative facial expressions. Remember, I called you into my office when another manager was sitting right next to me. It was late and I’d asked you to attend to some emergency work at the site. At that time, your face shown totally negative expressions and I felt embarrassed in front of my colleague. No matter, you ultimately accepted the job.”

As I left the cabin, his words were shaking my brain like balls on the snooker table that move upon a stroke. Fortunately, for me, he was straightforward in telling me the reason, which most bosses don’t ever tell you.

If there is one thing that every boss hates, it’s negative facial expressions. They show you aren’t actually willing. They show that even if you end up accepting the job, you won’t do it right. They show you aren’t mentally and physically prepared to take up the challenge.

Negative expressions reveal an entire flurry of your inner thoughts…

Especially when you show negativity in critical situations — e.g., a hike in workload, the wrong product reaches the customers, senior management pops in for a surprise visit, project deadlines exceeded. In such situations, your boss will not take at all kindly to your negative facial expressions. If he feels offended, he can even ruin your career.

From my own perspective, I can’t stand those juniors who display a negative attitude. Think about this for a moment! Do you also feel like this? Sometimes, when we visualize the same situation in a different context, we can better understand it. [This is called framing in psychology, specifically in neuro-linguistic programming(NLP).]

However, those who readily accept the new challenges with positivity on their faces win the situations. They are like those ministers who know when to seize the power. Bosses feel comfortable assigning them jobs and rely on them in difficult situations. On top of that, they enjoy discussing ideas and strategies with them.

One of my seniors had exactly this quality. Though he was worst in terms of his actual work performance, he was best at taking on challenges and pushing his juniors to achieve the objectives of the task. As soon as a new task was assigned, he would run to the boss’s office to show his enthusiasm for the job. He would throw ideas into the arena and start planning how he’d approach it. He would pass on instructions to his juniors in front of his boss and would show he was fully on board with the task in hand. When he was not in his boss’s office, you would find him eating salad and taking tea.

He knew when and where he had to apply his energy. He often used to fascinate me with his power of communication.

I don’t mean, however, that we shouldn’t focus on the quality of work. But recognizing the value of positive body language is my point.

In professional culture, a straight “No” is usually not possible. Most of the jobs assigned fall within the remit of the job holder. The way employees refuse the job is using negative expressions, avoiding contact with their bosses, taking leave, or showing they are too busy.

In such situations, bosses simply end up seeking out those who adopt an all-around positive approach.