People Talk: Tips to Boost Your Professional Rep -- Quit It and Admit It

(My Yahoo! Daily Tip)

by Caroline Levchuck

You can remake yourself on the job. But first you have to stop the real (or imagined) problem behavior.

First, identify what's holding you back. Do you regularly miss deadlines? Are you defensive with your manager or argumentative with coworkers? Are you reluctant to take on new tasks?

Once you've admitted to yourself that you need to improve your performance, you have to admit it to your manager. Meet with your boss and share how you want to improve. Ask for feedback on what kind of behavior she'd like to see and ask for her support. Come up with a schedule to check in regularly and discuss your improvement.

If you want further help, talk to the human resource department. HR often has tools to help employees who are struggling, including job coaching and counseling.