Five Workplace Rules Women Should Never Follow

Did you ever hear the rule about giving the difficult job to the laziest guy in the office because he will find an easier way of doing it?

Or the one from the manager’s handbook, where you insist upon teamwork, so there is always someone else you can blame?

The modern workplace is built on rules.

Some are for our health and safety, some are to support a positive and productive culture and others are to ensure that no one takes all of the tea spoons out of the communal kitchen.

For a number of years I worked as a technical writer, constructing policies, procedures and principles. My job was to create, communicate and embed rules into the organisation.

But there are other rules out there that you won’t find in a staff handbook or listed on a company website.

These are the “rules” that are whispered at you in a workshop or discussed over coffee after your performance review.

Like the other, formal rules that underpin the daily workings of the office, these are designed to uphold the existing culture and to make all employees think and act in a similar fashion.

But instead of creating a supportive and positive workplace, I believe they do the opposite.

Dos and Don’ts

Rules are important.

We all value the parameters that, even loosely, remind people how to behave and ensure a safe and familiar workplace.

But rules are often created with the majority in mind. In other words, in a largely male-dominated environment, the rules might lean more towards the interests, needs and behaviour patterns of male employees.

This is particularly the case, in my experience, of those “unwritten” rules.

Things are certainly a lot better than the days when government policy dictated that women had to resign if they fell pregnant, (Don’t you love that term “fell”, as if the woman tripped over her reproductive system and is now plummeting down a hole at high speed?), but many workplaces are still out of step with the interests, needs and behaviour patterns of women.

To be fair, I have encountered most of these misguided “rules” in quite traditional environments, where the culture encourages tough, inflexible attitudes.

But no matter the type of workplace, it is important that all workers keep an open mind about the rules and assumptions that they encounter.

Try asking yourself:

• Are the “dos and don’ts” still applicable or are they a hangover from another era?
• Do they really apply to the way women want to do business?
• Are they still “rules” simply because no one has ever challenged or revised them?

Five Unwritten Rules to Send to Archives

I’ve selected five of the “rules” that I believe woman in the workplace should always question.

1. Look Out For Number One
   This is obviously a short-sighted approach, unless you’re a solo astronaut or a lone researcher in Antarctica.

   Humans are social animals, who work best as a team.

   By identifying the interests and objectives you share with those around you and by pursuing these mutual goals as a team, the rewards grow exponentially.

2. Only Ask Questions You Already Know The Answer To
   Isn’t this what students are taught on their first day at law school? I was once admonished by my male superior for not following this rule at a board meeting.

   To me this is a limiting, controlling and even an arrogant assumption. Unless you are grilling a witness, (I personally prefer toast with jarlsberg cheese), I believe it undermines the fact that we learn best by getting involved.

   By definition a conversation is two-sided and should invite unknown elements.

   I believe it is far more important to be impressive in your ability to learn, apply and improve upon new information.

3. Never Lose Your Cool
   I was raised on the image of a businesswoman in an iron-grey suit with shoulder pads the size of surfboards and the sort of icy demeanor that lowers the temperate of every room she enters.

   This, of course, was due to watching too many daytime soaps.

   In reality, our energies gravitate towards the things we feel passionately about. I believe passion, enthusiasm and commitment are essential to success.

   Ranting and raving should be left with the out-dated suits, but by not speaking up we are devaluing our opinions and beliefs.

4. Be One Of The Boys
   Not only is this physically possible, but it also assumes that being one of the boys is better than being one of the girls!

   I believe that in business it is important to bring something unique to the table. Rather than mimicking male colleagues, women who use their “outsider’s” perspective can often look outside the box for new strategies and solutions.

   Rather than fitting in with the majority I believe in being an “outsider” who is an outstanding contributor.

5. Stick Together, No Matter What
   Sound a bit high-schoolish? I couldn’t agree more, but I encountered this particular rule not in my role as a school teacher, but in the corporate environment during a sexual harassment case.

   Maybe this is part of the “buddy” mentality, where loyalty is valued more highly than principle, but ultimately sticking together for the wrong reasons leads to division.

   Standing out for the right reasons is why we were all gifted with our independent, inquiring minds.

   In my book it is better to be “black balled” than ashamed of betraying your beliefs.



If my comments on these rules seem unfair to you, or my viewpoint too one-sided, I take that as fair criticism, but I have personally experienced all of these “rules” in the modern workplace.

I now prefer to live and work by the assumption: Just because you say it, doesn’t make it true!

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