Being able to adapt to a workplace is a very important skill to have because adaptability skills will surely affect your performance and sociability throughout the year. Adaptability is a soft skill that refers to the ability to quickly learn new skills and behavior in response to new circumstances or environment. As a newcomer to a company, we are required to quickly adapt to the environment, people, and our role in the workplace. Some people might find these as complicated things but, our adaptability skills could be and should be improved by practicing such practical skills below.

Understanding the basic rules

Knowing and understanding the basic rules is important because it is the chance of whether you’ll be able to adapt in the first place. By trying to get to know the rules, it will make us understand what is expected and what are the consequences if we break it. Which means it will make the orientation process a lot easier and faster. As we know that rule was made for a stable workplace environment where people can synchronize the diversity, so it is everyone’s responsibility to be able to follow the rules. According to Fiona Rose, an Administrative Assistant at PT. Pertamina. Three basic rules are applied in her workplaces, such as on-time, discipline, and attitude. Almost every company has always included those rules as the main regulations that must be understood and obeyed by the employee, to create a healthy and balanced environment.

Dealing with disagreement professionally

At the beginning of our day at work, we are frequently afraid to stand up and express our thoughts, especially when it comes to disagreement. Once when we dare to convey our thoughts and disagreements, especially to people of a higher level, there will often be a crash due to our inappropriate way of conveying. Just once we got it wrong it will eventually affect our impressions and relationships with the person involved. So according to Maulidina Marlita, a Digital Marketer at Pelangi Hotel, she states that there are methods to deal with disagreements without offending others. First, prepare the argument before a meeting or simply think it out beforehand. This method was believed to make the argument more understandable and less offensive. Then try to explain the argument simply so that people around will not be misunderstood. Also, give an example or comparison of what you disagree with and what you would believe, it would help. Lastly, if the opponent is insisting, it is better to give in to avoid the crash, and also, we might not know everything yet so following the existing ideas given is a wise choice while we’re adapting.

Manage individual conflicts.

In the world of work, there is no such place without conflict. Mostly it was an individual conflict that was usually caused by different perspectives because of each personal background. When the conflict arises, it would not only affect the work performance individually but also within the team. At the time we’re facing this kind of situation, the awkwardness and confusion will be soared. Then what should we do about it? Firstly, taking the first action immediately by communicating it in the right place and time. In some cases, we better speak up about the problem rather than stay silent, since it will make everything worse. In practice, we should be avoiding conflict as much as we can but if your new environment is bad for you then the best thing you can do is being wise and trying to not take sides.

Master negotiation skill

In the world of work, there is always a negotiation process going on. Negotiation is defined as a process of forging an agreement between two or more parties. The process usually involves give-and-take or compromise between the parties, in practice, negotiations do not always meet in the middle, because sometimes one party might have more leverage than the others. Mastering negotiation skills are absolutely part of must-have skills for the employees. By having these skills, you can negotiate anything such as salary, work hours, desires, needs, and many more. What you need to know before going on negotiation is that you must be prepared by doing small research regarding the people you’re going to negotiate with, as a new employee in the new places you need to dig more into the information available, so you won’t go on negotiation blindly.

Overcome the Communication Gap

Working with many people that have a varied background status will mostly make the communication style preference in the workplace diverse. The communication gap that exists might become a conflict whenever one and another cannot understand each other’s characteristics. According to Fiona Rose, the Administrative Assistant at PT. Pertamina suggested that when there’s a different communication preference within the team, sometimes we have to “give in” in the sense of adjusting the existing communication preferences. Besides, there are also tips from Maulidina Marlita, as the Digital Marketing at Pelangi Hotel, she implies that trying to blend in with the co-workers and join them on casual meetings will eventually gain more understanding of each character within the team. By applying these tips, it might help us to decide which communication preferences that suit each character to make the communication process go well.

Starting a new career path at the new workplace has never been easy, but the key is to be persistent in what you are doing while trying your best to fulfill your responsibility as an employee.

by Sinta Nur Indahsari