Working well with your colleagues

This post came out from The Straits Times (1 August 2015)
Title - Working well with your colleagues

Some pointers that I've got are:
1. Your customers
2. Your superiors
3. Your juniors
4. Your peers
5. Your suppliers

On Your customers

• The customer is king and without loyal customers, your business will die. Every customer has the potential to return and buy more from you or recommend you to someone else.
• Likewise, they also have the potential to take their business elsewhere, so never assume customers will automatically come back. 
• In a company, you may have a support function, such as HR or administration, and in such cases, often your colleagues are your customers, so remember to treat them like customers, in addition to workmates.

On Your superiors

• These are the people who have authority over you. They usually will have more experience, so try to learn from them whenever you can. Ask relevant questions about things that will help you in specific tasks or your career.
• If your superiors are great, let them know it by giving positive feedback when appropriate. Remember, a good boss gets better for being told that he or she is a good boss. 
• In other cases, you may not respect your superiors or think they deserve to be above you. But they are, and this is the reality. So do not criticise them behind their back. Constructive criticism or suggestions on how to do things differently will often reap better results.

On Your juniors

• Whether this involves people who report to you, or others from a different department of the business, you should treat them as you would treat a young person put in your care. Teach them about the business world, mostly leading by example. 
• You should have more experience than they do and it is your duty to pass on this experience to guide them in their careers. Try to become someone who they look up to or come to for help in difficult times. Remember, be nice to your subordinates. Tomorrow, one of them may be your boss. 

On Your peers

• These are the people you work with, either directly or indirectly. While they are your equals, they may also be your competitors, vying for the same goals, sales targets, promotions, or customers. The best way to treat equals is to regard them as both your superiors and juniors at the same time. They too, may become a boss one day.
• So treat them with healthy respect, and while you do not have to go out of your way to help them to compete with you, you certainly should not put unhelpful obstacles in their way.

On Your suppliers

• You may think that you are in a stronger position with a supplier than with a customer. You are mistaken. Your suppliers can make or wreck your business. 
• In one situation, a business treated its suppliers very badly and made one of them bankrupt overnight. The company's other suppliers became wary and in the end, it was the company that suffered the worst.

Yours,
Something Small Thinking Big