---
title: "Dismissal: It's Not About Ability"
description: "In the workplace, your ability may be strong, but whether you are rebellious or adaptive, thriving or declining, depends on your understanding and respect for the rules. This article outlines nine key rules, including respecting and obeying superiors, communicating progress, accepting team decisions, avoiding inciting colleagues, and building a good personal brand."
author: "毛小民"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2014-07-24"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/dismissal-it-s-not-about-ability-9c970a00/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/dismissal-it-s-not-about-ability-9c970a00.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/T7xSfZXhzQKPk677psPLXQ"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E8%BE%9E%E9%80%80-%E4%B8%8E%E8%83%BD%E5%8A%9B%E6%97%A0%E5%85%B3-9c970a00.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/dismissal-it-s-not-about-ability-9c970a00/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# Dismissal: It's Not About Ability

> In the workplace, your ability may be strong, but whether you are rebellious or adaptive, thriving or declining, depends on your understanding and respect for the rules. This article outlines nine key rules, including respecting and obeying superiors, communicating progress, accepting team decisions, avoiding inciting colleagues, and building a good personal brand.

**Warm reminder: Click the blue text above to follow "FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting" for more marketing and distributor internal management content.**

In the workplace, you may be very capable, but whether you are rebellious or adaptive, thriving or declining, depends on your understanding and respect for the rules.

**Rule 1: Learn to respect and obey your superiors.**

The reason for hierarchy in the workplace is to ensure the smooth operation of team work. Superiors hold certain resources and power, and they consider issues from the team's perspective, which may not always accommodate individual needs. Respecting and obeying superiors is crucial for achieving team goals. Employees who do not think from the team's height but only from their own perspective, causing trouble for superiors or being arrogant about their abilities, will find it hard to survive, let alone go far.

**Rule 2: If your work cannot meet your superior's requirements, communicate with them promptly and keep them informed of your progress and direction.**

In practice, some tasks require time to complete. During a certain period, your work may not yet show significant results. At this point, do not keep too much distance from your superior; create opportunities to communicate, letting them know your progress, plans, and the results you aim to achieve. If you do this, your superior will not blame you; instead, they will use their resources to help you achieve results ahead of time.

However, a common mistake among newcomers and even veterans is that the less results they have, the less willing they are to communicate with superiors, thinking it's embarrassing, and they adopt an attitude of keeping superiors at arm's length. This is risky because your poor performance already makes your superior dissatisfied and doubtful of your abilities; if they also don't know your work status and progress, they may think you are not working hard. Over time, you may end up on the list of those to be eliminated.

In fact, not all those on the elimination list are the worst performers, but a large proportion are those who do not proactively communicate with superiors. Another important reason for dismissal is that work results are not obvious, and the only feedback to leaders is that work is in progress. How it is progressing and its status remain unclear. "Trust those who are used" is a principle, but it requires actions that are not doubted.

**Rule 3: If you think a team decision made according to procedures is unreasonable, provide feedback through normal channels and methods, give your superior time, and meanwhile execute the decision.**

A team's decision may be right or somewhat unreasonable. But decisions have a certain authority and enforceability, and are necessary for the normal operation of a team, made from the overall and holistic perspective. Employees should first put themselves in others' shoes; if the decision protects the team's interests, they should comply. If there are imperfections, choose normal procedures and methods to suggest improvements and wait for a response. As long as the decision does not violate laws and regulations, employees should unconditionally obey.

If you adopt a passive approach to resist team decisions, only the employee will be harmed.

**Rule 4: Avoid inciting colleagues to confront the team; a well-functioning team will "kill without mercy" those who lead trouble.**

It is normal to encounter grievances or unfairness in the workplace. Employees can choose appropriate ways to raise issues or seek help from appropriate departments. However, solving problems by inciting trouble often puts you in a more disadvantageous position, because such behavior is absolutely intolerable to any team. As a result, the problem remains unsolved, and you get dismissed.

**Rule 5: If you cannot create value for a team, at least do not become a source of trouble.**

Team members are diverse with different personalities. Some employees like to use small tricks to create trouble or spread rumors to achieve certain goals. In long-term cooperation, everyone will form judgments about a person's character and abilities.

Small tricks may bring short-term benefits, but once other members understand the person, they will find it hard to stand firm. To survive long-term in an organization, big wisdom is necessary.

**Rule 6: For temporary tasks assigned by superiors, always provide timely feedback.**

Sometimes superiors assign temporary tasks that may be urgent, and they may require feedback on completion deadlines. This is also an opportunity to increase your superior's trust in you.

I once encountered such an employee. The company's delivery truck had an accident, causing significant damage to the goods, and the distributor refused to accept the goods. To avoid further losses, I told the sales representative responsible for that market to personally participate in handling the incident and keep in touch with me at all times. But I waited until 10 PM without any news, and when I called, his phone was off. In the end, the driver had to take the products back to the factory, costing the company over ten thousand yuan in losses. When I contacted him the next day, he said he had gone drinking with friends and forgot. From then on, I doubted his work ability and attitude.

**Rule 7: Achieve success for your superior, thereby achieving success for yourself.**

Work brings people together, and colleagues are primarily in a cooperative relationship. The resources and influence that superiors hold play a decisive role in one's career development.

Those who advance quickly in the workplace are undoubtedly good at cooperating with superiors. While doing their own duties well, they actively help superiors share work and solve problems. Superiors will also provide them with more training opportunities and impart their true knowledge. They will gradually become familiar with the superior's work content and skills, which are important conditions for rapid development. When the superior is promoted further, they will first recommend these employees for promotion.

In the team, such people have high prestige, face less resistance in work, and are more easily recognized and valued by colleagues and higher-ups. Achieving success for your superior to achieve your own success is definitely an important principle. When you complain about your superior's favoritism, you should seriously reflect on whether you have followed this principle. Opportunities really do not fall from the sky; more often, you have to strive for them yourself.

**Rule 8: Do not complain or speak ill of your superior in front of colleagues.**

Colleagues have both cooperation and competition. When you have complaints or want to speak ill of your superior, never do it in front of your colleagues, even if they are your "close buddies." Perhaps while you are venting, your words have already reached the superior's ears, even embellished, putting you in a very passive position.

When I was managed, I also suffered from complaining in front of colleagues. And when I became a manager, I often received many small reports. When you have complaints or want to say bad things, it's best to find a place with no one and talk to yourself.

**Rule 9: Do things well while also being a good person.**

From the moment you enter the workplace, you should treat building your personal brand as an important task. Doing things well is basic, but also being a good person is crucial. Being a good person is an important condition for personal branding; your reputation in the workplace determines the length and breadth of your career. In modern China, character is still an important criterion for corporate employment. Your character is seen through working with you and is a long-term accumulation process. You should establish a good image not only within the company but also in the industry and the business community.

Of course, a good person does not mean being slick or ingratiating, but rather learning to take responsibility and not doing things that harm others or the organization.

---

**Like this article? Feel free to click the top right corner to share it to your Moments.**

About us:
WeChat Name: FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting Management
Account Introduction: 20 years of experience in FMCG distributor operations and management, specializing in distributor internal affairs.

Click the "Read the original" below to enter our micro-community for interaction and Q&A.

**Learning and exchange QQ group: 344257092**

**Reply 1 to enter the micro official website to view historical messages.**

---


---

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671