The Secret To Success In The Workplace

In Adam Grant’s groundbreaking book Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success, he identifies three different types of people in the workplace: givers, takers, and matchers. He explains that takers are most concerned with themselves and tend to take credit for others’ work and overvalue competition while matchers operate under a “do for me and I will then do for you” mentality. The true superstars of the workplace are the givers—those who help others without any thought of reciprocation. Though many think the takers are always the ones that get ahead, Grant found it was the givers who most often come out on top. Here are a few reasons why.

Givers Are More Likely To Be Mentors

Givers are willing to give of their time and talents to help others succeed. That means that when those they mentor begin achieving success, they are likely to help the givers who assisted them in getting there. Givers tend to have loyal fans scattered throughout multiple levels of their company, all of whom are looking for ways to give back to them.

Givers Inspire Loyalty

While takers may achieve high levels of success temporarily, they are often taken down by their colleagues or those they manage because they’ve inspired no loyalty in them. Givers, on the other hand, are effective leaders because they are authentic, fair, and unselfish. Teams are more likely to work harder and longer for them and are less likely to leave for other positions.

Givers Create More Givers

Givers are the epitome of “leading by example” and are less likely to have cutthroat teams that are always looking for ways to undermine their colleagues to get ahead. When givers are in leadership positions, their willingness to go the extra mile to help out those they manage inspires their teammates to do the same. A business full of those looking out for each other’s best interests is a much more successful one than those full of competitive colleagues.

Givers Are The Best Networkers

Many of us make the mistake of thinking that networking is all about meeting as many people as possible and seeing what they can do for us. Givers, on the other hand, view networking as a chance to develop deep relationships and help others. They are masters of creating a wide network of individuals who are willing to help them in multiple types of situations.

Givers Are Always Growing

Takers tend to look at feedback or criticism as threatening and are likely to balk at the idea of change. Givers, however, understand that feedback can be a great tool for growth and are always looking for ways to get better. They are also more likely to give the type of feedback that inspires those they lead instead of cutting them down as takers often do.

Are you a giver, taker or matcher? If you truly want to get ahead in your business and develop a fulfilling career, you should take Grant’s advice and focus on being more of a giver.