Control Your “Need” to be Right

Sure, everyone likes to be right. In business, as in the stock market, sports, and other life experiences, you strive to be right a bit more often than wrong. But some people have a "need" to be right, much stronger than the “want” of others.

When the desire to be right becomes a need, the motivation can be overwhelming. While powerful motivation is often a very positive feature, the need to be right all the time can be very negative.

Regardless of the benefits or negatives surrounding this issue, you should understand and accept this human fact to maximize the positives and minimize the negatives, particularly at the workplace.

Harness Your Need to Be Right to Improve Your Career
Even if you are the CEO, the burning need to be right can hurt your career. Should you be an employee striving for an entry to management, an inherent need to be right can be a career killer. Conversely, learning how to control your need to be right can provide a measurable boost to your career. Here are some tips to help you harness the positives and eliminate the negatives of a need to be right.

• Work to eliminate win-lose situations on the job.  Like all winning athletic clubs, your teammates (co-workers) and coaches (management) are striving for the same goal, making your team (company) better. Win-lose conditions should only exist with your market competition, not with your co-workers. The more “right” you are at the expense of your co-workers, the less “right” you will be perceived.
  
  
• Avoid constant win/lose or right/wrong debates.  Do not initiate or participate in the blame game. It matters not whether you are pointing to or are being pointed at as a winner/loser in these debates if you choose to participate. But if you can rise above it and stay aloof of these counter-productive debates, you’ll often be known as the winner.
  
  
• An attitude of “style and grace” when you’re right will earn positive responses from co-workers and managers.  Sports fans understand the phrase, “Act like you’ve been there before.” Players, who over-celebrate when scoring a touchdown or when hitting a big home run, often generate a negative response from a positive accomplishment. When you’re right, act in a professional manner, which will attract goodwill from your peers and managers.

An overwhelming need to be right can damage, not enhance your career. The key to benefit or detriment is how you choose to handle the situation. Should you stress the win-lose component, you will probably lose even if you win.

Don’t stop striving to be right, but concentrate on being gracious about it. Let the kudos come to you from co-workers and management, and avoid being perceived as a tireless self-promoter. Let your actions speak loudly for themselves; you’ll see that your career will improve and you’ll feel better about yourself.

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