What makes a "good guy*" at the workplace? (*read the explanation for the thing

[Ghost of the dead horse]

What makes a "good guy*" at the workplace? (*read the explanation for the thing

I've been pondering this concept for years and years.. sometimes I've seen myself as one, but most of the time I've pondered if I qualify.

The background: the concept of "a good guy" is used in Finnish work related situations to note a person who's just outright desirable, such a person will fit in, perhaps lighten up the spirits without being in any sort of responsible position whatsoever, and he's also reliable, somewhat fun, and has a twist in their personality .. and a clue.

Now it almost sounds as if I knew what a "good guy" is.

I don't.

Is this thing common with the countries of the world?

*) I couldn't find a gender-free expression for what we have in here.. "hyvä tyyppi". The closest I found was "good guy", even though "hyvä tyyppi" may also describe woman as well as men.

 

[swordpath]

Your definition seems accurate though general. I think responsible and considerate are the clincher.

 

[miss fortune]

here we usually use the term to describe a guy you can trust completely with things and people just tend to LIKE (honest and likable really)

that's how I've heard the term used anyways

 

[INTP]

hyvä tyyppi is more like nice person imo

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

I pondered a while between the "nice" and "good" translations. I associate nice with being inoffensive and friendly. Good I associate with quality, ethics and overall long-term results, from the top of my head.

Hmm, I begin to believe this likeability/trustworthiness combo as the explanation for the phrase.

 

[nolla]

Well, I can't say much about work life as they don't hire me that often. But the times I was working or interning there was a pattern of me being kinda in the background, but in a way that people would come to tell their problems to me. So I think that while I was not being the good guy you mean (none of these jobs were a good fit for me), I'm pretty sure I had positive influence as a stress reducer. I might fit your definition if I was more reliable. I did fuck up more than once...

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

What makes someone seem trustworthy? Are scientifically educated people at suspect in a workplace of carpenters? Is independence and being "nice" inadequate for being considered trustworthy? Should a person have some kind of a "team spirit" so that nothing else mattered to them except what their superiors, customers and colleagues think, so they are totally dependent on everyone else, hence controllable and predictable? Does that thing give trustworthiness?

I think I'm getting the clue. People trust someone they know. People can get to know someone who's part of the team. At least, that's for the team-orientated folks.

But, I'm sure there's other parts to it.

 

[nolla]

How about this:

1) You need to be extremely good at your work and be humble about it
OR
2) You need to admit not knowing what the hell you're doing and ask help

In other words you need to know yourself well enough to know when you should give away responsibility to others who can do the job better than you can.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

OK, sounds good.. but I'm sure there's a strong "group spirit" kind of element to the concept.

I think there's something like that the person is just not a part of the big machinery, not just doing their job.. but they bring the mood that there's something more important.. they are very good at getting along with people.. but they would disapprove someone who just stick to their work and doesn't provide the mood & atmosphere.

It's hard to explain my vague perceptions, which may not even hit the spot.

I'll put it this way:
-a good worker does their work to the standards required by the employer.
-a good guy at the workplace makes it feel as if the work was a pleasant adventure.

-good workers strive to please their employer, and they wish to be better than others at that.
-good guys strive to please others with their results, so they can get a feeling of having accomplished something together.

-employers know that good guys go for win-win scenarios - everybody wins, except the "good worker", who's been left out for being so structure-orientated and square, so they don't want to even hire such "good workers" if there's already a good team spirit in the workplace.

How does that sound for a hypothesis?

 

[nolla]

How does that sound for a hypothesis?

Yeah, sounds quite accurate.

One thing is that people recruiting employees do go by their hunch a lot. This might explain the "good guy" criteria, at least a bit. If there are two guys, both qualified, the recruiter will choose the one he likes.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

Ok. It was good you pointed out the humbleness thing. I'll have to think of how to present skills & proficiencies in writing while giving a humble image. That's hard; I almost think the goals are at odds with another, with little chance to get both. Perhaps there is a solution and I'd do best at trying to find it.